LAIR: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains

LAIR: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains is quite a special book for Bond collectors and people interested in architecture.

Lair is a 296-page hardcover, measuring 9.2" x 13" (23.3cm x 33cm). The large and heavy book is unique in its design as it is made from black, matte and very thick pages, with a silver print ('foil' print). Not just the cover, but every single page is silver on black.

Lair features villains’ homes from fifteen films, including the James Bond films You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man With The Golden Gun and The Spy Who Loved Me. Other films include Ex Machina, Dr. Strangelove, The Incredibles, Blade Runner 2049, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope and The Ghost Writer.

It also features an interview by Sir Christopher Frayling with Sir Ken Adam (1921 - 2016), one of the most famous and prolific James Bond production designers.

The book is available at Uncrate.

You can also find it on Amazon or AbeBooks.

From a design standpoint, the villain’s lair, as popularised in many of our favourite movies, is a stunning, sophisticated, envy-inducing expression of the warped drives and desires of its occupant.

Lair, the first title in Tra Publishing's Design + Film series, celebrates and considers several iconic villain’s lairs from recent film history. The book explores the architectural design of these structures through architectural illustrations and renderings, photographs, essays, film analyses, interviews, and more. Editorial contributors include Chad Oppenheim, Michael Mann, Sir Christopher Frayling, Joseph Rosa, Amy Murphy, Andrea Gollin, and Phillip Valys. Architectural illustrations and renderings are by Carlos Fueyo.

Highlights include interviews with production designers, directors, and other industry professionals such as Ralph Eggleston, Mark Digby, Richard Donner, Roger Christian, David Scheunemann, and Gregg Henry, along with excerpts from an oral history with the late architect John Lautner (who designed for example Elrod House featured in Diamonds Are Forever). From futuristic fantasies to deathtrap-laden hives, from dwellings in space to those under the sea, pop culture and architecture join forces in these outlandish homes and in Lair, which appreciates and celebrates all things villain.