Architecture is massively present in all fields of life including but not limited to urban blocks, buildings, and scenographies such as photographs, videos, and movies.
Visual arts – including architecture are tools to express ideas and thoughts, in addition to realizing concepts. Since movies and series seek to be presented more realistically, architectural modeling will be the magic wand: Some models, good compositions, era involvements, and abracadabra!! Usually, actors and directors are put in the light keeping strong pillars – architects in shadow. However, what role do architects play in movies and series? Architects are in charge of practicalities such as design models, and lighting, added to the main consultancy role like location setting and selection, and proper use of architectural elements (Tajvidian, 2023).
Premiered in March 2013, Vikings – The Series, is a good example reflecting the role of architecture in realizing all seasons from Nordic-built environments to internal spaces passing through architectural elements, furniture, moods, and clothes…
Vikings – The Series: Built Environments
Dating back in time, the ideal model of a Viking city is located in coastal areas for navigation purposes, and with large areas of grass for animals and agriculture (Hirst, 2019). Within all seasons of Vikings, many cities were shown from several perspectives: Eye-level views, bird-eye views, and close shots.
Numerous facts and activities took place in Kattegat – a city in the series. Even though the geography of Kattegat in real life is not that similar to what was expressed in the movie, the built environment of Kattegat was pretty similar to what Viking cities looked like. As Vikings showed, the city was framed by the coast for maritime activities and green lands for animal raising and agricultural activities. Even fences used to protect Vikings’ cities from floods, predators, and enemies, were smoothly shown in Kattegat through sheared wooden fences.
Vikings – The Series: Architectural Elements
According to Hirst, “The structures rendered in Viking cities were made out of stone foundations topped by wood, stones, and peat”. This was expressed and shown in Vikings – The Series, especially in Kattegat. Moreover, closer shots revealed darkness and obscurity in the materials which were similar to how real Vikings constructions used to be. As mentioned by The National Museum of Denmark, “Vikings houses had no windows, they had roof openings instead. Adding to this, the house was shaped like a boat – this is the longhouse”. On the counterpart, other houses were perceived, called pit-houses. Pit houses are similar to longhouses in structure, but smaller in size and lacking the curved walls of longhouses – these structures were for poorer people (Skjalden, 2019).
Going back to Kattegat, the urban settlement showed only pit houses that may vary in size to reach the desired length of a longhouse!
Vikings – The series not only mimics Scandinavian or Nordic architecture, but it also shows some structures from other civilizations such as French and Islamic. These structures reflected how other civilizations looked like in the past.
Vikings – The Series: Internal Spaces
Internal spaces of Viking houses consist of stone flooring, with wooden vertical structures. These houses were highly decorated with animals’ leather and fur, dry flowers, silk curtains and carpets, iron shields, and lamps (Skjalden, 2019). All Viking structures hold in the middle a central fireplace topped by a roof void chasing the smoke out, and additional small windows in the roof for lighting and ventilation purposes. Besides dwellings, they used to gather in a massive building – similar to a longhouse in typologies. These buildings were also ornamented similarly to houses and featured a unique elevated plate in the middle. This plate is highly decorated and assumed to be the focal zone holding two thrones for the Earl and his wife. What characterizes all internal spaces is the open central area leading to side rooms for private activities such as sleeping, food preparations, storage, and private gatherings.
Vikings – The Series, succeeded in reflecting these spirits in almost all shots, especially in episode 1 of the first season – considered as the introduction to the Vikings. The shots’ mood was darker in the series than in real life – it might be for cinematic and dramatic reasons since the series is categorized as drama.
Vikings – The Series: The Use of Software and Render Engines
In massive productions, digitalizing some wider shots using 3D modeling programs and driven by architects will produce images reflecting the real look of urban settlements. The making-off process of the Vikings revealed many shots taken in filming studios and benefiting from green screens. A collaborative work between architects, designers, 3D artists, and editors led to the creation of wider Viking environments. Computer graphics effects were frequently used in the making process of Vikings. Many houses and architectural elements were modeled and inserted digitally in the scenes. In season three, there were more than 300 visual effects that viewers did not recognize (OSSA Movies, 2021).
Vikings – The Series: Overall Architectural Review
Architects and archeologists are trained to extract from found data and ruins outlines for architectural models related to ancient civilizations. These extractions will help draw an approximate presentation for the real look. However, remodeling some architectural features in movies and series will always be bonded by several factors such as budgets, needed expressions, storytelling, and much more. In an architectural review on Vikings – The series, findings ensure that a large amount of time and work either physically or digitally were put together to create a real ambient of Vikings’ life and settlements.
References:
Tajvidian, M. (September 16, 2023). The Role of Architecture in Conveying Meaning and Expressing Feelings in Cinema. [Online]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/role-architecture-conveying-meaning-expressing-cinema-tajvidian#:~:text=The%20identified%20roles%20and%20functions,elements%20in%20the%20film’s%20narrative [Accessed 17 April 2024].
Hirst, K. (July 03, 2019). Viking Settlements: How The Norse Lived in Conquered Lands. [Online]. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/viking-settlement-how-the-norse-lived-173148#:~:text=Viking%20Settlement%20Characteristics&text=Structures%20in%20Viking%20settlements%E2%80%94dwellings,also%20present%20in%20Viking%20settlements [Accessed 17 April 2024].
National Museum of Denmark. What Were Vikings Home Like? [Online]. Available at: https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-people/viking-homes/#:~:text=Viking%20houses%20were%20built%20of,often%20supported%20by%20sloping%20posts [Accessed 17 April 2024].
Skjalden (January 19, 2019). Viking Houses – What Did They Look Like? [Online]. Available at: https://skjalden.com/viking-houses/ [Accessed 18 April 2024].
OSSA Movies (2023). This Is What Vikings Really Looks Like Without CFX & CGI. [YouTube Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGVtXbgmHT0&t=609s [Accessed 18 April 2024].
List of Images:
1_Vikings Boats. [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://kurgancompass.com/film-series/the-vikings-series-6-seasons-of-anglo-nordic-history/
2_Kattegat. [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://fjorn-the-skald.tumblr.com/post/134290080061/a-viking-village-kattegat-from-vikings
3_Longhouse. [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://asgardalaska.org/2023/03/the-viking-longhouse/
5_Green Screen. [Illustration]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8IGi5UMtOg
