How ‘Severance’ Turned the Workplace Into a Demented Playground
variety.comWilson Chapman editorThere have been plenty of television shows set in workplaces, but there’s never been one that looks quite like “Severance.” The Apple TV Plus science fiction series is set in the headquarters of Lumon Industries, a mysterious, cult-like company that surgically alters the memories of select employees to split their consciousness in two: their work selves and their outside selves.
These “severed” employees work on their own floor in the company building, and it’s a world in itself: a sprawling labyrinth of stark white halls that stretch into eternity, and massive, void-like office rooms with eye-catching green carpeting.Production designer Jeremy Hindle drew from a wide array of sources when crafting the sets of the series, from the 1967 French film “Playground” to the aesthetics of pharmaceutical companies.
His guiding principle for how Lumon should look was taken from the John Deere World Headquarters in Moline, Ill. , designed by the architects Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche in the 1960s.
While doing research into the building, he learned about how the offices are designed to be very classic, stunning work environments inspired from a time when people’s work lives and home lives were kept completely separate. “All those companies in the 50s and 60s, they had so much style, they had the most beautiful spaces, and they were proud of what they were doing,” Hindle says. “They believed in it and their aesthetic was part of that.
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