Overview
The recent success of the architectural horror film Backrooms has drawn attention to a societal interest in and fascination with expansive, potentially infinite, corporate environments. Edwin Heathcote, commenting on this phenomenon, suggests a connection between this contemporary cultural product and earlier architectural discourse. The film's impact implicitly highlights a pre-existing morbid curiosity surrounding such spatial configurations.
Research Context
The discussion centers on the cultural reception of Backrooms, an architectural horror flick. This film's unexpected popularity serves as a focal point for examining the underlying reasons for public engagement with the theme of "endless corporate spaces." The commentary links this contemporary interest back to the work of Rem Koolhaas, implying that his architectural concepts may have anticipated or elucidated aspects of this fascination.
The referenced individual, Edwin Heathcote, considers the "basis for our morbid fascination with endless corporate spaces." This framing positions the discussion as an inquiry into the psychological or sociological roots of this specific architectural apprehension. The mention of a common dream involving "finding a secret door in our too-small apartment that leads to another room, a corridor, or perhaps a whole basement" suggests a potential, widespread, subconscious engagement with the idea of hidden, expansive, or unexpected spaces within everyday environments. This dream motif is presented as potentially universal, indicated by the rhetorical question, "Is it only me, or do we all have that dream..."
Findings
- The film Backrooms has achieved surprise success as an architectural horror flick.
- There is a "morbid fascination with endless corporate spaces."
- Rem Koolhaas is identified as having explored concepts relevant to this fascination previously, indicated by the statement: "As so often seems to happen, Koolhaas got there first."
- A recurring dream involves discovering additional or expanded spaces (e.g., another room, a corridor, a basement) within a confined personal dwelling.