Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470106
may seem to belie her apparent young age when fi rst seen, but she is in fact, a couple of centuries older, and she tends to go where she feels most comfortable. My feelings are that she may have started her journey in life in Eastern Europe, with a Slavic heritage, and was surrounded by the neoclassical splendour of Europe at that time. Victor, the uber vampire, has chosen a more brutalist structure as his domain, which makes sense as modernism has always been at the forefront of the sinister lair in fi lm. If any genre has defi ned the association between dastardly goings- on and modern design, it has been the action thriller, and this project stayed true to that notion. Just like any master criminal, hell-bent on world domination, Victor has chosen to inhabit a remote, precariously sited modern hideaway. I remember that I had more fun collecting references for Victor's abode than any of the other sets. I must admit that my thoughts did go toward the Bond villain and nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Diamonds Are Forever), who commandeers a house of poured-in-place concrete with sweeping views of what is supposedly the Nevada desert. In actuality, it is the Arthur Elrod House, the sine qua non of bachelor pads, designed by John Lautner, and located in Palm Springs. Lautner's signature California baroque aesthetic—soaring interior spaces, curving forms, dramatic vistas—is ideally suited to fi lm, and his houses appear with unparalleled regularity in Hollywood productions. In seemingly every case, they play host to less- than-savory characters. The architecture of evil is from the late modern period, and Victor's glass and steel architecture will be instrumental in establishing his character and malevolent mood. Its refl ective glass curtain will be unwelcoming and unsetting as it does not refl ect the spaces behind them. The striking modern design of Victor's house is a trap…a highly seductive site of crime and deception. One can imagine that its sheer size is a symbol of the owner's wealth, and the modern aesthetic signifi es a cool calculating demeanor that allows Victor to mediate between the legitimate and corrupt worlds of Los Angeles. D. VICTOR'S HOUSE. ILLUSTRATION BY JONATHAN MCGONNELL. SET BUILT ON STAGE IN NEW ORLEANS. ALEXANDER STOLIN MURAL. E. VICTOR'S HOUSE. PLAN AND ELEVATIONS BY JESSICA OCHOA. D E