Name: Andor's Architecture Tells a Story: An Architect Reviews
Uploaded: 2025-04-29T05:13:12.000Z
Duration: 12 min 52 s
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Exceptions

Being both an architect and a lifelong fan of Star Wars, Andor has always stood out to me from the start as one of the best series to come out of the Disney Star Wars era, not just for its gritty, grounded take on life under imperial rule, but for its incredible care poured into the set design and location choices.

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From the Japanese and Scandinavian-influenced architecture of Mon Mothma's estate, to the stunning Star Wars interpretations of Metabolist architecture, to an imperial meeting place drawn straight from the darkest chapters of real-world history, the locations often feel just as alive as the characters that inhabit them.

I hope you'll join me then as I take you through my impressions of the designs of just the first three episodes and dive into the real-world inspiration behind Andor's unforgettable environments.

And if along the way you like this kind of deep dive and you want to see more, please don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button to let me know.

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Cyril Karn's apartment is one of the clearest examples of Andor's subtle but powerful use of real-world architectural influence.

And viewers of this channel will recognize it immediately as I've talked about it before.

It draws from the bold, modular vision of Japan's metabolist movement, born out of the country's post-war era of radical reimagining of what architecture could be.

In Season 1, where I also covered this in a previous video, we caught an overt reference to the Nakagin Capsule Tower in the interior shots of Cyril's original capsule home, although unfortunately, that building has since been demolished, the real one, not the one in the show.

While we never saw the full exterior, the design heavily implied that the entire building was also modular.

Season 2 completely strips away that ambiguity.

We're given a clear establishing shot of Cyril's new apartment, and he now lives with a friend.

Which is composed of a striking series of stacked uniform units, and if you look closely, you'll even spot other similar structures in the distance, likely built from the same repeating system.

It's a direct nod, then, to metabolist thinking.

Cities and buildings imagined as living organisms, modular, expandable, endlessly adaptable.

On a planet like Coruscant, with trillions of inhabitants and endless vertical sprawl, this kind of thinking doesn't just make sense, it becomes a necessity.

But I strongly suspect they also wanted to tell us something about life under imperial rule at this time on Coruscant.

I'm not afraid to admit, though, that there is something undeniably satisfying about the  A clean, almost brutal efficiency is here, with deliberate, even elegant elements.

The way the amenities are integrated into the architecture, echoing the building's overall form language, feels intentional and carefully considered.

The kitchen isn't just some foreign object awkwardly added into the space after the fact, it belongs, inseparable from the structure itself.

Even the circular floor plan softens the otherwise rigid atmosphere, offering a subtle sense of refinement, a glimpse of luxury compared to the cramped capsule of his old home.

The attractive nature of the space mirrors the seductive ideals of imperialism in Star Wars.

It's ordered, it's controlled, and everything is in its proper place.

It's easy to see, then, how someone standing inside of it could be drawn in by the elegance of the system without yet seeing the darkness beneath it.

If we dive a bit deeper, though, into the meaning of this, there's something more insidious here at work.

While it's a clear upgrade from his former living space, metabolism necessitates a standardization of a space, a kind of cell, albeit at a slightly larger, more aspirational scale, still swallowed up within the vast machinery of imperial society.

If the building could speak, it would whisper, you may have moved up, but you're still just a cog in the machine.

Muted colors, harsh lighting, rigid geometries, every detail reinforces a quiet, bureaucratic dehumanization, a cold indifference to the individual, and that's ultimately one of the shortfalls of Metabolist's design and why it probably fell to the wayside aside from its shortcomings on the technical side of detailing.

And it's the perfect reflection of Cyril himself, a man caught between his hunger for recognition and the crushing weight of conformity.

The beauty of the space then becomes its own kind of deception, a polished veneer pulled over the eyes of those who serve, masking a darker truth that lies just beneath.

And the next place I wanted to talk about really peels back the curtain to reveal the darkest part of the empire.

The retreat at the Malthine Divide, where a cabal of high-ranking imperial officials are gathering to quietly plan the forced extraction of vital minerals from the Gormon homeworld, is another masterful example of Andor's layered architectural storytelling.

You'd be forgiven for falling for the beauty of this place, and that's what they want you to do.

It's perched high in the mountains, overlooking breathtaking views, towering stone walls, vast alpine vistas.

There's a sense of serene isolation in this place that feels idyllic, but as you'll see in a moment, it draws direct inspiration from some of the most infamous locations of World War II, combining influences from the Burghof Chalet as well as the Eagle's Nest, also known as the Kaustein House, both owned by the evil mustache man himself.

On approach, the exterior definitely looks to be influenced by the Eagle's Nest.

Built in the 1930s atop Kaustein Mountain in the Bavarian Alps, it was designed as a diplomatic retreat, a place of power projection masked by natural beauty.

Its stark stone construction, monumental alpine setting, and breathtaking views were carefully calculated symbols.

Here, amidst nature's grandeur, the evil Pinwheel Boys could present themselves as eternal, immovable, and even divine.

Yet beneath that veneer of majesty lay the brutal machinery of conquest and oppression.

And if you're wondering why I'm using euphemisms here, YouTube right now flags videos about these topics as controversial.

It's weird to think that just talking about history right now could be considered such.

But getting back to Endor, the retreat of the Malthene Divide captures that same unsettling duality.

But stepping onto the interior, one particular scene really shows how it's connected to a very famous window referred to, you know, who's window, in his Berghof Chalet, the very place where he wrote a certain book.

This is meant to be a quiet but deliberate visual cue, reminding us that the beauty that we see in the hands of tyranny becomes a weapon of its own.

The Empire's officials sit calmly in this luxurious retreat next to the fireside as it slowly roars, discussing systemic oppression and forced extraction as if negotiating a simple business deal.

The architecture isn't just a backdrop, it's a chilling reflection of their mindset, detached from consequence, insulated by privilege, and blind to or willingly ignorant of the devastation that they command.

Here amidst the cold stone and endless vistas, the illusion of nobility cloaks the raw violence at the heart of imperial rule.

And once again, Andor uses its environments not just to ground its world, but to expose its soul.

But as we'll see in the next location, not all power in Andor is built on cruelty.

There are alternatives, and some places stand for something older and more enduring.

Our final stop brings us to the estate of Senator Mon Mothma on her homeworld of Shandrila, a place that feels worlds away from the sterile, oppressive nature of the Empire's architecture, yet carries just as much meaning.

Her residence stands apart immediately, rooted in real-world inspirations drawn from traditional Japanese architecture and ancient castle design.

This can be most evidently seen in the scenes where we see them walking around the entrance area, where you'll see striking stacked stone walls, a direct callback to the mighty foundation stone walls of Japanese castles like Himeji and Matsumoto.

These heavy, carefully layered, naturally shaped stones evoke a deep sense of permanence, stability, and inherited power, the kind that withstands the ravages of time.

Yet unlike the Empire's monuments to domination, Mothma's estate suggests something different.

The architecture speaks not of conquest, but of stewardship.

The Japanese influence runs deeper than just the aesthetics.

It's clear that the designers here wanted to remind us of the ideals of Shintoism, where harmony with nature, humility, and respect for the environment are central values.

We also get a nice peek at what the interior looks like, where there's a bit more of a Scandinavian influence.

The warm, restrained color palette and clean natural wood finishes could be right at home in Northern Europe.

And it's crossed with yet more Japanese influence, with soft light filtering through these delicate, geometric wood screens, a clear nod to traditional shoji design.

These screens are light yet strong and add another layer to the story.

They frame light, but never fully shut it out, creating a sense of openness, privacy, and serenity all at once.

And yet, in another scene where a character is walking through the interior halls of this space, we cut to see some wall paintings of distant mountains, echoing the historic fusuma and shoji screens that we see in the real world, which are decorative elements in Japanese architecture that often carried nature scenes, landscapes, or symbolic motifs.

And these served as going beyond just aesthetic.

They served as quiet reflections of the natural world and the occupant's philosophical outlook, blending art, function, and the environment into a single seamless experience.

Taken together, Mothma's home stands then as a quiet foil to the empire's vision of  It embodies the idea that true strength isn't found in domination, but in endurance, grace, and balance.

Her estate doesn't just reflect her wealth or lineage, it reflects her soul, a leader who still believes, even in the empire's darkest days, that power can be wielded without cruelty and that something better is still worth fighting for.

As we've seen then, the locations in Andor aren't just beautiful set pieces, they're living reflections of the people who inhabit them.

Every stone, every pane of glass, every structural choice subtly reinforces the ideologies, ambitions, and struggles of its characters.

It's a masterclass in how architecture can enrich storytelling, working just beneath the surface to shape how we feel about a place, and about the people who call it home.

To me, what makes Andor stand out is this attention to detail everywhere.

You can see it in the stark, technologically driven design of the TIE Avenger test facility, and even in the rugged, nomadic character of the Ferex refugees' encampment on that agricultural planet.

Each location deepens the world, quietly telling stories of power, survival, and hope.

And I get the sense that I'm just scratching the surface here.

If you've enjoyed this breakdown, then let me know down below because as Andor's second season unfolds, there's so much more yet to uncover and I'd love to keep exploring with you.

So if you liked this episode and you want to see me do more like it, let me know down below by hitting that like and subscribe button and commenting what you noticed about Andor's  And it's always just exciting to talk about architecture for those of us who really appreciate it.

So I hope to see you guys in the next one, and of course, may the force be with you.