Apple TV+'s 'Severance' masterfully blends real locations like New Jersey's Bell Works with studio sets to create its unsettling corporate dystopia, a key to its acclaimed aesthetic.

The hauntingly beautiful and mind-bending world of Apple TV+'s critically acclaimed series Severance is not just a product of digital effects. As the show continues to captivate audiences into 2026, the intricate blend of real-world locations and meticulously crafted studio sets remains a cornerstone of its unsettling, corporate dystopian aesthetic. The series, celebrated for its artistic design and cinematography, meticulously built the town of Kier and the labyrinthine halls of Lumon Industries from the ground up, using a combination of historic buildings, public spaces, and soundstage magic primarily across New York and New Jersey. This cinematic achievement required a massive collaborative effort, transforming everyday places into the eerily familiar yet alien landscapes that draw viewers into the show's unique psychological drama.

The Corporate Heart: Lumon Industries' Exterior

At the core of Severance lies the monolithic presence of Lumon Industries. To bring this corporate entity to life, the creators turned to the Bell Labs Holmdel Complex in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Now known as Bell Works, this iconic, mirrored-glass building served as the groundbreaking research hub for AT&T's Bell Labs. Its redevelopment into a mixed-use business center in 2013 provided the perfect, imposing exterior for Lumon. The production used Bell Works extensively for exterior shots, parking lot scenes, and the ground-floor interiors where Mark Scout (Adam Scott) and other characters are seen before descending to the severed floor. The vast, airy atrium and hallways overlooking the parking lot became visual shorthand for the corporate power structure, symbolizing the divide between the management and the severed employees below.

Constructing the Labyrinth: The Severed Floor

While Bell Works provided the public face of Lumon, the true heart of the show—the claustrophobic, maze-like severed floor—required a different approach. This vast, white office space, where Macrodata Refinement employees like Mark, Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Irving (John Turturro) spend their working lives, was constructed on soundstages at York Studios in the Bronx. The need for a controlled studio environment was paramount, allowing for the complex camerawork and intricate set design that defines the floor's disorienting nature.

Consider the spectacular long-take tracking shot of Mark running through the corridors in the Season 2 premiere. This single, breathless sequence, which required weeks of planning and days of shooting, was only possible within the flexible confines of a film studio. The set allowed the production team to break the perceived boundaries of the confined space, creating a sense of endless, repetitive bureaucracy.

The Town of Kier: New York's Hudson Valley

Beyond Lumon's walls, the show's fictional town of Kier was pieced together from numerous locations in New York's Hudson Valley, primarily in Ulster County.

• Kingston, NY: This city served as a primary backdrop. Key locations included:

  • Eng's Restaurant, transformed into the season 2 eatery Zufu.

  • The Red Owl Collective antique store, used for the exterior of Great Doors, the manufacturer where Dylan interviews.

  • Cornell Park, where Irving sits on a bench.

  • The Kingston-Port Ewen Suspension Bridge and the Rondout Train Trestle, featured in driving scenes.

• Nyack, NY: The serene Village Gate Townhouses stood in for Baird Creek Manor, the Lumon-subsidized neighborhood where Mark and his neighbor, Mrs. Selvig (Patricia Arquette), live. The Hudson House restaurant was used for Mark's date with Alexa, and a local Gulf Gas Station was the site of Petey's tragic death.

• New Paltz & Phoenicia: The Mohonk Preserve Testimonial Gateway became the Damon Birthing Retreat. The retro Phoenicia Diner in Ulster County was used as Pip's Bar & Grille, where Mark's outie meets with Petey and later his sister, Devon.

From Golf Course to Goat Farm: Unexpected Transformations

Some of Severance's most bizarre and memorable settings were created in surprisingly ordinary places. The Mammalian's Nurturable Goat Department, a vast indoor field with green hills, was not a studio creation. Instead, the production team erected a large tent over a section of the Marine Park Golf Course in Brooklyn. Using CGI to construct walls and a ceiling, they transformed a public golf course into Lumon's surreal, self-contained agricultural experiment, proving that reality can be stranger than fiction—or at least, just as strange.

Wilderness and Retreats: Escaping Lumon's Grasp

When the Refiners are sent on their surreal Outdoor Retreat Team Building Occurrence (ORTBO) in Season 2, they find themselves in the snowy Dieter Eagan National Forest. This otherworldly landscape was filmed at the Minnewaska State Park Preserve in Ulster County. The breathtaking Woe's Hollow waterfall the characters encounter is actually the park's real Awosting Falls, showcasing the natural beauty that contrasts sharply with Lumon's sterile interior.

Homes, Churches, and Historical Replicas

Key personal moments for the characters were filmed in distinctive buildings:

• The Bier House in Pleasantville's Usonia Historic District served as the home of Mark's sister, Devon, and her husband, Ricken, a location for pivotal family scenes.

• Trinity Lutheran Church in White Plains was used for the emotionally charged scene of Petey's funeral.

• The Sprainbrook Nursery greenhouse in Scarsdale was where Petey gave Mark his crucial map of the severed floor.

• For the Perpetuity Wing museum—home to the replica of Kier Eagan's house—the production turned to a real museum. The house was filmed at the historic 1877 Glenview House, a Gilded Age mansion on display at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers.

Transforming Main Street: Beacon, NY

For scenes set in Kier's downtown, the production took over Beacon, NY. Storefronts along Main Street were temporarily renamed, streets were blocked off, and the Beacon Building became the town's Hall of Records—the site where Mark encounters an anti-severance protester. This meticulous transformation turned a real city into the show's eerily normal yet off-kilter town center.

Conclusion: A World Built on Reality

As Severance continues its story, the foundation of its visual identity remains firmly rooted in these real-world locations. The genius of the production lies in this seamless fusion: the imposing, real architecture of Bell Works, the controlled chaos of the Bronx soundstage, the quaint storefronts of Beacon, and the natural grandeur of Minnewaska Park. Together, they construct a world that feels both recognizably our own and unnervingly alien—a perfect reflection of the show's central themes of identity, control, and the spaces, both physical and mental, that we inhabit. The next time you watch Mark walk into Lumon or Helly wander the goat field, remember: you're not just looking at a set, but at a carefully chosen piece of our world, twisted just enough to make you question everything.