One of the most interesting types of spaces depicted in cinema are space stations and spaceships. This is due to the fact that they all exist on a broad spectrum and differ based on a multitude of other factors. Whether it’s Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey or Oblivion, each film tries to create its own space reality based on the story and characters. For the brilliant new Netflix comedy, Space Force, the challenge was to take our current reality with the United States Space Force and mix together elements of Brutalism, Mid Century Modern and Stanley Kubrick to create an incredible environment that they define as “Enhanced Reality”.

In an exclusive interview with Interiors, we spoke with Susie Mancini, who is the Production Designer for Space Force. The images are courtesy of Netflix.

INT: First off, we were curious how the opportunity to do the Television Show, Space Force, came about? What was it about it that made you want to work on it?

SM: The opportunity to work on Space Force came about while I was working on another show, Dollface. The creator of the show (Jordan Weiss) and the show-runner (Ira Ungerleider), both knew Greg Daniels personally and they knew he was coming up with a new show. They also happened to know that I was a massive fan of his: I’ve probably watched The Office over 100 times from start to finish. They thought I would have been a great fit for his new show and that we would work well together and they made the introduction. Greg and I met shortly after for coffee and I was so excited I couldn’t believe I was going to have breakfast with one of my all time favorite comedy writers. I knew it was an interview for the Production Designer position but, thinking this show was out of my reach and that this was simply going to be my coolest breakfast ever, I didn’t bring anything with me. And it was a great breakfast! We chatted for a long time and had some great laughs. It wasn’t until the end that Greg spoke to me about the show, very briefly. In about 2 minutes he summed up what the show was going to be about and what his idea for it was. He didn’t want “The Office 2.0” and was intrigued by having a Dr. Strangelove influence.

This immediately put an extra large smile on my face: the idea of working on something where I can pull inspiration from Kubrick has always been a dream of mine. Off the top of my head, I spoke to him shortly about what my vision for the show could be, immediately ran home and put together all my concepts and ideas. I spent the weekend cooped up in my apartment trying to put together as many details as I could about what I had in my head and, on Monday, I sent it to Greg. Tuesday, he came to see my sets on Dollface and Thursday I had the job! The idea was to create something realistic, that could actually be a version of what the real Space Force could be like; A serious and rigorous military environment, male dominated, wanted and founded by our current administration, plus Space! In terms of design, the point was to couch it in reality with a slightly enhanced and stylized feel to it, what my team would later label as “Enhanced Reality”. I had to create something somewhat cinematic and visually interesting, but that wouldn’t overwhelm the audience or create something futuristic or ridiculous. It was a challenge founded in the delicate balance of realism and fiction and I turned to Brutalist Architecture as the solution.

INT: The show focuses on the development of the Military’s new branch, Space Force, and takes place primarily at a remote base in Colorado. How developed was the base when it was first explained to you? In terms of Production Design, how did you and your team conceptualize this area? Were there any references (Military, Government) that you took from as you were planning?

SM: Our initial focus was to understand the brand and brand equity that embodied Space Force; we had to actualize the best look and find its core and identity. We started on two paths - the actual seal/logo and the architecture of Space Force’s headquarters/base. The two main possible directions for the headquarters/base were: a modern and brand new building, created from scratch for the new military branch, or an older building that was repurposed to fit the needs of the Space Force. The desert was our backdrop and that was the common denominator for these different scenarios. After many considerations, I pushed for a retro look, with the idea of an old Norad facility or an abandoned structure being brought back by the government and refurbished to serve the new military branch; it was a realistic option as Space Force is not a private company such as SpaceX but is government founded. And what was also relevant was that the look that could be created from a retro design was more interesting to look at and potentially more iconic. There were many ideas that ranged from being solely on a location that would make sense production wise and design wise, to a hybrid of location plus set extensions and a few builds, to building the entire set on a stage. After extensive research and budgeting, we found our great exterior location in the CSU Dominguez Hills campus. The University Theater building was a concrete monolith that aligned with my idea of Brutalist architecture and was a perfect exterior for the large set interior of the Headquarters we decided to build. The absence of windows served our purpose perfectly, allowing me to use as much space as possible on our soundstage and not lose square footage to backdrops and green screens. I used the skylights everywhere as unique light sources, making light a primary design element on the sets and with it casting shadows across the walls and the floors (skylights are another typical element of the Brutalist architecture). The campus was great for all the other buildings that surrounded the theater - a collection of old and new architecture, from Mid Century, to Brutalism, Modernism and Contemporary structures. The campus became our exterior Space Force Base location and we used the geography of the buildings there to recreate points of reference for our audience. We built most of our interiors on stages. We also added our Space Force signage and flags everywhere possible to tie all of our exteriors together. I used all the research that my team and I could find to help me create sets, both interiors and exteriors, that resemble a real military base as much as possible. From actual tours on military bases, online searches, videos, books and archives, but a main resource were the consultants that Netflix provided us from both the military world and Nasa. I discussed with them everything I could, from the bigger picture ideas to the smaller details. We went into depth on acute details such as the way a hallway is decorated, the carpet, the function of certain flags and why they are where they are, what would be on people’s monitors, how many people would be in the hallways, or in the offices...literally everything I could use to give actualize life and give purpose to our set.

INT: The base contains a multitude of rooms and interior spaces that create a very distinct visual aesthetic. Was there a particular mood you were trying to capture?

SM: Once we knew what our exterior was like and we all agreed on embracing Brutalism, the fun began. My amazingly wonderful and extremely talented Set Decorator, Rachael Ferrara, and her entire team were my right arm and source of great joy and pride. We discussed what was the best direction to follow for the decor and the main focus and key phrase was: Enhanced Reality. In the real world, the government wouldn’t be able to afford a brand new branch and furnish it from scratch with new state of the art decor. Their major investment would be for technologies and functional parts, beauty and design would definitely be at the bottom of the list of priorities. We instead pushed it up in the priority pyramid. We created a mix of basic furniture decor from Office Depot and similar stores, to thrift store pieces, online purchases, custom made desks, tables and such, and design pieces from mostly Mid Century Modern interior designs stores in LA. The spaces were not meant to be extremely cluttered but instead, have enough furniture to be functional and feel alive. Simple lines and recognizable elements mixed with some fun design pops. We went heavier on the design for Marc Naird’s office (Steve Carrell). Being the general and our main character in the show, we wanted to give him a larger space that would reflect his position but also something that would differentiate this character from previously known ones he played who worked in an office. I always thought Steve Carrell, on top of being an incredibly talented comedian and actor, is a very attractive man and I wanted to bring out this masculine/alpha side of him that we don’t always get to see. I wanted to create a space that would bring out certain undertones and aspects of him that maybe we haven’t seen much of before. My biggest influence for him was the Sean Connery version of James Bond, especially from the movie You Only Live Twice, a true masterpiece designed by Ken Adam (Production Designer of Dr. Strangelove and You Only Live Twice among many others) that lead my imagination through this show, not only for Marc Naird’s environments but for the whole world we created. The 50’s and 60’s highly designed interiors from James Bond, to Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and 2001 Space Odyssey, were my inspiration for Space Force. Brutalist architecture and Mid Century Modern furniture was a great marriage. The addition of contemporary pieces and technology, plus military memorabilia, modern seals and logos, and personal collectibles for the single characters, created something that we were all happy with and gave plenty of space for camera and lighting to be creative and for the actors to feel immersed in something real.

INT: The Lunar Habitats shown in several of the episodes are incredibly unique. These spaces are fictional but exist within the parameters of the show which make them even more interesting. What was the process like designing these habitats?

SM: Our documented history about Moon landings ends in 1972, everything else from that point on, at least for us civilians, is a combination of speculation and sci-fi dreams. My major resource about NASA and contemporary space engineering came from Space X. Thanks to Greg Daniels and Howard Klein, we managed to tour their facilities here in Southern California, and it was incredible! First of all, such a wonderful experience, personally, to be able to see and experience first hand what exactly Space X does and how. Their headquarters are housed inside a massive hangar and everyone works together in this same hangar within their defined areas, collaborating for the creation of this mastodontic pieces of genius engineering. One of the most interesting facts I learned was how different a rocket cockpit actually looks nowadays compared to how I imagined it - a tight space covered wall to wall with buttons and levels and monitors of all sizes doesn’t exist anymore. All the technology has since evolved and is now collected in one single large flat touch screen that reminds us of a large sized iPad. Many of the materials used by SpaceX are actually refurbished, recycled materials from their rockets, which I learned was a unique process in the world of space and lunar exploration. The space inside of the rockets is minimal and clean, based on functionality, not style. We again were reminded of our motto: Enhanced Reality, and so I applied what I learned into my designs. I used the modern technological presence and all around design of SpaceX, and added just a touch of texture and elements of interest to fill up the screen. We also had a very complex and demanding schedule for the lunar and space episodes and different sound stages to move from, so I created a multifunctional set that could be moved, and dismantled into pieces to shoot in different sound stages. The set for the living quarters where the astronauts live, eat and hang out, was a larger area and slightly elliptical in shape. The cockpit set came in second, with the removal of some of the walls, creating a circular set, and lowering the ceiling for a more claustrophobic environment. The wall dressing changed, and the pilot seats were placed in circle. The small decompression room that leads the astronauts outside of the Moonlander was again a separate set piece that could be attached to the main quarters and detached when needed to be transported on our Moon Surface set for the actual moon landing. It was surprising to see the Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX that was supposed to launch on May 27th, 2020 was extremely similar to our design, which was amazingly satisfying for my entire team, Greg, and all post production. We obviously have restrictions due to time, budget, camera and lighting space, actors and costumes needs, sound and so much more, and we are not making a documentary. So, sometimes it is not only necessary, but can be fun, to put a personal spin on reality. In certain cases such as this one, it was a pleasure to see that our efforts weren’t too far off from reality. It’s very important for me to say that this job is only possible because of team work and the many talented professionals coming together to make it all happen in the best possible way. My Construction and Set Decorator team, Set Dressers, Graphics Department, Set Designers, everyone in the Art Department, and every department were the most dedicated and talented group of people and it was such a pleasure to work with all of them.

Susie Mancini is a Production Designer and has worked on various Films, Television Shows, Commercials and Music Videos.