"Squid Game" is not only the most successful Netflix production to date - the Korean series is currently one trend after another, from the revival of Dalgona biscuits to TikTok challenges to old children's games.
So far, less attention has been paid to the recurring backdrops of the game hell - above all the stairwell - but subliminally all the more present.
The brightly colored colors stand in stark contrast to the claustrophobic narrowness through which guards and players squeeze their way through at the end of every deadly game day.
The author and director Hwang Dong-hyuk repeatedly refers to MC Escher, but architecture lovers have long since recognized another inspiration: The Muralla Roja, located on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. If you look at the images of the bright colors and the labyrinthine, repeatedly crossing stairs, the similarity can hardly be denied - a film set that was, however, an architectural icon long before the series. And now it could also become the latest phenomenon in Insta-Architurismo.
The massive residential complex, which sits enthroned on the rugged cliffs of the Costa Blanca in Calp like a pink fortress, was designed by Ricardo Bofill at the end of the sixties, who has long been one of the iconic architects of the present. The reduced geometry, in combination with the many terraces and courtyards, is based on North African kasbahs; the floor plan a Greek cross, which is repeated in the structures, and if it weren't for the colors - depending on the use pink, red, purple and blue, the Muralla Roja would appear brutalistic. The building houses 50 apartments, next to it a restaurant on the ground floor and a pool and sauna on the roof - all exclusively for the residents. Access is only granted to those who really live here, a security guard takes care of this around the clock, because the Muralla Roja has long been a tourist attraction.The only way to get into the building is to rent the Airbnbs and apartments offered as vacation rentals.
And that is exactly what could become a new viral trend with Squid Game. The Muralla Roja is photogenic enough for a post on Instagram, and that a viral picture can fuel a new travel trend more than the best marketing department was known even before the travel restrictions of the pandemic. The Dubai agency “All for the Gram” has specialized in Instagram destinations, and countries like Iceland and New Zealand have successfully attracted more tourists with their social media campaigns in recent years.
It is hardly surprising that a draft by Ricardo Bofill, of all things, is used as a template for a film set and could become a new viral destination. His characteristic megalomaniac projects often seem like Stanislav's visions: whether the Arcades du Lac, Les Espaces d'Abraxas or his home and studio La Fábrica - they all have something dystopian about them.
In addition to the Muralla Roja, two other buildings by Bofill can be seen in Calp: The dark green, asymmetrical Xanadu, also a residential complex, and the Social Club Manzanera, which has been vacant for more than 30 years, is based on the natural stone of the cliffs and stands by the water .
Wind and weather have left their mark, but perhaps the hype about architecture has led to the building being renovated soon.
Then the Instagram architurismo may have a lasting effect after all - beyond the post.