Netflix — House of Cards
An architectural illusion built entirely within a temporary structure
Netflix
House of Cards
Greenville South Carolina, 2016
MODA Role
Creative Direction · Environmental Design · Custom Fabrication
(Developed within an agency-produced context)
Context
To promote Season Four of Netflix’s House of Cards, the activation was designed to collapse the boundary between the show’s fiction and the real political moment unfolding outside its doors.
A fully realized campaign headquarters and VIP/media lounge for Frank Underwood—the show’s incumbent President—was constructed directly across the street from the GOP presidential debate in Greenville, South Carolina.
Rather than advertising the series, the project extended its narrative into the real world, inviting press, VIPs, and the general public to experience a version of presidential power, hospitality, and access.
The Story Brought to Life
The environment was conceived as a working political outpost—part campaign headquarters, part White House proxy.
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The general public was invited to sit behind the Resolute Desk in Frank Underwood’s Oval Office, capturing a branded portrait or animated GIF to share across social platforms
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VIP guests and media were escorted into Frank’s private back room, where they experienced a more exclusive layer of the narrative
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Hospitality included southern-inspired food and drink—most notably “Freddy’s BBQ” and Frank Underwood’s favorite bourbon
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Guests were offered ten-minute massages, charging stations, and private viewing access to the first three seasons of House of Cards
The experience was designed as presidential hospitality, not an activation—rooted in comfort, authority, and access.
Architecture as Illusion
Although the environment felt permanent and institutional, the entire experience was constructed inside a temporary tent structure.
MODA designed a complete architectural interior and exterior façade—eliminating all visible traces of ephemerality. The level of detail was so precise that most visitors were unaware they were inside a tent at all.
Illusion was achieved through:
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Full-scale architectural detailing and proportion
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A convincing front façade that established authority on approach
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Controlled spatial sequencing that concealed infrastructure
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Material and finish decisions calibrated to communicate permanence and power
The space didn’t suggest architecture — it performed it.
Outcome
The activation generated national consumer media coverage, extensive social sharing, and strong acclaim within the creative and marketing communities.
By embedding the show’s narrative directly into a live political moment, the project succeeded not just as promotion, but as cultural intervention—a temporary fiction operating convincingly in the real world.
Anything for America.
Attribution
This project was developed in collaboration with Allied Experiential. MODA contributed creative direction, environmental design, and fabrication leadership within that collaboration.
http://creativity-online.com/…/netflix-house-of-cards…/45539