Winner of the AIGA'S International Competition for Notable Graphic Design.

“It’s both an architecture and movie fan’s dream.” - Los Angeles Times

"Strikingly designed." - Publishers Weekly

“Explores the cinematic tradition of antiheroes with architecturally significant private spaces." - Architectural Digest

“A fascinating gift for that highbrow nerd in your life.” - Syfy Wire

Why do bad guys live in good houses? From Atlantis in The Spy Who Loved Me to Nathan Bateman's ultra-modern abode in Ex Machina, big-screen villains often live in architectural splendor. From a design standpoint, the villain’s lair, as popularized in many of our favorite movies, is a stunning, sophisticated, envy-inducing expression of the warped drives and desires of its occupant. Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains, celebrates and considers several iconic villains’ lairs from recent film history.

From futuristic fantasies to deathtrap-laden hives, from dwellings in space to those under the sea, pop culture and architecture join forces in these outlandish, primarily modern homes and in Lair, which features buildings from fifteen films, including:

• Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• Star Wars
• The Incredibles
• Blade Runner 2049
• You Only Live Twice
• The Ghost Writer
• Body Double
• North by Northwest 

 

Edited by acclaimed architect Chad Oppenheim with Andrea Gollin, Lair includes interviews with production designers and other industry professionals such as Ralph Eggleston, Richard Donner, Roger Christian, David Scheunemann, Gregg Henry, and Mark Digby. Contributors include director Michael Mann, cultural critic Christopher Frayling, museum director Joseph Rosa, and architect Amy Murphy. Architectural illustrations and renderings by Carlos Fueyo provide multiple in-depth views of these spaces.