The megatall tower in new action movie Skyscraper was never expected to be a hit with architects, admits production designer Jim Bissell, but he wanted the building to be a "hero" nonetheless.
The megatall tower in new action movie Skyscraper was never expected to be a hit with architects, admits production designer Jim Bissell, but he wanted the building to be a "hero" nonetheless.
The task of designing The Pearl – an imaginary 240-storey tower in Hong Kong that catches on fire – fell to Bissell and his team, who were required to create a skyscraper that was both believable and that satisfied all the requirements of the plot.
But the Oscar-nominated production designer said that marrying a beautiful building and the storyline of the movie, which stars actor Dwayne Johnson, was an impossible task.
"No matter what we did, we were doomed for failure in the eyes of the architectural community," Bissell told Dezeen. "I had no delusions about the fact that it was going to incite the ire of many of my architectural peers."
The script called for a colossal skyscraper that Johnson's character could access in a dramatic fashion, in order to put out the fire and save his family trapped inside, as well as provide a vertigo-inducing setting for the action.
"All of the criteria that good architecture needs to meet to be beautiful, wonderful and celebrated, are not the criteria I had before me to design this building," said Bissell. "As a designer who also wants to make the building look appropriate as a piece of architecture, that was a real challenge."
The production designer previously worked on Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which sees Tom Cruise scale the world's current tallest building – Dubai's Burj Khalifa. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his work on George Clooney's 2005 historical drama Good Night, and Good Luck.
For Skyscraper, which was released last week, The Pearl was designed to reach 1,066 metres in height – making it the world's tallest building if it were real – and is described as "a marvel of modern engineering".
Architect and tall-building specialist Adrian Smith, who consulted on the project during its early writing stages, previously told Dezeen that director Rawson Marshall Thurber wanted a building that was based on real possibilities.
But this proved challenging for several reasons, Bissell revealed. For example, written into the movie's narrative is a domed portion of the building, also called the Pearl, which houses various high-tech functions at its tip.
"The first real challenge was to make a very, very tall building with a pearl at the end, and not make it look phallic," said Bissell. "The second is that, because it is so overbearing on the skyline, it's so prominent... I did want to try to give it some kind of real character."
The resulting tower's curving glass form resembles a dragon, snaked at the bottom then reaching skyward, holding the spherical "pearl" in its mouth at the top. The "eye" is created by double-helix wind turbines that help to power the building, while its "belly" is a 30-storey atrium where much of the film's action takes place.
"Something that I think that many architects do in their work, and they've stolen it from us – dramatic designers – is that they give their building a narrative and a context," Bissell said.
Overall, the designer's intention was for The Pearl to be a hero, and "represent something strong and reaffirming, against the forces of greed and corruption".
The task of designing The Pearl – an imaginary 240-storey tower in Hong Kong that catches on fire – fell to Bissell and his team, who were required to create a skyscraper that was both believable and that satisfied all the requirements of the plot.
But the Oscar-nominated production designer said that marrying a beautiful building and the storyline of the movie, which stars actor Dwayne Johnson, was an impossible task.
"No matter what we did, we were doomed for failure in the eyes of the architectural community," Bissell told Dezeen. "I had no delusions about the fact that it was going to incite the ire of many of my architectural peers."
The script called for a colossal skyscraper that Johnson's character could access in a dramatic fashion, in order to put out the fire and save his family trapped inside, as well as provide a vertigo-inducing setting for the action.
"All of the criteria that good architecture needs to meet to be beautiful, wonderful and celebrated, are not the criteria I had before me to design this building," said Bissell. "As a designer who also wants to make the building look appropriate as a piece of architecture, that was a real challenge."
The production designer previously worked on Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which sees Tom Cruise scale the world's current tallest building – Dubai's Burj Khalifa. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his work on George Clooney's 2005 historical drama Good Night, and Good Luck.
For Skyscraper, which was released last week, The Pearl was designed to reach 1,066 metres in height – making it the world's tallest building if it were real – and is described as "a marvel of modern engineering".
Architect and tall-building specialist Adrian Smith, who consulted on the project during its early writing stages, previously told Dezeen that director Rawson Marshall Thurber wanted a building that was based on real possibilities.
But this proved challenging for several reasons, Bissell revealed. For example, written into the movie's narrative is a domed portion of the building, also called the Pearl, which houses various high-tech functions at its tip.
"The first real challenge was to make a very, very tall building with a pearl at the end, and not make it look phallic," said Bissell. "The second is that, because it is so overbearing on the skyline, it's so prominent... I did want to try to give it some kind of real character."
The resulting tower's curving glass form resembles a dragon, snaked at the bottom then reaching skyward, holding the spherical "pearl" in its mouth at the top. The "eye" is created by double-helix wind turbines that help to power the building, while its "belly" is a 30-storey atrium where much of the film's action takes place.
"Something that I think that many architects do in their work, and they've stolen it from us – dramatic designers – is that they give their building a narrative and a context," Bissell said.
Overall, the designer's intention was for The Pearl to be a hero, and "represent something strong and reaffirming, against the forces of greed and corruption".