The Building in Calpe That Inspired the Creators of 'Squid Game'
The Building in Calpe That Inspired the Creators of “Squid Game”
Have you already watched the buzzworthy Korean series? If you also liked the labyrinth building from “Squid Game” and want to take photos inside - read on to find out where to find its twin!
The action of “Squid Game” transports us to a fantasy world of children’s games and bright colors, but the sets were created based on real buildings - such as this house in Calpe, built in the 70s.
About La Muralla Roja
La Muralla Roja is a residential complex on the coast in the La Manzanera urbanization (Calpe, Spain), located on top of a small cliff by the sea. Designed by architect Ricardo Bofill in 1968, it was completed in 1972 and has since been considered a benchmark of constructivist aesthetics thanks to its expressive blue and pink tones. Now the building has gained new admirers for another reason: the staircases of the hit Netflix series “Squid Game” resemble and apparently were inspired by the creation of the Catalan architect.
The building in Calpe is conceived as cubes in space, connected to each other by staircases, courtyards and bridges - in the spirit of Arabic and Mediterranean architectural traditions. From the outside, like a kasbah (the central part of an Arabic citadel), it gives the impression of a fortified and monolithic structure, while inside it reveals a constant poetry of light, patios, openings and walls forming a labyrinth. In the Netflix series, one of the platforms where the characters risk their lives is a labyrinth that clearly resembles this very building.
However, this is not the only artistic source of inspiration for the series: the mesmerizing labyrinthine staircases that players traverse before and after each round strongly resemble lithographs by Dutch artist Escher. In this case, the director and screenwriter of the series Hwang Dong-hyuk openly acknowledged the source of inspiration.
Rent an Apartment to See It All with Your Own Eyes!
Previously, the building was open for visits, but with the rise in popularity of social media and globalization, it became Instagram-famous (long before the Netflix series), and residents demanded that free access be closed. You can only get inside with permission from one of the apartment owners.
But there is another way - rent one of the tourist apartments on various platforms:
- Airbnb
- Booking
- Tripadvisor
A Very Profitable Game for Netflix
For the streaming giant, this story brought significantly more than the 45.6 billion won (33.14 million euros) that the series’ characters fight for. According to Bloomberg, these episodes are valued at more than $21.4 million.
About 132 million viewers watched at least two minutes of the show in the first 23 days - a record that beat the achievement of the British drama “Bridgerton,” which attracted 82 million viewers in the first 28 days. 66% of accounts finished watching the series in the first 23 days.
The series became the first Korean drama to take first place on Netflix in the US, and even sparked people’s interest in learning Korean.
The show received positive reviews even from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: the billionaire called the work “impressive and inspiring.”