What Bond villains know about interiors & design

Bond villains are united by a wish to destroy the world as we know it – and a love of certain interior aesthetics.

Long before most of these design features became mainstream, Bond villains added distinct elements to their lairs and hideouts. Polished concrete? Clutter-free design? Smart homes? We meet again, Mr. Bond.

Here’s a look at what Bond villains knew about interiors and design, in some cases decades before the rest of us.

Clutter-free open spaces

Sir Hugo Drax doesn’t pierce his foot on Lego at three in the morning, Ernst Stavro Blofeld doesn’t stub a toe on the back of furniture. The sleek open spaces devoid of clutter is part of what sets a Bond villain’s lair apart.

Bond villains’ plans for global domination may have more holes than Swiss cheese, but these disturbed people were creating clutter-free open spaces years before the rest of us cottoned on.

Barely a cushion in sight in Elektra King’s lair in Russia in The World Is Not Enough (1999). Picture: Getty Images

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Concrete interiors are stylish & practical

Concrete interiors – brushed, polished or otherwise – are a noted feature of the space-age design one finds in your typical Bond baddie’s HQ.

Concrete interiors and minimal design feature in Live and Let Die (1973). Picture: Getty Images

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As anyone planning world domination will tell you, it can be a messy business. But concrete interiors are both practical and stylish and seen in many a Bond flick.

Isolated locations have killer views

Whether it’s a tropical island or an epic mansion that seems to generate enough activity as to form its own economy, Bond villains are big fans of epic architecture typically found in the middle of nowhere.

These bad asses knew, years before most of us, the value of a killer view typically found on an isolated property, like this alpine retreat seen in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).
Piz Gloria

Floor to ceiling windows will always be stylish

As we know, 007 is a terrible house guest, what with his love of romancing any lady staying where he is and his fondness for destroying the architectural palaces of evil.

In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Blofeld assumes ownership of the John Lautner-designed Elrod House. Picture: Getty Images

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Oddly that hasn’t stopped Bond baddies from building houses and lairs with floor to ceiling windows. These evil geniuses understood the impressive and sometimes intimidating impression walls of windows can create.

Smart home features are costly but cool

Decades before things around the home operated at a touch of a button, cool technology that automated everyday villain tasks were part of what audiences came to expect of a Bond evil genius like Emilio Largo and his remote controlled secret door:

automated door

In Goldfinger (1964) a laser beam comes rather close to 007’s package. In A View To Kill (1985) peroxide baddie Max Zorin, played by Christopher Walken, uses facial recognition software to identify Bond.

Sure, not all of these functions are ones we use every day, but clearly Q and the team weren’t the only ones looking to create gadgets to make things faster and simpler.

Cliff face houses impress everyone

Known as St Cyril’s, this impressive cliff face monastery  is the hiding place of Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only (1981).

Bond baddies were into cliff face housing and property years before anyone else.

This cliff-face property – the Roussanou monastery in Meteora in Greece featured in For Your Eyes Only (1981). Picture: Getty Images

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Personalised features are a must

When you plan on ending humanity, by stealing all the plutonium in the world and the like, chances are things like resale value aren’t high on the list of property priorities.

blofeld lair
Is that a rocket launcher in the driveway? Or a nuclear submarine in the basement? Bond baddies taught us many moons ago never to be afraid to add personalised features or weaponry for that matter to your own lair.