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Severance: A closer look into the mid-century, brutalist universe of Lumon
RETRO-FUTURISTIC universe of ‘SEVERANCE’ As the final episode of Severance’s Season 2 airs today, March 21st, viewers are left to ‘hang in there’ (remember that Breakroom poster?) while waiting for the next. Aside from setting a new record for Apple TV+ as its most-watched overall show, the series could be a masterclass in world-building through design.
Directed by Ben Stiller and created by Dan Erickson, the show curates an environment that combines mid-century modernism, brutalist corporate aesthetics, and retro-futuristic technology to craft a sleek and unsettling world. Designed by American-Japanese architect Kaneji Domoto in 1949, the Usonian home reflects his teacher Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture principles, with a cantilevered living room, skylights, and a dining terrace wrapped around a tree. The paintings that line the halls of the company—particularly the bizarre depictions of employees engaged in exaggerated, cult-like camaraderie—echo the visual language of Soviet-era propaganda and corporate motivational murals, reinforcing a manufactured sense of unity and devotion.
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