
The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films - tintinnabula
http://99percentinvisible.org/article/architecture-evil-dystopian-megacorps-speculative-fiction/
======
vtange
Back in my days of architecture school we threw around terms such as "human
scale" and "typology" in classes.

The article demonstrates well the idea of "typology" \- how we came to
associate Brutalist structures with FBI-style surveillance states. Did you
know we also associate stuff like Greek Columns with government in general?

The "human scale" term refers to how a building's shape and texture should be
broken up to break up any notion of the building being looming/threatening to
tiny humans by comparison - kind of like how a person would prefer wearing
different colors as opposed to a monocolor jumpsuit.

Almost all "evil" architecture fails human scale design on purpose by making
oversized elements or using the same material everywhere - the idea is to make
the organization seem greater than the individual or even society, and make it
seem impossible to challenge. This is also seen in architecture built or
designed by fascist Germany and Italy back in the 1930s, for exactly this
reason. Look up
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_architecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_architecture)
if you want more.

~~~
Finnucane
That's funny, in the context of American buildings, the first thing that comes
to mind when I think of Greek columns in Georgian mansions. Only after that do
I think of perhaps courthouses.

Here in Boston, the brutalist monstrosity that is our city hall has its Soviet
oppressiveness enhanced by the pillbox-laden concrete wasteland that surrounds
it. It really is a monument to government power.

~~~
ghaff
Boston City Hall really is an epic attempt to outdo Soviet era totalitarian
architecture. There is at least some effort to do something with the windswept
brickyard that surrounds it. [1] I haven't followed these plans all that
closely but, to the degree the surrounding space can be made more
useful/inviting, it would help a lot.

I'd also note that the brutalist addition to the Boston Public Library always
struck me as rather a desecration of the original Beaux Arts structure but the
recent remodel and cleanup actually created a rather open and airy space. I
still don't love the architecture but it's a big improvement.

[1] [https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/boston-city-hall-plaza-
rede...](https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/boston-city-hall-plaza-redesign-
designers-selected)

~~~
hx87
Pure brutalism is bad enough, but in Boston (and to a lesser extent, the rest
of the US) we just _had_ to muck it up with fake-traditional touches like
brick facing that make it look so much worse. IMO the worst part of City Hall
isn't the concrete honeycomb superstructure, it's the brick-clad base. Brick
is good when its appearance makes structural sense: arches or lintels over
openings, proper sills, a combination of headers and stretchers, etc. However
it's always monolithic, and the only thing worse than monolithic concrete is
monolithic brick. That's why I'll take the BPL extension over city hall any
day--at least BPL is purely brutalist and makes no apologies for it.

~~~
stcredzero
_Pure brutalism is bad enough_

I think, just for the building itself, that the Houston Public Library serves
its function very well. It is an excellent building for its purpose, and I
rather like going there. The courtyard outside, though, is a stellar example
of how US culture has completely forgotten how to create public spaces of
value. (Why is it that Houston, of all places, seems to be challenged to
remember why _shade_ is useful!)

~~~
ghaff
One of the things that seems to happen is that there's often a sufficient
aversion to businesses making money in public spaces that you end up with
barren expanses rather than cafes, shops/stalls, etc. In Boston the difference
between the utilization of City Hall Plaza and Quincy Market/Fanueil Hall is
instructive.

That's not to say that public parks need to be crammed full of commerce but
people often need some reason beyond "open space" to go into an area.

------
arcanus
Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up
around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling...

But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't
embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it
would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable
ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge technology and
incredible capabilities.

It is not as if anyone takes the Google happy colors and 'don't be evil' motto
as actually indicative of ethical behavior. Conversely, I don't think an
insidious aesthetic would imply 'we are doing bad things' as much as a fun nod
to sci-fi high tech.

~~~
WalterBright
My dad, who was a historian and business professor, told me once that you
could trace the start of the decline of a company when they completed their
showcase palace headquarters. The problem is they became focused on the
edifice rather than their business.

~~~
ghaff
I wonder how much of that is some sort of reversion to the mean though. I.e.
you often don't build a showcase palace headquarters until you've clearly been
a great success. Not always of course. Executive ego can't be discounted in
some cases.

However, to the degree a showcase gets built when a company is riding high and
growing, it's not unusual that looking out 5 or 10 years, that company won't
be doing so well.

------
Declanomous
This article really nails this topic. Architecture and film theory are two of
my favorite topics, because visual symbolism is so integral in both. Both
disciplines have a lot of domain-specific language that it's really easy to
write an article that is inaccessible to most readers. Most articles by 99%
invisible really hit the sweet spot where they are entertaining and accessible
introduction to the subject, but are still interesting to people familiar with
the topics being reported. This article could easily have been "Five real
buildings that housed Evil Megacorporations, #4 will surprise you!"

Speaking of dystopian megacorps and their architecture, I bought _Invisible
Inc_ during the Klei sale on Steam. I'd highly recommend it. It's a turn-based
stealth rougelike based based in a cyber-punk world run by dystopian
megacorporations. You control a team of technologically augmented spies who
infiltrate these megacorps. The levels are all procedurally generated, which
works really well for the inhuman sameness that corporations have in science
fiction.

The gameplay is well thought out, and the story mode is well written. It
deconstructs a lot of themes typically present in cyberpunk, but the
deconstruction doesn't upstage the gameplay (I feel like game designers
sometimes try to be 'clever' when deconstructing tropes, to the detriment of
fun.) The story mode isn't very long, but it has good replayability due to the
roguelike nature and the procedurally generated levels. There is also an
endless mode, which adds a lot of replay value, and is something that I miss
in other roguelikes, such as FTL.

I played it on Linux, and it runs well. It's $20 normally. I'd say it's a
must-buy at $10 or below if you enjoy roguelikes or stealth games. I'd say
take a pass if you don't enjoy turn based games or cyberpunk. You can probably
get a pretty good idea of the gameplay from watching a video on youtube, but
I'd definitely try to avoid spoilers.

~~~
Eric_WVGG
super-into isometric graphics. Invisible Inc does it very well.

Tokyo 42, a supposed spiritual successor of Syndicate, is another new game
with a terrific architectural style.

~~~
Declanomous
Thanks for the recommendation. The art direction on that reminds me a lot of
absolute drift. I like how many games are getting back to isometric but using
updated graphics, rather than going for the full-retro style. It seems like it
makes it easier for developers to achieve their vision, and I feel like
isometric games tend to flow better.

------
domparise
[https://www.reddit.com/r/evilbuildings](https://www.reddit.com/r/evilbuildings)

~~~
qubex
[http://www.sosbrutalism.org/](http://www.sosbrutalism.org/)

------
yekim
Love this article.

For those of you who enjoy a heaping meal of architectural commentary
sprinkled with a generous portion of sarcasm, check out the author's blog [1].
Literally LOL every time I get a chance to read it.

[1] [http://www.mcmansionhell.com/](http://www.mcmansionhell.com/)

~~~
JCzynski
I kind of hate that blog. They make fun of things for basically being slightly
tacky. A lot of the criticism feels like it's just 'Stop Having Fun' Guy. (The
heating bills for mcmansions are another story, but that's unrelated to the
criticism.)

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wott
The English mini-serie 'Residue' has plenty of dark architectural scenes. I
didn't find the plot very interesting, but if you want unending shots of grey
oppressing buildings from UK and (mostly? dunno) Hong-Kong, you shall be
satisfied.

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scrumper
This was good, worth the quick read. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of
the Sydney office building where The Matrix was filmed, and how its
suggestively spinal form echoes themes in the movie.

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ChuckMcM
Given the discussion at the end about people working in factories and wanting
to come "home" to simpler places, I wonder how the author would interpret the
trend in modernism in apartments and condos. The Millennium tower in San
Francisco, or a dozens of 3 - 4 story tall "mixed use" type facilities where
there are apartments above and shops at ground level.

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JCzynski
If you want examples of architecture like this, try reddit.com/r/evilbuildings

