Tra Publishing

A new book deconstructs the hideouts of our favorite villains Despite its notoriety as a place of death and destruction, we have to admit, the Death Star is an impressive piece of architecture. Round like a ball, its improbable shape houses an intricate program of gleaming corridors, stark rooms, and deadly weapons.
Darth Vader?s refuge wasn?t an actual building (it was a 54-inch model used to create computer effects), but it was an inspiration for the way filmmakers thought about the home bases of movie villains going forward. They were to be striking?unusual pieces or architecture designed for unusual characters.

Tra Publishing
John Lautner?s Chemosphere house as seen in Brain De Palma?s Body Double
In Lair, a new book from architect Chad Oppenheim and editor Andrea Gollin, we get to go inside 15 famous designs that the most notorious villains have called home. The book is an intellectual look at the genre of architectural villainy. It traces Hollywood?s fascination (and villain-ization) of modern architecture from movies like North By Northwest to contemporary animations like The Incredibles.
The book takes you inside the famous villa of 007 villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Diamonds are Forever, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protege John Lautner. Lautner built the Elrod House in 1968 for interior designer Arthur Elrod in Palm Springs where its round frame perches atop a precarious base of rocks. It?s followed b...