How do create a street that mixes 15th century Edo period Japan with 19th American West?
You take an old western backlot street, take advantage of certain similarities in available materials, add a lot of greens and anchor the whole thing a custom built teahouse that blends the two styles.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
The script for the 5th episode of Westworld Season 02 called for us to visit a part of the theme park that was set up as Edo period Japan. Part of the story was that the Westworld theme park designers were a little lazy and just recycled plot lines and attractions from the American West side of the theme park. So what we were tasked with designing was a Japanese village street that felt as if it was part of Edo period Japan on first glance, but that would make sense as being an old west town when the reveal happens.
We took a straightforward approach to this by taken a backlot street from an old west town and building our Japanese street into it. We then built a custom tea house than anchored the street where most of our action could take place.
Research Image
Backlot Building Before Transformation
After We Got Done With It
We took advantage of the fact there are certain similarities between the architecture of the Old West and Edo Period Japan. Namely the use of wood planks and similar proportions that came from the limitations of building techniques of the time. By adding on period correct details to the existing structures, we were able to get the blend of the Old West and Edo period Japan that we were aiming for.
The Teahouse: A Blend of Old West Space With Japanese Proportions
For the Teahouse, we faced a similar dilemma. The script called for a two story space similar to the Mariposa Saloon that was established in the first season. Only problem, unless it was a castle, Edo Period Japanese architecture would not have an interior 2 story space. And the teahouse was the anchor for our street. It had to be Japanese in more than superficial detail or we would be giving up our reveal. The solution I came up with was to stick closely to the Japanese unit of the ken.
All Japanese architecture at the time was based off the ken. At roughly 1.8m or roughly 6’8”, it’s a distinctly human sized measure of length. About the height of a door. By putting everything at a ken or a half ken, I could provide a two story space that felt Edo period Japanese without having to hit the audience over the head with over the top Japanese detail.