"I have a special passion for Italian architecture. For the first time in my life I had just been to Milan. On the plane back I said,' I absolutely hate that town, I hate the city.' It was built by Mussolini with the aid of Hitler and that's what it looks like! It looked like Albert Speer had his finger in the design of some of the buildings. The fascism is very, very clear but it is wonderful to see the buildings of Milan come right up to the street curbs, narrow up as you walked under big covered arcades." 10
Fig.4.1 A sketch of the Set Design in Bladerunner | This is the concept behind the production design in Bladerunner. There is no constant style of architecture like in The Conformist, the only constant is the mixture of styles. Everything has been built and then rebuilt in 2019, there are recognisable architectural characteristics from Hong Kong, New York and Milan. Buildings are built out to the curb with thick corrugated pipes snaking up from the sidewalk and writhing across and through the facades of the buildings. The intense architecture combined with a sidewalk, which is full of people, creates a congested and claustrophobic metropolis. |
The one detail that dominates the architecture is the vast amount of neon sculpture and advertising. The use of neon indicates the status of the neighbourhood and businesses in the area. The Noodle Bar and Animoid Row (where Deckard shoots Zhora) is clearly in the red light districts of Los Angeles in 2019. Neon is used to reaffirm a sleazy metropolis permeated by whores, pimps and the underworld.
Continuing Lawrence G.Paull notion that 'every Bladerunner set was designed to generate an emotional aura', the interior of Deckard's apartment was built to reflect both the idea of Deckard's bachelorhood and the enclosed, oppressive atmosphere of his manner of employment. Below are two images of Deckard's apartment, the sketch shows a very low ceiling encompassing Deckard, this is apparent in the image from the movie.
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"It was a cave, it was his womb, so the rooms were very linear, very overbearing, and the walls bracketed out like a series of contemporary vaults." 11
The lighting in Deckard's apartment is extremely low key, the grey background and the lack of light. The apartment mirrors Deckard's personality, the interior design is lost in the shadows while Deckard's emotions and feelings are dwarfed by his job. The only time when there is enough light in the apartment to see the interior design is in the scene where Deckard is recovering form the fight with Leon. An artificial light comes from the bathroom light as Deckard rinses out blood from his mouth. He has been physically injured but Rachael has saved his life and for the first time, the spectator can distinguish the interior design of the apartment. Deckard attempts to kiss Rachael but she panics and attempts to escape, but Deckard shuts her in and passionate embrace by the window ensues. The apartment is a motif for Deckard's emotions, the spectator has become aware of his apartment and his feelings for Rachael.
| The lighting in this scene displays hot white light and diagonal shadows raking across Deckard's face, patterns that are supposed to be cast by a nearby venetian blind. This lighting scheme is identical to both the expressionism of forties film noir and the effect already discussed in The Conformist. | 
Fig.4.3 The passionate embrace between Rachael and Deckard |
The design of the apartment coincides with the overall design of the city. It is a fusion of architectural styles from Frank Lloyd Wright to Gaudi. It is this fusion or mixture of styles, which dominate the set design in Bladerunner. It is important the styles blend together with the costumes and vehicles, and therefore not dominate the film. There was no aim to create monstrous high rise buildings with abstract designs as there was a need to see an evolution from twentieth century architecture.
