How Westworld Uses Architecture [Season 1 Analysis]

[@stewarthicks]

What other architectural references did you pick up on in Westworld Season 1?

[@stewarthicks]

@@accountantthe3394 Good ones. Hopefully, if this video does well I can follow up and touch on some of those things. I also forget a great book by Alex Lehnerer which closely studies various Western Towns. That's for Season 2 I guess!

[@CUBETechie]

There is an amazing gamcall NaissancE it combines elements from Metropolis, Apperture Science Enrichment Center. Fallout 3- CUBE Experiment, The movie meander, The game Q.U.B.E. 1+2 The Animus Level in Assassin's Creed Revelations, The movie Brazil, Cube and most important the manga BLAME this structures 🥰🥰🥰

[@teacherdude]

The series uses modern music adapted for the player piano, an automated music system that stored data on punched card, a nod to the origins of the sophisticated data storage systems that Westworld depends on. I know it's off topic but I like how the makers of the series pay attention to details.

[@alaskanuni]

I feel like Westworld S1 had a lot of unexplored depth in terms of level design similar to video games. The fact that Sweetwater streets were just open though to be inviting, but awkward enough to feel real. Or that incredibly epic dressing room to train transition. There is loads of videogame level design that also intersects with architecture.

[@alaskanuni]

I've been searching for something like this for YEARS. There's tons of photography, video game, and motorcycle video essays. But I've been lacking architecture video essays. Thank you!

[@gregegg-ef1kl]

One of the few channels I'm hyped for, amazing analysis! Hope there's a future vid regarding Lebbeus Woods work :)

[@stewarthicks]

Definitely! Thank you for the kind words.

[@davidlarson9125]

I don't think I ever realized that having time zones is only relevant with the ability of a lot of people to travel quickly. I only knew there was an age when any neighboring town could be set to a different time.

[@jeffdunn890]

Same, that struck me also.

[@SaiSantoshMARU]

Glad you made this one Stewart, I too study architecture through films. Stared with 1927 classic sci-fi 'Metropolis' and took off era by era. Animated movies are a treat visually. They are a great source of visual imagination, along side video games ofcourse! Can't appreciate you enough for this channel!

[@devanshshah4393]

I loved watching all your videos, so many nuances in your opinion, tiny references here and there that I love exploring afterwards. I hope you make longer lectures and podcasts with your friends and faculty.

[@helenwang6230]

I really enjoy watching your channel! Subscribed immediately after watching just one video. As a second year architecture student, your contents gives so much insights and it really broadens my scope of understanding towards architecture!!!

[@stewarthicks]

I’m so glad you’re finding helpful!

[@crises7601]

If you haven't checked it out already, I think you'd love the architecture featured in the manga, Blame!, by Tsumoto Nihei. The manga is primarily wordless and all black and white, so you could pick it up online easily. The setting is the far future in a massive labyrinth that humanity began to construct but has lost control of, yet it keeps growing. Nihei was an architectural student in college and worked in construction for a while. Inspired by HR Giger, Moebius, AKIRA, etcetera, his work is something you'd probably be able to appreciate more than most other people. Itd be really cool if you did a video exploring it sometime too if it really does catch your fancy. There have been one or two videos talking about it, but little to nothing on the technical aspects of what is featured.

[@stewarthicks]

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll check it out!

[@Igorchitect]

I always thought the interiors of Fords office are more in the theme of the park in contrast to the sleek and modern back of house architecture because of his care and affection of the hosts. He doesn’t care for contemporary delights or the superiority that contemporary man gets from them. Love the channel, all your content has been hits.

[@marcdefaoite]

Very interesting take on trains as heterotopias.

[@bbqchezit]

I'm so glad I came upon you. Thank you for sharing

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you!

[@deliriouswith]

I was into architecture and TV series before too, but after watching this video I'm even more! Thank you for coming up with content like this and for entertaining our minds with your wonderful insights

[@stewarthicks]

You are welcome!

[@danielscott4514]

When I watched this season of Westworld, I thought the "blandness" (or genericness, or maybe "featurelessness") of the spaces that guests arrive into was a logical choice for the park - particularly since we're shown that Westworld isn't the only themed world available there (so one space has to do multiple-duty as the arrival point for guests headed to any one of a bunch of differently-themed worlds). To me it's a deliberately blank slate - a space where guests will choose their costumes for their experience and their imaginations would start to fill in the detail of what lay ahead.

[@JoanneFong]

This is great - I hope you do a series of architecture in movies/TV

[@sheehandg]

Excellent breakdown and use of reference material, well done!

[@donaldbaker5061]

Heterotrophs - the collision of these worlds mirrors the collision of the human and host worlds in seasons two and three. Have you thought about continuing your reflections on these seasons? Especially Season three, with its depiction of the world at the end of the 21st century is fascinating from an architectural standpoint. (BTW great mustache!)

[@freddya9987]

You should consider doing one of these analysis videos for blade runner 2049 specifically Wallace Corp HQ

[@ThundercatDarklion]

Awesome!!!! I am an model railroader. Model train layouts can be small models of the real world or can be an made up place with landscapes , waterways, buildings in an town / city, trees , mountains , people , vehicles , railroad tracks, roads & Etc. Some buildings for model train layouts are based on real buildings and their designs rather they are plastic kits for beginner to skilled or wood lazier cut kits which are advanced since it's like building an real building part by part. Also have you seen the HO scale train layout at The Museum Of Science & Industry in Chicago? The one model railroad club my dad is an member of got the task of building some of the buildings from kits. Also the same museum has an walkthrough human heart model my grandpa ( My dad's dad ) had helped build since he was an Union Carpenter and also helped with building tradeshow props. He also helped build homes in the Chicago Suburbs including his and my grandma's house on Park St in Willow Springs Illinois. He was also an Vol. Firefighter in the 1950s & 1960's. I grew up in the Chicago Suburb of Willow Springs Illinois in the 1980s on Archer Ave. in an Chicago Style Bungalow that was made into an two flat.

[@nabgilby]

I hope you do Season 2 as well, tnx!

[@j.pendergrass9805]

I would like the idea of future content discussing architecture in film. 1982 Blade Runner and 1946 Notorious to name a few.

[@stewarthicks]

I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Sandalf98]

This is cool and with a lot of potential. I recently started to look back on the imaginary spaces of media i have consumed like games and movies and I think it would be interesting to analyze them. Like which architects worked on them and what does their other work look like?

[@stewarthicks]

I'm glad you think so! It's definitely a topic that I enjoy.

[@mikeohawk95]

Arcecture, man HBO and Hollywood always does a good job and does it better every decade

[@mikeohawk95]

Even look at Spartacus and 10000bc by hbo for example too,etc

[@mikeohawk95]

And didi I mention game of thrones

[@hamilpatel4025]

Season 2 is pretty similar and one or two key areas. But Season 3 has a bunch of different architecture, I think filmed in Singapore. Would also enjoy your thoughts on that.

[@global_nomad.]

one observation was you reference to spaces becoming like tv...we have moved a long way beyond that - to gamification, all spaces are more and more superficial in their relation to experience, the rewards becoming likes on instagram - our cities are being designed to be more photogenic and less about use. Westworld is about an extension of fantasy, but to play out those good and bad dreams. Disneyland is tightly controlled and idealised in a very narrow way, westworld acknowledges that there is far more complexity and darkness and the potentials are more expansive. its good to compare it to Jurrasic Park - which is more disney - where the people are good and the dinosaurs bad..in westworld it is the humans that are the problem.

[@br2266]

One of the best shows ever :)

[@teacherdude]

The series uses modern music adapted for the player piano, an automated music system that stored data on card, a nod to the origins of the sophisticated data storage systems that Westworld despends on.

[@global_nomad.]

ha ha, found you through the graphic novel video....and now i find you look carefully at films too....too much similarity. subscribed...back in the 1980's did my dissertation on cities in sci fi film

[@stewarthicks]

Ohh, I'd love to pick your brain.

[@global_nomad.]

@@stewarthicks are you on linkedin? university of Illinois?

[@stewarthicks]

@@global_nomad. Yep!

[@benjaminwoods510]

dude, your videos are so interesting!

[@stewarthicks]

I appreciate that!

[@xmaninma]

Thanks for this. I'm actively engaged in researching the many, many aspects of what would go into the creation of a park like Westworld, although with the goal of it being a combination of a real theme park with many augmented-reality features. I'm going to share this on my (currently) poorly maintained subreddit r/BuildingWestworld/ which now mainly showcases my development of human-mimetic robotic functions, but is intended to have a much more encompassing scope, as it is my actual goal to create such a park - albeit on a much smaller scale (think a "Sweetwater Only" park). I was recently given the opportunity to review a fully fleshed-out theme park proposal for a western town recreation called "Feed Bag" which was very revealing and helped me in my goal. Your video was very thoughtful and offered me some great insights which will have direct application to what I am drawing up over time. Thanks again, great stuff.

[@stewarthicks]

Sounds fascinating!

[@devanshshah4393]

also would love a video on invisible cities by calvino

[@user-vg7zv5us5r]

11:00 Should host be able recognize him/herself as a host? On what basis Mauve looks away from an ad?

[@airingcupboard]

This is great. Could you do an analysis of the Norwegian film, 'The Bothersome Man"?

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll check it out.

[@JayVBear45]

Have you examined the architecture of iRobot or Blade Runner?

[@PHlophe]

the way you sat there still and then slightly tilted your head to the left as if you were channeling the actual tv show's sequences . This really had me laughing.

[@girishgholap90]

Speaking of fictional cities, can you make video of Gotham city dressed as commissioner Gordon :D (Your current look is perfect Fit)

[@stewarthicks]

Haha! Great idea.

[@RG-ls2db]

"It doesn't look like anything to me"

[@dansheppard2965]

Not seen the new Westworld (though I enjoy the film). But has anyone else got a Groove Armada earworm after those visuals? Watching it again in the context of the reception area, I can't help wonder if it's a deliberate reference. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o17Yq6eMjZuEfLM

[@raul-qi6xp]

Does anyone know of any other channels like this?

[@anthonyraymundo9102]

How would you explain architecture to an ordinary joe?

[@stewarthicks]

Was the video too complicated? I'm still trying to dial how I explain things. Let me know...

[@caseyahlbrandt-rains103]

west world?... more like wayne's world!

[@Urbansound4848]

For me Looking at you takes up too much attention! try different style ! only vocals with content please! Goodspeed!