―Dale Cooper and the arm[src] The red room, also known as "the waiting room," was an anomalous extradimensional space connected to Glastonbury Grove in Twin Peaks' Ghostwood National Forest. First discovered as early as the 1800s, the red room was believed by many to be the Black Lodge of local Native American legend. Many spirits appeared to "live" in the red room, most notably one calling.
All that said, however, the Red Room is significant to the story of Peaks, and given that much of its impact is visual in nature, it's hard to imagine that the rotating floor pattern is insignificant-i.e., just an "accident," or a series of continuity errors, random happenstance on shooting day, etc. Many believe the original inspiration for the herringbone floor is Jean Cocteau's 1949 film, Orphée. The film is known as a David Lynch favorite.
Some say Orphée might also be the inspiration for the gardening gloves as well as several of Lynch's "lo-fi" special effects. Of course, eschewing the traditional - and natural - structures of speech created a disorientating effect on Twin Peaks ' captive audience, whereby the Red Room itself became a glimmer of a haunted fever dream, where things elude the very nature of understanding. Ever since Episode 3, the zigzagging floor of the Black Lodge has been etched into our collective memory.
Both iconic and mesmerizing, the chevron floor design has become synonymous with the show, as proven by the packaging designs for physical releases, a good chunk of all the fan art out there, Showtime's marketing for the third season, and. Twin Peaks: The Return sawCooper finally escaping the room after being trapped there for 25 years, with The Arm sending him crashing through the floor into a vast, purple sea. Given Lynch's famous reluctance to explain the meaning behind some of the more cryptic elements of his work, there's no set meaning behind the Red Room.
It's a place where evil resides and is known to have existed since. With lots of time at home during the global pandemic, I scanned images from the Red Room Gallery in the Twin Peaks - From Z to A collection. This curated set of 5" x 5" printed cards depict memorable moments from all three seasons of Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
What's outside the Red Room? At the top of Twin Peaks Season 3, the curtain is lifted, and we find out: Behold! A white horse, utter darkness, and the rust and white chevron floor that appears to go on forever like a 'field', or like an ocean without a shore. Red Room without curtains juxtaposed to the purple ocean. The new red room feels much older because the colors aren't nearly as bright.
I also think the original red room is designed to be more striking. Since we've now seen the place several times and it's a key element from the very start of season 3, it no longer needs to be as visually striking. With its floor-length crimson curtains and black-and-white chevron flooring, the Red Room is synonymous with the 'Lynchian' style found throughout Twin Peaks.
Season 3 was primarily filmed across Washington state but the Red Room was built on another LA soundstage.