For a Monday, a very good productive, quiet, and creative day. Dig it.

A lot of science-fiction movies use extravagant computer graphics to create fantastical environments. But the rapid advancement of that tech can date a movie fast–try watching the Star Wars prequels now without cringing. Sometimes, using architecture that already exists can serve a scene better than a fabricated one. Oobject has put together a list of them, here are some of our favorites.

The diva scene from The 5th Element, made to look like a theater in a massive space cruiser was filmed at The Royal Opera House in London.

Rick Deckard’s home in Blade Runner was filmed at the Ennis House in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. You can see Wright’s telltale Mayan-inspired bricks.

The asylum scenes in 12 Monkeys were filmed at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, an austere prison that once held Al Capone.

Browse through other buildlings featured in Terminator, Sleeper, A Clockwork Orange, and more here.

If you do, then this is the hotel for you next time you find yourself in Brussels. Pantone, the color authority, and the maker of Pantone color swatches that’s right by your computer on your desk is responsible for this hotel.

Via Superfuture

Seeing the photos of the Korean Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo blew me away! The pavilion was designed by Korean architectural firm, Mass Studies with the theme of ‘convergence’ in mind. It’s an amalgamation of ‘sign’ (Korean written language) and ‘space’: signs become spaces, and spaces become signs.

The exterior of the building is made up of 3 dimensional sculptures of the Korean alphabets, Hangul. The positive and negative spaces created by the geometric shapes of the letters invite the audience to interact with the space of the pavilion as well as the system of signs, the language of Korea. What better way to introduce Korea than with the language of Korea itself?

Seeing this building reminded me of the Upcycled Street Banner Bags that we introduced from Korea. The overwhelming popularity of the bags surprised us at first but it’s easy to see the universal appeal and beauty one finds in language, the geometry of lines and spaces.