I spit at most architectural conventions, especially the modern ones. Naturally, I am speaking of the aesthetic aspects of architecture, not the practical ones.
This is a screenshot of the largest and most interesting buildings I have rendered thus far. Two of them are available in my Shapeways shop, if you want to take a peek at the full 3D views of either the tower on the far right or the airship hangar right next to it. The models are untested, but I see no reason to hurry up and validate them because they are very expensive and I don’t expect to sell either one ever (I doubt I’ll ever buy them myself, considering that I have no place to put a diorama). Anyway, I’ll tell you a bit about each of these, going from left to right.
Tower of the Eyes: this ancient monstrosity, the same size as the Empire State Building, was constructed by the black dwarves under the direction of the chuyinka. It served as their headquarters for plotting their schemes to take over the world (cliché much?). The yellow bit at the top is a lighthouse, and was added centuries after the original construction to serve as an airship beacon. Taking inspiration from a documentary I watched years ago called “The Code,” by Carl Munck, several of the characters analyse the mathematical relationships of the positions of certain ancient landmarks and use the formulas they derive to locate the tower.
Castle Holgar: this one I’ve mentioned before. Originally an inverted motte-and-bailey castle, with four mottes on the outside, and a huge bailey in the middle containing substantial farmland, Holgar was burned to the ground and rebuilt as a huge star-fort of reinforced concrete under the direction of the chuyinka. Though called a castle, Holgar is actually a citadel (see this video), given that this was the central government building of ancient Skhara, as well as the residence of the Skharnov family and the fortress for their military. Castle Holgar is immense, much larger than most castles in our world, and also one of the largest fortifications on Rossbera. Each of those turrets is the same size as the keep of Rochester Castle in England. Castle Holgar was eventually destroyed from the inside, but the outer walls, including the bastions, still stand.
The White Keep: a fortified palace, and the central building of the Skharnograd Kremlin. It’s difficult to see in this picture, but I’ve used the same style as most kremlins built during the 15th century (“kremlin” is capitalised only when referring to a specific example, such as the Moscow Kremlin, which is the most famous of the lot by far). The Skharnograd Kremlin was way ahead of its time, and built of red brick during a time that nearly all other castles were built of stone. Alexandra Skharnova ordered its construction in the fashion of Skharan fortresses, choosing red brick in lieu of the Skharan concrete that she no longer had access to. Years later, Drokar Skharnov II, a.k.a. Drokar the Pious, ordered the whole thing whitewashed. His successor, Viskar I, had the outer walls painted black, but left the keep alone.
Airship Hangar: a hangar designed to hold one of the black triremes. The corner towers are topped with angular versions of onion domes with spikes protruding from them. This is a feature I use quite a lot.
Hub Tower: another secret facility the chuyinka have at their disposal is the Hub, which is quite new. Six cranes protrude from the tower, moving things between the many causeways below ground level and the platforms on the upper levels, connected to the upper research lab. Like the airship hangar, this tower has an angular, bizarrely-decorated onion dome.
So, there you have it, for now. I’ll post some better entries with more pictures in the near future, showing exactly what is so weird (not necessarily unique, but definitely unusual) about my buildings.
Kaja's Kreations 