P E R M A N E N C E
Equilibrium (2002)
Kurt Wimmer's Libria is a frighteningly-competent version of Gillian's totalitarian regime, in a post WWIII future, complete with a Fascist architect's wet dream of a mega city. It is a world of black and white, a place of absolutes, such that due to emotion's ability to cause anger and violence, it must be eliminated altogether. Violation of any law, to any degree, must be met with the ultimate punishment. All that invoke emotion – art, literature, ornament, pets – must be completely destroyed. In the wake of the near destruction of the world, society has fearfully rejected the multiplicity of the past life with its joys and sorrows, in pursuit of one goal: an eternity without war. As such, the architecture of Libria is a departure from the historical progression towards diverging styles; the entire city is built as one monument, as a single idea to be upheld forever.
Similarly to modernist urban design principles that favor wiping the slate clean through the complete replacement of neighbourhoods with bold new schemes, nothing from the old city is retained. Libria is in fact developed entirely new, across from the smoldering ruins of “the Nethers”, and barricaded from it by parallel rows of dam-sized fortifications. The monumental architecture of the city is derived largely from Albert Speer's Berlin in Nazi Germany, including buildings such as the Palace of Justice and the Olympic Stadium. Like Speer's work, it serves a similar role, crushing the spirits of those who oppose and speaking to the supremacy of the Tetragrammaton Council, such that the significance of the collective relative to the individual empowers the inhabitants to almost religiously take part in a greater purpose.
The cityscape is ancient and futuristic, built with heavy concrete, stone and travertine and designed to last, as immovable and permanent as the government. Exteriors are of a rough and monolithic quality, while the interiors are smooth with polished concrete. Ignoring the possibilities of technological progress, little emphasis is given to the use of glass, while most of the architecture is carved out of pure solids and voids, shunning transparency in favor for opacity. The enforcers of the regime train with monastic precision in austere environments, using modern weapons.
There is little ornament in the architecture of Libria, where the only such element is the Tetragrammaton logo, which leaves its imprint in stationery, flags, walls and doorways alike, emphasizing the singularity of society, and the suppression of all other aspects of life that will otherwise make the individual unique. Facist-era loudspeakers in the opening scenes of the film indicate a strange regression towards old technologies in addition to building practices. This tendency to move away from multiplicity and change, towards a stoic past is Wimmer's way of using the built form to freeze its place in time, to achieve a sense of permanence.