You know that feeling when you're in an empty shopping mall corridor at 9pm, fluorescent lights buzzing, and every fibre of your being wants to scream? Congratulations - you've experienced liminal space. And apparently, the internet cannot get enough of it.
The latest episode of Dezeen Weekly dives into exactly why we're all collectively haunted by empty swimming pools and abandoned office carpets, using Backrooms - a surprise-hit horror film - as the jumping-off point. If you haven't heard of the Backrooms, imagine an infinite maze of yellowish office rooms that feels deeply, cosmically wrong. It started as an internet creepypasta and somehow became a whole cinematic moment. Because of course it did.
Why does empty architecture make us lose our minds?
Dezeen features editor Nat Barker and design editor Jennifer Hahn dig into the psychology of it all. Liminal spaces - those transitional, in-between places like hotel lobbies, stairwells, and airport terminals - tap into something primal. They're spaces designed for passing through, not for lingering. So when you linger in them (or imagine doing so forever, à la Backrooms), your brain starts filing complaints.
There's something genuinely fascinating here beyond the meme aesthetic. Architecture shapes how we feel, and spaces that lack a clear human purpose trigger a very specific unease. Horror filmmakers have known this for decades. The internet just gave it a name and a very beige colour palette.
Green walls are having a very bad time
On a slightly less existential note, the episode also tackles some concerning news about green walls - those lush, vertical gardens plastered on office buildings and hotel lobbies everywhere since roughly 2015. Turns out they might not be the sustainability flex everyone assumed. Shocking? Maybe not. Disappointing? Absolutely.
Someone coined a new architecture term and we have to talk about it
Perhaps the boldest move in the episode is one of the hosts audaciously coining a brand-new architectural term. The word is "gentleism" - and while Dezeen is coy about the full definition, the sheer confidence of just... inventing a design term on a podcast is genuinely admirable. We stan an architect who does not wait for permission.
Whether you're a design nerd, a horror enthusiast, or just someone who has spent too long staring at a photo of an empty waterpark at 3am, this episode of Dezeen Weekly has something to make you feel things. Probably slightly unsettled things. But still.
