An Architect Reviews the Architecture of Star Wars: Andor

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How Night City was Designed Presentation:

[craigwallace]

I'm honestly shocked to hear people have mixed reviews on it! It's one of the best shows on TV right now. I'm also an architect and I've been loving what they have been doing. Was a fantastic choice to change Coruscant from the shiny high tech style of the prequels to this great oppressive brutalist style. Another great brutalist location from London they used was the Barbican.

[JimPekarek]

Where is Andor getting mixed reviews? Literally everyone I've heard of that's seen it considers it the best Star Wars show, even surpassing Mandalorian. It's SO GOOD.

[Torus]

One thing I noticed in Syril's story was the use of sunlight, or lack thereof, to symbolize his low status. His mother's apartment is so low in the city that it barely gets any sunlight. The show even goes out of its way to show that Syril cares about this, both in the scene where he arrives and we see him look up and watch the sun disappear as he travels down into the building, and when we see him in his room apparently waiting there specifically for the few seconds each day when the sun is at just the right angle to shine into his window.

[UfSevens]

Andor is actually the best of the new Star Wars.

[SunWarrior]

Andor is a masterpiece in every way: writing, acting, set design, special effects. It's a shame it's not getting the recognition it deserves simply because so many Star Wars fans have the attention span of a squirrel.

[Annhilator]

I thoroughly enjoyed the design of the prison. It reminds me a bit of Kamino with it being on the water but also in the large open underground tunnels and space and the idea of a futuristic prison being so clean and polished and yet so brutal and cruel with the floors felt super unique and intriguing to me

[MonoFlax]

What struck me most about the antique shop was how low the ceiling was, especially considering how much vertical space the geometric pattern seems to take up, it feels almost as if the ceiling was intentionally lowered which in my opinion creates a much more private confined atmosphere. Quite fitting, considering the character who inhabits the space and the dealings which take place there. Excellent interior design that helps to tell the story!

[A_NorthKorean_CoOp]

The use of physical sets and locations is a beauty to the eye

[darthjarjar]

I'm not an architect but I was actually stunned by the designs in this show. The shot of the diagonal thing on coruscant, Mon Mothma's apartment, the ISB building - I can tell a lot of thought was put into them and they are so beautiful! I really hope Star Wars continues to move in this direction because Andor is my favorite Star Wars show right now

[JohnnyBraveOfficial]

I also recognized very well the location on Coruscant where in episode 8 Luthen’s secretary meets with the girl that lead the Imperial heist. It is actually in Barbican, London. I know those brutalist platforms and corridors very well and definitely recognized the location:) Funny thing is that whenever I used to walk around Barbican even before seeing this show, I’ve always thought of it as very much resembling Coruscant’s platforms (from the prequels and Clone Wars scenes) - if you don’t look down, to see the streets below, and instead imagine you are very high up in a skyscraper structure, with cars flying around, it basically is Coruscant:)

[Marcusstratus]

As a professional clothing maker, the costumes in Andor are incredible as well.

[sntxrrr]

You say you could have made this one hour long? Then please do, make more episodes. Your subscribers will love you for it.
I love the show and the art direction. To be able to keep showing new locations after so many hours of media since the 70's is quite a feat.

[metzger]

One of the things I absolutely love about this series is that it takes the viewer into places otherwise nobody would see, let alone be interested in. The fact that so much of the show's minor plot points have played out in "midtown" on Coruscant is great to me. As an architectural designer that loves brutalist and metabolist architecture myself, I was really excited when the areas of the walkways in Episodes 7 and 8 were revealed, and we got to see the bare concrete and waffle slabs everywhere at the ceilings. Love me some waffle slabs!

[Vilmar]

Part II please! Seriously, your Architect Reviews videos are really enjoyable, entertaining and informative.

[paulkoulikov]

Here's a couple references from Soviet architecture that I noticed:
3:20 National Library in Belarus
10:00 Genocide Memorial in Armenia

I think other locations that you mentioned are clever original mixes of real and film architecture. I suppose most film nerds would recognise that the Imperial Security Bureau inside is heavily inspired by the War Room from Kubrick's "How I Stopped Worrying..." as it has become almost like a staple design in films.

[MarkGalean]

EVERYTHING about this show blows my mind! Not just the architecture, but their costumes, clothing, artifacts, spaceships... I would love to explore every single place and world little by little. Please, don't worry about the amount of time your videos might get, we WILL LOVE them, believe me. There's still sooo much to talk about! CONGRATULATIONS for your content btw!

[BD-ylmh]

I might just be not very conscious, but I think they must have nailed Mothma’s home because at no point did I go “oh so Chandrillla is Space Japan/China”

Like I did obviously notice the banzai and the screens (though I think I barely registered the screens consciously), but on the whole I was just like “yep, this feels like a rich persons Star Wars house.”

But now that you’ve pointed out the influences I’m like “duh, the husband is literally wearing a kimono with a fairly Japanese hair style.” But even so, I still find it a believable blend of ideas that doesn’t scream “we just copied traditional Japanese design”

(And overall, I think one of the keys here is that most of the design doesn’t feel, inordinately sci-fi. Given an appropriate project, I feel that most of the rooms you highlighted could be turned in by a genuine architect and be taken seriously. I lot of them would seem to belong on earth perfectly well)

[robertgronewold]

One thing I love is that Star Wars loves to sneak in a lot of 70's styling into it, because at once it helps prevent the older movies from feeling dated.

[amandalong]

I've been obsessed with the architecture/production design in this show. I really hope they win some Emmys (or at least get nominated).

[hakonhalldorsson]

The set design is astoundingly good on this show but it also does so much else right which makes it a dream to watch for someone who was a kid when ANH came out. The writing isn't lazy and it is full of dialog that begs to be revisited, especially during the ISP meetings, a setting that had me bored to tears during the prequels. It has no unnecessary action or effects, or illogical plot devices. It respects the audiences intellect and keeps you immersed and engaged. It doesn't introduce new tech that isn't in the original movies like the prequels, and to some extent Book of Boba Fett and Obi Wan, did. One wonders how Disney can put together teams that treat the source material in such different manner but most of all, where was this team when they did the atrocious new movies. Rogue One had it's flaws, but is still the best new Star Wars movie since the original trilogy. Watching it again after Andor has completed its run will be amazing.