Inside Bell Works: The Real-Life ‘Severance’ Office Building

HOLMDEL, N.J. — The eerie, sterile office environment depicted in the hit Apple TV+ series “Severance” may feel like a dystopian nightmare, but its real-life filming location, Bell Works, offers a stark contrast. Located in Holmdel, New Jersey, this 2 million-square-foot building once housed Bell Laboratories, a hub of technological innovation, and now serves as a vibrant mixed-use complex.

Bell Works, designed by renowned architect Eero Saarinen, opened in 1962 as a research facility for AT&T. Over the decades, it became the birthplace of groundbreaking technologies, including the theory for the laser and the Big Bang theory. In 2015, the building underwent a $27 million transformation by Somerset Development, turning it into a modernized space featuring offices, restaurants, shops, and recreational facilities.

While “Severance” uses Bell Works’ exterior, entrance, and central atrium for filming, the show’s claustrophobic interior sets were built from scratch on sound stages in New York. Production designer Jeremy Hindle explained the thought process behind the iconic green carpet and narrow hallways: “Green is the most common color to your eye… it makes you feel calm. Some of the colors, the theories were kind of who they are as characters and what they needed to survive.”

Today, Bell Works is far from the bleak world of Lumon Industries. The complex boasts amenities like an on-site restaurant offering caviar service and mezcal Negronis, an indoor golf simulator, a basketball court, and even an ice cream shop. Tenants include Jersey Central Power & Light, iCIMS, and Guardian Life, making it a bustling hub for both work and leisure.

The building’s transformation into a “Metroburb” — a term coined by its developers to describe a suburban metropolis — has made it a popular destination for conferences and events. Ralph Zucker, president of Somerset Development, told NJ.com in 2013, “The greatest experiment is yet to come for these walls, and that is the ability of a community to come together.”

“Severance” has brought renewed attention to Bell Works, with the show’s production spending over $24 million in New Jersey for its second season. Other filming locations in the state included Kings Landing in Middletown and Palisades Interstate Park in Alpine. Further north, scenes at Pip’s Bar & Grille were filmed at the Phoenicia Diner in the Catskills.

Bell Works stands as a testament to the evolution of workspaces, blending history, innovation, and community in a way that contrasts sharply with the fictional world of “Severance.”