They used to say that you could tell a musical was bad when the audience exited "whistling the sets." Well, the Bond series has always boasted sets that evoked whistles from its first film to the latest. Production designers like Ken Adam, Syd Cain, and Peter Lamont have pushed the envelope of what was possible and even improbable in film design with their nefarious lairs, gleaming command headquarters, and pristine offices. From underground grottoes to cities in space, the architects of Evil have made sure that both the Good and Bad Guys of Bond have had only the best 5-star accommodations.
Their lavish designs have influenced real-world architecture so much that when scouting locations for Diamonds Are Forever, Ken Adam was astonished to find a Palm Springs house that he might have designed! And when Blofeld offers to buy Bond "a delicatessen in stainless steel" in For Your Eyes Only, it evoked in audiences memories of past film-sets' gleaming stanchions and single support staircases.
1 Dr. No's Crab Key Facility
Featured in:
Dr. No (1962)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
The purpose of this nuclear-powered facility is to redirect or "topple" rockets launched by the US government from Cape Canaveral, Florida. For instance, Dr. No redirected a test flight of an experimental rocket design that was supposed to land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
From this facility, Dr. No was able to take control of the rocket and force it to land in the middle of the Brazilian jungle. No plans to use his facility to cause set-backs in both Eastern and Western rocket development, thus escalating Cold War tensions.
Description:
The Crab Key facility is a combination of a nuclear reactor, 5-star hotel, bauxite mine, and radio jamming center.
The facility is located on Crab Key, a small, private island between Jamaica and Cuba.
Trivia:
It's interesting to note that the real Crab Key is part of the Florida Keys, located south of Summerland Key and east of Key West.
2 Goldfinger's Laser Room
Featured in:
Goldfinger (1964)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
Replacing a low-tech circular saw in Goldfinger's Swiss facility, the industrial laser emits an extraordinary light not to be found in Nature. It can cut though solid metal, making it an ideal choice to cleave gold panels into more usable configurations for Goldfinger's operations. Extremely powerful, the laser can be used to saw through all sorts of things!
3 Auric Stud Recreation Room
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
Oh sure, it may seem like a recreation room (or "rumpus room" in Ken Adams' drawing), but in fact, it's Auric Goldfinger's "situation" room, with all the schematics and plans for "Operation Grand Slam."
It's also good for a lively game of pool.
Plenty of room for a "hoods convention."
It's a good place to get rid of unwanted guests!
Description:
Where to start? Best to begin with the pool table, the playing surface of which can flip over to reveal an intricate control panel with which to begin the room's transformation.
The pool table can pivot out of the way to make way for a sunken diorama of the area surrounding Ft. Knox.
The far wall can recede to reveal a detailed floor-to-ceiling map of the military base around Ft. Knox.
That large stainless steel fireplace can drop in place effectively sealing the room from the outside.
The hardwood floor adds an old, traditional style.
4 Fort Knox Interior
Featured in:
Goldfinger (1964)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
Fort Knox, Kentucky is the site for the United States Treasury Gold Depository.
Here's a link to some facts about the real Fort Knox
The Ft. Knox Gold Depository is the target for Auric Goldfinger's "Operation: Grand Slam"
The operation, a collaboration between Auric Enterprises and Red China, was to plant and explode a cobalt and iodine "dirty" atomic bomb (or "device," if you prefer) that would render the entire gold supply of the United States (which gives value to its currency) radioactive, and thus useless for trading, for approximately sixty years, creating economic chaos in the West (while also increasing the value of Goldfinger's private holdings).
In Ian Fleming's novel "Goldfinger," Operation Grand Slam entailed the actual stealing of gold using a specially diverted train--a considerably less practical plan.
Description:
Ken Adam was not allowed to see the interior of the actual Ft. Knox (though he did see pictures of it that left him unimpressed). He, instead, decided to create a "cathedral of gold," a structure impressive enough in scope that it would match Auric Goldfinger's dreams of avarice. It also provides lots of space for Oddjob to throw James Bond around in. The wittiest aspect of the structure may be the entrance, shaped like a bank vault's door.
5 SPECTRE Briefing Room
Featured in:
Thunderball(1965)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
to brief SPECTRE affiliates on Emilio Largo's NATO Project
Description:
The SPECTRE board room is located in France, and is a very simple design (Ken Adam expressed worries it was "too simple"). SPECTRE No. 1 sits at a slightly elevated platform with a handy remote control panel nearby. The SPECTRE agents sit in chairs provided with microphones and electric lights, but they are also wired for electrocution! Each chair can be lowered to a sub-basement facility for easy body-removal.
6 M's Conference Room
Featured in:
Thunderball (1965)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
M's conference room at MI6 is large enough to accommodate large briefings for the heads of state as well as the entire Double-0 section.
Description:
Impressive in scope and purpose, M's conference room is a large auditorium which can be purposed to host briefings of all sizes and types.
Secure, hi-tech, yet classically ornate, the large tapestries and paintings disguise a variety of maps, screens and status boards. The conference room also contains all manner of communication, both within MI6 and around the world, making it the ultimate Situation Room.
There's even room to brief all nine members of the exclusive 00 branch of MI6 simultaneously in a major crisis of world-wide implications.
Trivia:
As with its counterpart at SPECTRE headquarters, Ken Adam designed the conference room with simplicity in mind, so much so that he was worried that he might have taken the strategy too far.
Ever notice that both Emilio Largo and James Bond are late for their respective briefings at their headquarters? It only serves to show that the two players are evenly matched and have much in common.
7 Blofeld's Lounge
Featured in:
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
a sort of retreat and all-purpose room, when "SPECTRE No.1" wants to get away from all the flashing lights and buzzing, clicking sounds of the busy Command Center (tends to upset the cat, too!)
Blofeld's Lounge serves as personal office, conference room, relaxation area, dining room and rumpus room. It also has a combination disciplinary feature/discrete "waste-management" system.
Description:
Located behind his command center to the busy Volcano Headquarters, the Lounge is easily accessed by stair-way and a two-piece bridge across a decorative water feature. Blofeld keeps his desk and some cherished stolen art-pieces, as well as a small dining room.
For conferences, co-conspirators, associates and personnel are given the choice of standing before No.1's desk, or nothing at all, even though a nice lounge area is only a few feet away. Now, that's Power.
Tip: Do make sure you're on No. 1's "good" side when you leave, as the only exit takes you across a bridge that, with a touch of a foot-pedal (under Blofeld's desk) can dump you into a pool of hungry piranha--"They can strip a man to the bone in thirty seconds." It's the SPECTRE boss' little way of inspiring loyalty and efficiency within the organization. Bon chance, or Bon apetit!
8 Osato's Office
Featured in:
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
The penthouse office of Mr. Osato, head of Osato Chemical and Engineering Co, Ltd. (but also secretly an operative of SPECTRE).
Description:
a seemingly innocent, ornate office, Mr. Osato's cover-site has many hidden secrets!
Right outside Osato's office is a convenient heli-pad should he decide to take a quick helicopter trip to one of Japan's volcanoes.
In one of those light fixtures in the ceiling, a secretary can keep an eye on visitors with a hidden camera--and should it prove necessary, in-line with the camera is a remote sniper rifle.
Mr. Osato can personally screen his visitors with a fluoroscope hidden in his desk.
Mr. Osato keeps a fully equipped bar behind those mahogany-panelled walls--although his taste in refreshments is questionable!
The furniture is light-weight and easily moved--or thrown at an assailant.
Check out the statue on Mr. Osato's desk. It has a crack in it.
Should you be in the neighborhood, the combination to his safe is 46-83-1. Careful! It sets off a building-wide alarm when opened, but fortunately, the two armed guards who do nightly rounds are bad shots.
9 Blofeld's Volcano LairFeatured in:You Only Live Twice(1967)Art Director:Ken AdamPurpose:a control center and living space for Blofeld and his scheme to launch Bird 1, a SPECTRE rocket shipDescription: Built for a hefty £350,000 the Blofeld volcano lair was, at the time, the most expensive (and outlandish) movie set ever built.The set (erected at Pinewood Studios) featured a command room, usable helicopter pad, full-scale Intruder rocket (which could launch with the help of a hidden crane), a huge retractable "crater lake" opening and a working monorail system!The set required two hundred miles of tubular steel, more than 700 tons of structural steel, 200 tons of plasterwork, half a million tubular couplings, 8,000 railway ties, and more than 250,000 square yards of canvas. It was 126 feet high and was two football fields square. It cost the entire budget of Lewis Gilbert's previous film, Alfie.The You Only Live Twice Volcano Lair was the ultimate in spy-movie HQ's and remains a fan favorite to this day.
10 "Tiger" Tanaka's Office
Featured in:
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
the spartan office of "Tiger" Tanaka of Japanese Intelligence, and Bond's contact in Japan
Description:
Tanaka's underground office has one very distinctive feature--it's entrance. Visitors are "chuted" from a non-descript tube corridor to a waiting couch--not very dignified, but allows one to achieve the upper hand in a "power meeting."
Tanaka's office, though spare, also offers two video monitors (Sony, no doubt) with which he can view the signals from the many "video cameras" used for surveillance (including one linked to Aki's Toyota).
The exit to Tanaka's office is armored, and leads directly to his private train system that allows him to travel securely and discretely!
11 "Tiger" Tanaka's Train
Featured in:
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
Tanaka's "rolling office" allows transport while never allowing him out of contact with Japanese Intelligence. There is virtually nothing that Tanaka cannot accomplish on his underground railroad that he could in his office.
This particular compartment, which was used to brief 007, offers full communication, encryption and stenographic services, as well as a fully equipped audio-visual suite that can display any material at a command--even micro-dots.
Because the Secret Service can be a taxing job, Tanaka's compartment also features a fully loaded bar guaranteed to suit all tastes from sake to vodka martini's (Sorry, no Siamese vodka!)
12 Dikko Henderson's Apartment
Featured in:
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Art director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
Description:
A veteran field-agent in Japan, Henderson's apartment in Tokyo is an odd hybrid of old English comfort and Japanese style. "Awfully fond of some of these old things...," he almost apologizes to Bond about the clash of styles.
13 Piz Gloria
Featured in:
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Art Director:
Syd Cain
Purpose:
Headquarters and Living area for the Bleauchamp Clinic for Allergies (but secretly Blofeld's base of operations for his "Virus Omega" project).
Description:
Located high in the Swiss Alps for isolation of the Clinic's patients during the "delicate procedure," Muren's Piz Gloria is reachable only by helicopter and overhead tram (and climbing--but only at your own risk!)
The Piz Gloria complex provides living accommodations, dining facilities, recreational opportunities, as well as a rotunda providing a spectacular 360 degree view of the neighboring mountains. It also has an underground laboratory facility separated from the main facility and protected by "anti-septors." The wheel house from the tram can be used as an impromptu (if unreliable) holding facility.
Conveniently located near an Olympic-class bobsled run, Piz Gloria also provides ample opportunity for adrenaline-charged skiing challenges!
The facility was blown up by unknown mercenaries in 1969, but has re-opened (under new management) as a fine-dining restaurant.
14 Willard Whyte's Penthouse
Featured in:
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
Blofeld's hideout
From here Blofeld could order any one around because he took Willard Whyte's identity.
James Bond was shocked when he saw Blofeld in the penthouse instead of Willard Whyte
Mainly Willard Whyte's residence (apart from his summer house "10 miles outta town") until Blofeld commandeered it
Willard Whyte took it back after Bond foiled Blofeld's plan and again sent him (Blofeld) into hiding
Description:
Made in 1970's design that includes a stainless steel staircase and elevator
Built for a millionare with expensive leather sofas and other furnishings
15 The Liparus
Featured in:
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
The hijacking of American, Soviet and British nuclear submarines to create unease between nations.
The acquisition of nuclear missiles with which to start World War III, annihilating most of the land-based life on the planet to start civilization anew in the oceans.
Stromberg's base of operations to launch his world-dominating schemes.
Holding cell for the crew's sailors
Description:
When the script for The Spy Who Loved Me called for a tanker-sized submarine bay, Ken Adam was determined not to make the same mistake he felt he made with the volcano-base from You Only Live Twice. This time, he would design an enormous re-usable surrounding stage first, then build the set inside it. So, began the "007" stage, the biggest sound-stage at that time in the world. Located, once again, at Pinewood Studios, the "007" stage boasted a usable space of 45,000 square feet and measures 334 ft by 136 ft with a ceiling of 40 1/2 ft. It was commissioned in a ceremony with Roger Moore and former prime Minister Harold Wilson on December 5, 1976 and subsequently played home to some of the more exorbitant sets ever constructed for such films as "Superman," "Legend," "Aliens," "Mission: Impossible," the "Lara Croft" films, 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and "The DaVinci Code" (as well as Bond films Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day, and Casino Royale)
The "007" Stage has twice burned down. The first time during the production of Ridley Scott's "Legend" (it was rebuilt in 4 months, just in time to start work on the mine scenes for A View to a Kill, and sporting a new name "The Albert R. Broccoli '007' Stage" The second fire occurred July 30th, 2006 soon after the filming of the Venice sequences of Casino Royale. The new stage is even bigger--374 ft. by 158 ft. and a ceiling that tops off at 50 ft. With a usable space of 59,000 square feet, it is the largest sound-stage in Europe.
16 Atlantis
Featured in:
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
To serve as a home for Karl Stromberg
to use as a base of operations for Stromberg's dastardly scheme.
Description:
Atlantis is an underwater city/command post and research center for Stromberg Industries. Atlantis can rise above sea-level on its four stanchions, allowing transport to the mainland using the four working helipads.
Atlantis has an extensive aquarium, as well as a shark-tank equipped with an overhead electro-magnetic crane (for some reason)
17 Drax's Venice Laboratory
Featured in:
Moonraker(1979)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
to secretly create and test Drax's nerve gas that he is using to kill all humans on Earth
18 "The Great Chamber"
Featured in:
Moonraker (1979)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
"The Great Chamber" serves as a transition space between the outside Amazon jungle and the high-tech control rooms of the Drax Industries "Moonraker" program.
Description:
"The Great Chamber" is housed inside an Incan temple, and native art is festooned around the interior.
There is an active waterfall and stream (with indigenous wild-life) to provide local color (and entertainment) to the visitor.
"The Great Chamber" has one of those wonderful bridges that have been known to "go wrong" in past Bond films (although some of the rockery is a bit unstable, too! Although fortunately, none of it happened to cross Bond's path).
19 Moonraker Launch Facility
Featured in:
Moonraker (1979)
Art Director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
to launch Hugo Drax's Moonraker rockets, carrying his "race" of specially selected people into outer space
Description:
Secretly constructed slightly hexagonal launch facilities throughout the world to accommodate the simultaneous launch of his entire Moonraker "fleet." (The better to avoid detection)
His facilities are buried underground from the prying eyes of "spy" satellites...and Earth-bound spies!
The configuration of each launch bay is such that several control rooms can be extended for an unobstructed view of the shuttles pre-launch.
To avoid damage to the control rooms they can be moved "flush" with the facility's walls during launch sequence.
Perversely, Hugo Drax has set up conference areas in the blast deflectors below each Moonraker rocket nozzle—as can be seen below (should he be prematurely "called away" during a meeting, be sure and note where the Exits are!)
Featured in:
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Art director:
Ken Adam
Purpose:
Description:
A veteran field-agent in Japan, Henderson's apartment in Tokyo is an odd hybrid of old English comfort and Japanese style. "Awfully fond of some of these old things...," he almost apologizes to Bond about the clash of styles.
