Rachel O'toole Production Designer

O'Toole wanted viewers to be able to distinguish which world they were seeing immediately, and she achieved this division by using very disparate color themes for each. "Lakeview is all beautiful, manicured gardens and greenery," she says. "It's very clean and polished, like it's an aspirational world." Creator Daniels had always had upstate New York resort Mohonk Mountain House in mind for this location, so all the exteriors of the digital paradise were filmed there, while interiors were shot on soundstages in Vancouver. For the Brooklyn set, O'Toole wanted to go in the complete opposite direction: "There are not a lot of trees," she says. "We didn't want to have things growing and actually pulled the color green from that color palette." And for L.A., the focus was on harsh light. "We did a brighter palette, as if the sun was overtaking [the city] and it was extremely hot, hot hot," she says.

Nathan's luxurious suite at Lakeview was inspired by classic American designers like Ralph Lauren. "It's a real challenge," O'Toole says of decorating hotel rooms for sets. "You have to pull things together that have the same scale and volume to coordinate when you only have two months to bring it all together."

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video / Photographer: Katie Yu

The upstate New York resort Mohonk Mountain House serves as the exterior for Lakeview. Creator Greg Daniels had visited the property before and had it written into the script as the filming location. "He had found it a very peaceful, beautiful experience," O'Toole says.

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video / Photographer: Katie Yu

While she didn't look to specific architects or design philosophies to render her near-future world, O'Toole did find a lot of inspiration in researching the work of futurists. "I read a lot of Ray Kurzweil; he's the guy that predicted the internet," she says. "He talks about how fast technology builds and what to expect in the next few years." O'Toole also researched weather protection, specifically as it pertains to how buildings in the future might insulate themselves from the effects of widespread global warming. In the Brooklyn set, for example, the Horizen building has environmental shields built onto the windows to protect it from extreme heat and cold.

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As a production designer, O'Toole sometimes also plays the role of interior decorator, as witnessed from the pitch-perfect luxury Americana interiors at Lakeview. "We were going for a Ralph Lauren look; that classic cozy environment with plush furniture," she says. But, of course, furnishing a set is a different exercise than decorating a home or hotel: "There are challenges with budget and lead time; you don't have the luxury of ordering four matching plaid chairs, for example," she says. "But it's incredibly satisfying when it all comes together."