How the Oscars' best-picture nominees used architecture to tell stories of inequity
It is the kind of house that would kindle hot pangs of desire in even the most imperturbable editor at Dwell magazine: Clean, horizontal lines. Walls made of Beton brut concrete. Floors and ceilings from fine-grain hardwood. There is a pristine island kitchen with an induction cooktop and temperature-controlled wine storage. Plus, near the entrance, a graceful internal courtyard harbors a cluster of bamboo trees - illuminated, of course. (Uplighting vegetation is the design tic of the bourgeoisie.)
If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were to grant an Oscar for architecture as a character in a movie, the minimalist manse inhabited by the well-to-do Park family in Bong Joon Ho's "Parasite" would certainly be the lead contender. The home, which in the film is designed by a fictional starchitect named Namgoong Hyeonja, hits all the markers for tasteful displays of wealth, from the minimalist furnishings to the minimalist soaking tub - a desire for less-is-more
