The Architecture of Squid Game

Abstract

Squid Game has gained wide attention. Netflix's hit series tells a story of desperate people who are lured into playing deadly games in exchange for 45,600,000,000 won (approximately Rs.2,88,97,97,930) and it has been engrossing viewers for several weeks. And apart from its twisted plot and compelling cast of characters, another aspect of Squid Game has gotten people talking: the surreal architecture featured throughout the show is highly memorable, and plays an important role in making viewers feel as terrified as the contestants. Squid Game demonstrates how architecture can be used to evoke a wide range of emotions, from nostalgia and joy to unease and terror. In this article, I'll provide examples of how the spaces depicted in the series have a profound psychological impact on the participants and viewers of the show.

Squid Game, drama series streaming on Netflix

Introduction 

The design of each set, wonderfully thought up by Art Director Chae Kyung-sun, is layered with analogies that reflect the conflicts of modern society. Imagery associated with childhood innocence, or at least our idealistic memory of childhood innocence, frames a tale about money, greed, violence, and death. This juxtaposition allows architecture to be used as an effective instrument for storytelling, constructing a narrative that makes viewers feel deeply uncomfortable while also compelling them to watch more.

Innocence is juxtaposed with Violence  

To gain a better understanding of Squid Game's architecture and the inspiration behind it, I'll walk you through some of the show's key spaces, each of which serves as a fascinating backdrop for a plot that quickly shifts from tense to terrifying.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Dorms

Dormitory gives an industrial look

Players wake up in a massive space that is half school hall and half prison atrium after being dragged away from their daily lives. Multi-story bunk beds surround a large open space in the middle, arranged like grandstands in a stadium or even the Colosseum, foretelling the evolution of this space from sleeping quarters to bloody battleground in later episodes. Pictograms on the tiled walls make a reference to the games themselves, which are gradually revealed to players as the bunks are deconstructed throughout the game.

Resemblance to ancient fighting arena

"The Art Director proposed a warehouse store concept," Director Hwang Dong-hyuk described. "Rather than treating them as individuals, she proposed that the participants be presented as objects stacked on warehouse shelves." The concept efficiently shapes our perspective of the players from the start, as we come to see the players as a collection of identical dolls, the amusements of an omnipresent authority.

Staircase

Resemblance with M.C. Escher's drawings

The transitional space that competitors must walk through to enter the game venues has already become iconic in Squid Game, and is undoubtedly the most striking architectural space in the game. The towering maze of staircases was inspired by M.C. Escher's renowned Relativity lithograph, according to Hwang, and the similarities are clear. The maze-like nature of these spaces evokes feelings of discomfort, as if one could lose their way – or even their understanding of gravity – at any time.

Colourful childish ambience with confusing movement.

Squid Game's stair-filled corridors, while similar to Escher's monochrome hallucination, are significantly more colourful, mimicking the candy-coloured tones of children's playhouses. There is a striking contrast between the show's playful architecture and its significantly creepy gameplay throughout. This startling sensation heightens the tension for both the players and the show's audiences.

Red Light Green Light Yard

The first and also final arena in Squid Game embodies the show's surreal quality. Humble huts with terracotta roofs serve as arena entrances, intended to resemble the simplified houses that kids draw. All four walls are covered in fake skies, remake of the cloud-covered canopy that envelops Truman Burbank's world in The Truman Show (1998). The yard is just one example of how Squid Game uses the dreamlike effect to create an eerie, uneasy feeling in viewers, as well as a sense of foreboding.

Red light Green Light area

The most memorable aspect of the game is undoubtedly the massive, robotic doll that serves as the conductor for a deadly game of 'Red Light Green Light.' The doll is monumental in scale, with cameras in place of eyes, evoking surveillance equipment found in prisons and high-security government facilities. The intimidating scale of the doll is intended to make players feel small and childish, a theme that runs throughout Squid Game's other arenas.

Creepy huge robotic doll, as commander for the game.

Playground

Players are made to play the Honeycomb game in a playground full of oversized slides, swings, and climbing frames in second game. "When we were younger, the playground seemed very large," Hwang explained, "so we built a giant playground for adults." While the play equipment is largely ignored during the game, it serves a similar function to the giant doll in Game 1 in that it diminishes the players, reducing them to pawns to be toyed with by those in power.

Honeycomb game- Game 2

The walls surrounding the playground, like in the first arena, are painted with a fictitious sky. This time, the cartoonish clouds and sun are more overtly immature in their depiction, possibly to represent the players' continued descent from the real world into Squid Game's twisted reality.

The Waiting Lounge

Calm but unsettling feeling experienced 

In contrast to the multicoloured spaces that characterize much of Squid Game, the room where contestants must wait before Games 3 and 4 is devoid of colour. This gleaming white hall appears to have been designed by a well-known Starchitect, with curving walls and cool lighting reminds of Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Center or Santiago Calatrava's World Trade Center PATH Station.

Lost and not knowing the future.

"The white space is very dreamlike," Park Hae-soo, who plays Cho Sang-woo in the show, said. "I felt like I was entering a different world when I passed through that white space." Chae Kyung-sun, the art director, explained the design's inspiration: "We were attempting to create a sense of unease that comes from being in a large room, not knowing what would happen next." We wanted to create an uncharted territory." Beyond the Waiting Lounge, the players will encounter a far more disturbing structure.

Tug Of War Room

Game 3 - Tug of War takes place in one of Squid Game's largest arenas. This room is raw and industrial in nature, similar to a large aircraft hangar. Two massive structures support lofty platforms on which the teams stand, desperately clinging to the rope in an attempt to avoid falling into the central void. Only half of those who enter this space will survive. Blue screens were used behind the scenes to enhance the sense of darkness and vertigo-inducing height in post-production.

Making of the set for Tug of War game

Game 3 - Tug of War

The bright yellow gantries that support the platforms resemble the construction toys that we are all familiar with. Wide angles distort their scale, turning the entire structure into an architectural scale model and reducing the players to tiny, toylike figurines. Once again, the participants of the Squid Game are minimised by their surroundings.

Alleyway

This particular set evokes so many memories

Game 4 takes place in a traditional Korean alleyway, with contestants matched up against a partner in a life-or-death marbles game. Again, the space is designed to evoke feelings of nostalgic comfort associated with childhood, creating a jarring sensation for players and viewers alike given the imminent violence and death that half of the participants are aware of. "It was a very detailed set," Park recalled. “The marble, rusted gate, and even the door-plate if you look closely, all the elements have detail.”

Scene from the Alleyway

Glass Bridge

In Game 5, players must cross a bridge made of glass panels, only half of which are tempered. If a player steps on a non-tempered pane, they will end up dying. The bridge is suspended within a theatre-like space, complete with flashing lights reminds of a circus or a Vegas casino. The design here is intended to be viewed as a performance, which makes sense given the presence of several 'VIP' spectators for this game.

Glass Bridge game

"I wanted to design a dangerous and scary space; a space where you can think of life and death at the same time," Chae explained. The set was built 1.5 metres (5 feet) above the ground with real tempered glass panels, and the cast ran several tests to determine how far apart the panels could be positioned while still being traversable. This height was enough to make the actors nervous as they jumped between the glass platforms, lending the scene an authenticity that would have been impossible to achieve if the set had been entirely computer generated.

Filming of Glass Bridge game

Conclusions

Overall, Squid Game is a great example of how architecture can be designed to evoke a wide range of emotions, from nostalgia and joy to unease and terror. Squid Game can be read as either a poetic commentary on the loss of innocence or a political satire on capitalism and its corrupting influence. In any case, there is little doubt about the show's cultural impact, which is largely due to Chae's ability to use architecture as a powerful storytelling tool.