Minecraft Architecture SNEAK PEEK | The Colosseum

    Aside from our main project, we have been working on a colosseum so people on the server can fight each other and win a prize.  We wanted to create something massive, but although it's not as big as other colosseums, it's big in our standards.  We are currrently building it in the Flatlands, and we are almost done.  Tomorrow it will be finished and I will post a tour of it.  It's not the best colosseum though, and by the way, it's all our first time to build one.  I wanted it to turn out like a circle, but it ended up as an oval/baseball stadium shape, which is okay.  (It's all our first time)  And we have yet to name it.  Anyways, enough of my rambling.  Here are the pictures of what we have completed so far.

    This is obviously the front of the colosseum.  Instead of using my normal custom texture pack, I'm using Ornate 5.  This texture pack gives the colosseum an amazing rustic and intricate look.

    As you can see here, the shape of it turned out kind of different than what it was supposed to be, but that's perfectly fine.  It looks amazing!

   By the way, this floor design was made by two of my friends on the server.  (They also helped with all of the entire project.)

    This is the inside on the ground floor.  As you can see ahead of you, is one of the entrances to the ring. 

   At night, we got the glowing affect by adding glowstone on the inside, which really brightens it up.

    Here is the colosseum at night.  (It's amazing)  Although it's not done yet, it is absolutely breathtaking.  I'll be sure to give a more in-depth tour on it tomorrow when we finish.  Also, the Flatiron Building recreation will be on my blog soon. 

*Big thanks to all the people that have helped build this amazing colosseum*

Minecraft | A Mini Future Project

    Aside from the big project we'll be working on soon on the Minecraft server, I will be trying to recreate what we saw on Today's ArchiPic #93.  Yes, I am recreating the Flatiron Building from New York City.
                                                                                                                                                                 


   
    Since the building has an obvious angle, it's going to be a bit tricky, but I intend on making the most accurate recreation possible.  That's something you guys should be looking forward to seeing.  After that's done, I think we will be ready to start our next project.  As you know, the city of Alimar got destroyed and there is no way of rolling back what happened.  I really want to finish a city this time because it seems like all the projects we have done have been just discarded or stopped.  I truly hope we can finally finish something for good.

References:
>> Today's ArchiPic #93
>> The City of Alimar (Before it was destroyed)


   

HOUSES 101 | House of Trough

Tonight's HOUSES 101 is the House of Trough in Kato-gun, Hokkaido, Japan, which is designed by architect Jun Igarashi who focuses on the beauty of the interior more than exterior intricacy.

    The House of Trough was not coincidentally built like a square box.  With boring white houses and an industrial yard to the south, architect Jun Igarashi focused on the interior instead of looking outward.  Although dull on the exterior, this house has so much more to offer on the inside.



   Basically, his clients wanted "a large living space where they could relax and entertain."  So, Igarashi decided to look inward, and make a space that was "spacious" so that the clients would be pleased.  They didn't want their house to feel cluttered or cramped as well.  They wanted the rooms to be capacious, with not much furniture or decorations.  I can see why considering that the house is only 1,060 square feet.



    Because of the region's chilly climate, Igarashi decided to add something called a "windbreak room", which is "an extension to a house's entrance that keeps cold air out of its main body."  He then split the inside up into two main sections: one that extends north and one that extends south.

 

    The furniture was made using plywood, with not having much furniture it was less of a burden to buy the plywood.  Igarashi then installed "translucent white organdy curtains that are pulled across the inner edges of peripheral areas to enclose the main living spaces." 



    He also put white curtains over areas that were open to the outside,  (Specifically being the main living areas) so that others can see what is going on outside from numerous angles.  (If there is anything else than the occasional storm, considering they are by an industrial yard)


   
    There are also many catwalks in the house, where the members can walk along side one and see the "valley" below.  I'm guessing that could be a little dangerous with no rails, but that's okay.  If someone plummets down to the living area below it's their own fault.  It actually is relatively safe because Igarashi put very thin, wired ropes as guard rails.



    "For now, they enjoy life in their introverted residence that is hardly short on drama."  (and clutter, I must add)

Sources:
>> http://archrecord.construction.com/residential/hotm/2011/12/House-of-Trough.asp

References:
>> Previous HOUSES 101 Post

Today's ArchiPic #93

Flatiron Building from Richard’s Notes

    Today’s ArchiPic is the beautiful and magnificent Flatiron building in downtown New York City.  It used to be known as the Fuller Building, but is now simply called the Flatiron.  The groundbreaking skyscraper was completed in 1902 and is triangular because of its position next to the two streets that intersect.  (More specifically Fifth Avenue, Broadway and East 22nd Street)  Designed by Daniel Burnham, Flatiron is one of New York’s many historical sites.  With its magical way of attracting architects, it also has brought in many artists over the century to admire its unique shape.

Sources:
>> http://www.richardsnotes.org/archives/2009/05/19/flatiron-building/
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building

Minecraft Catastrophe...

I just logged in yesterday to Minecraft, and look what happened to the city of Alimar...

    As you may notice, most of the logs that act as the frame for the house are gone.  This is because of a plugin that I added weeks earlier.  It is called QuickTree, and it allows you to take the bottom log block of a tree and the whole tree will be destroyed.  As I now know, people can take any log block that is connected to dirt and destroy it, which causes a chain reaction and destroys all the connected logs.  Although I placed those logs myself, the plugin cannot see that.  Someone came along yesterday and took out some of the logs, starting a "domino" effect, which destroyed all the logs.

    So to some this up in a quicker version, the city of Alimar is destroyed.  And we don't want to spend hours on end just to rebuild the frames of the houses.  It's not worth it.  We have decided to move on to a totally new project.  Although it will have the same style as Alimar, it will be a little different.  After doing some terrain editing and preparing for the new project, I'll post an update as soon as we can get something started.   (Trust me, this won't happen again, and I will be protecting our new build with a protection plugin.)

References:
>> The First and Final Post on the City of Alimar

Skyrim Architecture | Solitude

Welcome to the next installment of my Skyrim Architecture series, where I scout the Skyrim world in search of the most beautiful structures and landmarks Bethesda's award-winning franchise has to offer.

    The great city of Solitude is the capital of Skyrim.  It's architecture is very unique.  Perched on a stone arch hanging over a river that is right near the Sea of Ghosts, Solitude is the most beautiful city in the game in my opinion.  (There will be a lot more pictures than text in this post.  Without any real website for Skyrim architecture, it's hard to find descriptions of the buildings.  That's why it would be good if I could get it for PC so I can actually take in-game pictures and give you guys a tour of these amazing structures.) 

 

    Solitude has a huge wall that hugs the city's outer reaches.  The Blue Palace, a palace famous for it's unique dome shape, is the home of Elisif the Fair, the governor of Solitude.

    This is the Blue Palace.  On the inside, there are curved staircases that lead to the second floor, kitchens, large bedrooms, cellars, and the infamous Pelagius Wing, which is sealed due to "strange things happening."

 

    That's it for this week's post on Skyrim architecture.  There is more coming, and hopefully, I can sometime get a PC version for Skyrim so I can actually take pictures.  (but I doubt it)  Anyways there will be a lot more real life architecture coming this week.  Stay tuned to The Art of Architecture.

References:

>> http://playeraffinity.com/images/articlethumbs/1616SolitudeMarsh.jpg

>> http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Solitude

An Update...and a Little Rant on Cathedrals...

    Yes, it's been over a week and I haven't posted anything.  I probably need to start posting every day again.  I usually don't post on Thursday's or Friday's but I need to also start posting on the weekends at least.  I hope you guys enjoyed the last post on Minecraft Creations.  I haven't gotten around to building anything else.  The only thing I did last weekend in Minecraft was mess around with cathedral designs. 



Picture from minecraftforum.net

    By the way, cathedrals are the most difficult thing to build in Minecraft, especially good/real-life scale ones.  Of course, I tried to start building one step-by-step, making the frame, entrance, or towers first, but it still didn't work.  Architecture that includes spires, extremely intricate designs, and varying roof heights is tough to work with.  Although it is fun, after a couple of hours or more just trying to start the frame of a cathedral is tiring.  I'll be working on a way to build a cathedral step-by-step so that it is faster and easier, because let's face it, I really want to make my own version of a massive cathedral in Minecraft.  And I am always up to a good challenge, especially when it involves architectural designs.

Update! I completed my first cathedral in June 2014.  Check it out here!

Minecraft Introduction

I know this is a bit late for a Minecraft introduction, but I felt like I never did an actual intro like I did for Skyrim.  Since I've been showing so much architecture from it I feel like I should go ahead and do a post about who created it and what it's all about.  So you know what's coming: here is my introduction to an unusual 16-bit game called Minecraft.

    Minecraft is a game that was started by one single person: Markus Persson (A.K.A. Notch)  It is probably the most unique game ever made because everything is blocks.  Although it's graphics aren't that great, it offers an unlimited amount of adventure and creativity, and you will surprisingly find yourself putting hours into it.

    (Before I go on, I want to say that I'm going to post mostly architecture pictures because this is what my blog is about obviously.)  It was created way back in 2009 and had only 3 major blocks: stone, dirt, and wood.  Aside from its simplicity, Minecraft gained countless reviews and sold hundreds of copies a day when it was in alpha stage. People created amazing structures, including recreations like the Titanic and the Taj Mahal.  There were also creations of cathedrals and castles similar to the one in the picture above.

   If you follow my blog, I bet you have seen FyreUK.  They create massive builds in Minecraft and make a timelapse out of them.  This is a picture of one of their builds.  (All links will be below at the bottom of the post.)  Soon after making the game, Notch started a company in Sweden called Mojang AB.  He now has many programmers working at the company.

 

    Today, Minecraft is now a full game, but they are still adding onto it.  With over fifty blocks to use, you can build some amazing structures.  With texture packs, you can change the games graphics and make it the way you want it.  The world is over 12 million blocks wide and long.  (Remember that each block is one meter long.)  And each world is different no matter how many you make.  I have been playing for almost a year now and it's a great game to get involved in if you like adventure and creativity.  The cool thing about Minecraft is that you have one limit: your imagination.  You can build anything, and that's why I like it so much.

Be sure to follow my posts on my current Minecraft project here.  (Posts will be called Minecraft Architecture)

If you want to buy Minecraft get it at www.minecraft.net.

Pictures from:

>> http://ludolik.deviantart.com/art/Minecraft-Cathedral-of-Azra-201774131 

>> http://bnbgaming.com/2011/11/13/sunday-morning-cheer-the-building-of-waterfall-city/ 

>> http://ludolik.deviantart.com/art/Minecraft-Roman-Colosseum-204039963 

References:

>> http://www.youtube.com/user/FyreUK/ 

>> Skyrim Introduction 

Today's ArchiPic #92

 

    Ca' Rezzonico in Venice, Italy, courtesy Wikipedia

    Today ArchiPic is a museum in one of the most romantic cities of all: Venice in Italy.  Obviously, today is Valentine's Day, and I didn't feel like leaving you guys hanging!  I wanted to post something related, so I am here to show you the Ca' Rezzonico.  It's a museum that houses all kinds of stuff from Venice in the 18th century.  Mostly displaying Venetian art, the Ca' Rezzonico has a wide assortment of paintings way back to the 17th century.  The museum part opened in 1938 and was used as a palazzo long before it became a museum.  The Ca' Rezzonico is one of Italy's many museums, and it's very popular with Venetians and tourists.

Sources:

>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca'_Rezzonico 

>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo

References:

>> http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/

Minecraft Architecture | A Very MINI Update

I didn't do much this weekend on the city of Alimar in Minecraft.  Actually, the only thing I did build was a recreation of a mine from Skyrim in Alimar.  Today's episode will be quite short, and instead of pictures, there will be a lot more talking.  (or typing) 

    As I said in the very first post on the city of Alimar, I would be adding a mine in the hills.  And I didn't want to just create a regular mine that didn't have a unique entrance.  So you can kind of guess what I did: I used a design from Skyrim. 

   The second picture above is obviously from Skyrim and includes the original design of the Embershard Mine close to Riverwood.  The first picture is the recreation, and I did my best to recreate it, but with Minecraft you are limited to squares and right angles, so it's a bit hard to do.  Overall, I think it turned out well. 

    Here is the same picture of the recreation of Embershard Mine, except it's at night.

    When I first was testing out with different mine entrance designs, I had a lot of trouble just getting the right shape.  It's very hard to make an incline and angle like that in Minecraft, especially with fences.  I could not recreate it exactly, but it's pretty close to it.  (I just noticed I forgot to add the cobweb on the right, but I'll add that next time.)

    Here is a close-up view of the entrance.  I added grass on the sides to make it feel "full." 

    This is inside the mine.  It's very simple, (I know) but it is meant to be.  There is nothing fancy other than a wooden plank pathway and a couple of chests and crates.  The crates are actually meant to be barrels, but we all know what Minecraft is.  (all squares)  (Ha!  I guess that is the end of this week's Minecraft Creations.)

     Before I leave, I forgot to mention the new texture pack.  It is a mix of four different texture packs.  They include Ovo's Rustic Pack, Ornate 5, Jamziboy's Edit of Ovo's Rustic Pack, and Dokucraft Saga.  If you want to download it click here, and follow the instructions carefully if you don't know how to install a texture pack on Minecraft.

References:

>> http://www.msc510zach.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-custom-texture-pack-download.html

>> http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Embershard_Mine
>> Skyrim Introduction

Minecraft Tutorial | Building a Viking Style House

 I highly recommend checking out my new series called Minecraft Building Guide!

Edit: 9/5/2013 - This post is VERY old and I am considering making a new tutorial on this topic of Viking style houses.  It is a senstitive topic, because it is very easy to say, "this is Viking style" when it really isn't.  I'll be doing more research of the "Viking style" in the future and hopefully make a revised version of this tutorial.  When I do, I will link this post to the new one!

*A NOTE ON THE TEXTURE PACK*
      "It's actually a custom texture pack I put together using the Ornate 5, DokuCraft Saga, Jamziboy's Edit, and Ovo's Rustic texture packs. Mine is NOT up to date.  There is a texture pack out there that is almost identical to this one though.  It's called Ovo's Rustic CONTINUATION by Pinky4341. Here's where you can find the download and more info: Planet Minecraft - Ovo's Rustic Continuation."

As you saw from the post on the city of Alimar last month, the houses in the pictures were complex, especially the roofs.  I thought you guys would like to see a step-by-step tutorial on how to build a simple Viking-style house.  Here is my first Minecraft tutorial on how to build a Viking-style house.

    First, we start out by marking where the frame is going to be.  Each log block has a 3 block space in between.

   Then, we build up the frame to where it is 4 blocks high.  By the way, it is very important to build a frame because it marks out for you the sections of the house.  It also helps with symmetry.

    Before we build the frame of the roof, we are going to build the walls of the first floor.

    Build them up until they are one block lower then your log frame.  (In other words, build the wooden plank wall 3 blocks high on each side.)

   Then you will connect the frame and make it look complete.  (That's as best as I can describe it.)

   The frame of the roof goes in one block every two blocks until it reaches the center point at the top. 

    After building the frame, you just fill in the middle with wood blocks. 

    The gables are the complex part.  I decided I would just make them and take a couple of pictures instead of going in-depth on how to make gables.  (I might make a future tutorial on that.)

    Then you just fill up the empty part in the front with wooden planks.

   The part that really makes it look Viking is how the roof goes farther out every couple of blocks.  To make that curve at the front/top of the roof, I simply put a stair on top of a stair facing the opposite direction of the other stair.  (I know that sound confusing.)

   This is the front of the home's first floor. 

   Also, the front of the house's second floor can be designed anyway you want.  But this is the way I designed it.  Using wool blocks on the side of the glass panes. 

   Once done with the gables on the sides just cut out the logs of the roof and replace the front of the gable with glass.  (like in the picture above)

    In the end, if you followed all the instructions and understood what I said, then your Viking house should look similar to mine.  I haven't done the interior because I only showed the exterior in the Alimar update, but I might do a tutorial on how to fill your Minecraft house with rooms and stuff that makes the interior look like a real house.  I know this tutorial wasn't the best it could of been.  It could of been more in-depth and more informative, but I tried my best.  I may do a follow-up tutorial on this, but instead of pictures, it would be a video.  A video would be the best for this kind of tutorial because you guys can actually see me place the blocks, and it would be much easier to follow.  I hope you did like the tutorial though, and I hope you learned some things about houses that you didn't know before.

*Alimar Update 2 coming Next Week*

References:
>> Minecraft Building Guide Series

>> Previous Alimar Update