In “Severance,” rom director and executive producer Ben Stiller and creator Dan Erickson, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself.
There have been plenty of television shows set in workplaces, but there’s never been one that looks quite like “Severance.” The Apple TV Plus science fiction series is set in the headquarters of Lumon Industries, a mysterious, cult-like company… Production designer Jeremy Hindle drew from a wide array of sources when crafting the sets of the series, from the 1967 French film “Playground” to the aesthetics of pharmaceutical companies. His guiding principle for how Lumon should look was taken from the John Deere World Headquarters in Moline, Ill. , designed by the architects Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche in the 1960s.
The main setting of the show, and the one set that Hindle considers to be the most important, is the Macrodata Refinement office that houses Mark and his team. The room is massive, measuring 80 by 40 feet, with low ceilings to create a feeling of being trapped. While designing the space, Hindle envisioned it as a playground of sorts, one where the newly severed employees are put and monitored after emerging from the “womb” –– the boardroom where they first awaken. To convey that, he gave the room a carpet with a grassy shade, resulting in the odd mix between sterile whites and deep greens that dominates the color palette of the series. Hindle also envisioned the color green as acting as a lifeline of sorts for the severed characters, who are locked deep within the walls of Lumon with no way to escape…
MacDailyNews Take: Again, if you haven’t given “Severance” a try, check it out – we recommend it highly.
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