Most prominent character traits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n for more in-depth info about his profile see: <\/em>https:\/\/bladerunner.fandom.com\/wiki\/Niander_Wallace<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Symbolically<\/strong> refers to being blind for the ‘natural’<\/strong> state of being or the natural world. He can therefor only ‘see’, ‘view’ & ‘interpret’ the world through artificial eyes. This is symbolically presented by hovering fishlike drones equipped with technical camera lenses which serve as his eyes to the world. This symbolic ‘blindness’ for the natural world is THE main reason why Wallace is not able to find & unlock the last piece in the puzzle of creating life itself; fertility, which resides in the domain of the natural world which he can not perceive. That is why his artificial creations remain barren & sterile, not able to reproduce themselves. He must therefore track down and get hold of Rachel & Deckard’s hybrid miracle child; the bridge between the ‘artificial’ & ‘natural’ world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name ‘Niander’<\/strong> refers to ‘Neander’ which means: New Man. So the name reflects Niander Wallace’s intentions & grand vision of creating a new- yet synthetic<\/em> composed human being, by means of dethroning God as creator of the natural<\/em> composed ‘Man’. To accomplish his ultimate goal he must ‘conquer’, ‘unlock’ the last stronghold, the entrance to the garden of Eden; the seat of life itself which resides in the womb of the natural woman. All this in order to finally wield the power of making his sterile creations fertile so they can populate the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Side note: In today’s world we often interpret the word ‘Man’ for as being the masculine part of humanity. However from its original linguistic meaning, it is a plural word incorporating both male & female. Above a picture of entering the synthetic ‘womb’ of Niander Wallace’s residence displaying a lineup of various models of his artificially created humans.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To understand the fundamental design language of the Wallace building interior designs & structure, it’s important to be aware of the underlying symbolic cosmology in which the world of Blade Runner is set. The world of Wallace is manifesting itself by being the artificial <\/em><\/strong>counterpart or mirror of the natural<\/em><\/strong> world. So to give some concrete examples on how this plays out in terms of design choices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within the cosmological structure of the natural world, creation of life is represented by the coming together of spirit & body, (heaven & earth). This through conception, nourishment & birth of a child in the womb of the female. Symbolically speaking, the seed from the man is the ‘spirit’ which is instilled in the women’s womb or in other words; is fused with ‘matter’ the earth. Being the counterpart \/ mirror of this natural world, Wallace’s artificial creation of life therefore must use the same analogies to match the cosmological structure. How this is expressed in the interior design can be seen in below picture of the ‘birth chamber’:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also notice how the ‘artificial’ use of materials are evident counterparts of the ‘natural’ world (use of stone, plastic, etc.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The yellowish color pallet in the Wallace ‘Womb’ space is clearly used as a design element to express ‘artificiality’ throughout the whole film. Consequently therefore the interior spaces in the Wallace building complex are all lit with these yellow color tones to support consistency in the film’s symbolic narrative. The natural world counterpart is expressed with the color green, which is also consistently and purposefully used throughout the film to underline the symbolic meaning. Here an example picture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like in the first Blade Runner movie, the film opens with a close up shot featuring a green colored eye, which again refers to the natural world looking into a world which has taken over or being saturated by artifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The place where the ‘Creator God’<\/em> & its ‘Angels’<\/em> reside. Which again are analogies to the cosmological structure of the natural world which also must be expressed in the artificial counterpart \/ mirror world of Wallace. As in the natural world, the heaven realm has a strong hierarchical structure which consolidates order of importance, divine power, providence & ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From above cosmic construct we could say that the ‘realm’ in which Wallace dwells is actually not ‘heaven’ or the highest form of ‘order’ but a place right between ‘order & chaos’<\/strong>, ‘semi-light’ & ‘semi-dark’, ‘gas & fluid’, ‘air & water’, etc. His ‘placement’ on the cosmological scale therefore actually makes perfect sense if we take into account what we talked about earlier, of him being a twilight person; very perceptive to the artificial world but blinded to the natural world. Which makes him unable to enter or conquer the Eden \/ heaven of the natural world. Or in other words, despite his aspirations of being a God, he remains ‘human’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though, there is still another interesting thing about the use of water as a symbolic design element in the Wallace building interior designs. If we study the ranking of different natural elements in the scale, we can see that it goes from fully ‘solid’ to fully ‘transparent’. Spiritually speaking, it indicates that the higher you travel on the scale, more will be revealed (enlightened), or the lesser your view is ‘obscured’ or ‘distorted’. So let’s draw an analogy to the office spaces below the water-line & see how that notion is expressed. Standing in the office space, looking upwards through the opening in the ceiling, the image we then see will be distorted by the refraction of the water. So Wallace’s ‘angels’ do not have access to the full ‘clear picture’<\/em><\/strong> of his artificially created reality or heaven. So prohibition is enforced on autonomy, knowledge, self-determination, power, etc. This is only reserved \/ accessible to the ‘God’ of this twilight realm; Niander Wallace himself. However if we take his own ‘blinded’ spiritual constraint of perception\/limitation into consideration and see how that is expressed in the throne room, we come to the following observations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interview production designer Dennis Gassner:<\/strong> https:\/\/ascmag.com\/articles\/blade-runner-2049-designing-the-future<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos on symbolism<\/strong> in Blade Runner 2049: Literature on symboli<\/strong>c worldview: Blade Runner wiki<\/strong>: by Meindert Ekkelenkamp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Exploring Visual Symbolic Expression by Meindert Ekkelenkamp Introduction In this feature film, the characters, the environments are great examples in expressing how the human state of consciousness of the Blade Runner world has shaped its own habitat. As an example I’ll explore the ‘Niander Wallace’ office building in an attempt to reveal the deeper symbolic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tteo2020_transparent_header":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,24,2,10],"tags":[17,22,21,20,16,18,19],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies","category-exploration","category-nieuws","category-research-items","tag-blade-runner-2049","tag-environment-design","tag-symbolic-design","tag-symbolic-expression","tag-symbolism","tag-visual-design","tag-visual-expression"],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9.png",1600,671,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-300x126.png",300,126,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-768x322.png",580,243,true],"large":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-1024x429.png",580,243,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-1536x644.png",1536,644,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9.png",1600,671,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-1200x503.png",1200,503,true],"twentytwenty-fullscreen":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9.png",1600,671,false],"awb_sm":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-500x210.png",500,210,true],"awb_md":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-800x336.png",800,336,true],"awb_lg":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-1280x537.png",1280,537,true],"awb_xl":["https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9.png",1600,671,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":" Exploring Visual Symbolic Expression by Meindert Ekkelenkamp Introduction In this feature film, the characters, the environments are great examples in expressing how the human state of consciousness of the Blade Runner world has shaped its own habitat. As an example I’ll explore the ‘Niander Wallace’ office building in an attempt to reveal the deeper symbolic structure that lies beneath, how it is presented & what design principles are used to accomplish this expression. For the environment is not only expressing \/ mirroring the psychological makeup of the inner self of its owner & his place in the world, but it…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Case Studies<\/a>, Exploration<\/a>, Nieuws<\/a>, R&D<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"Meindert Ekkelenkamp","url":"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/?author=7"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-300x157.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nNiander’s ‘blindness’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-2-150x150.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-3-1024x428.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe ‘Wallace’ Building<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Interior Design Language<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Introduction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The ‘Womb’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-5-1024x444.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nUse of Color<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-6-1024x424.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-11-1024x438.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe ‘Heaven’ realm<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-9-1024x429.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-10-1024x421.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-8.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/innovatiestudio.hku.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-7.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMain References & Resources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
– Symbolism in Blade Runner 2049 | Finding the Pattern of Reality<\/a>
– Blade Runner 2049 – Analysis Part 1: An Existential Journey – Symbolism of K, Joi, Ana, & the Horse<\/a>
– Blade Runner 2049 – Analysis & Discussion Part 2: Water, Eyes, & Color Symbolism (Spoilers)<\/a>
– Blade Runner 2049 – Analysis Part 3: Love & the Divine (Love, Numbers, & Bees)<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis<\/strong> by Matthieu Pageau<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/bladerunner.fandom.com\/wiki\/Niander_Wallace<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n