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Hello PlanetMinecrafters,
I'm doing a video series on Architectural Essentials in Minecraft, aiming to help you become a better builder. All the videos in this serie will be listed below in spoilers, so if you want to keep track consider to subscribe or favorit to be notified on updates!
Subjects that will be covered:
Sensory Elements
- Shapes
- Lines
- Textures
- Colors
- Light and Dark
- Space
Formal Elements
- Pattern and Repetition
- Rhythm
- Symmetry and Asymmetry
- Balance and Unbalance
- Contrast
- Proportion and Scale
- Theme and Variation
- Coherence and Unity in Variety

Shapes and Lines
Shapes
Every building is made up out of shapes, examples would be squares, rectangles, triangles, sphere, circles, arches, domes, etc. Some shapes have unique properties.Shapes featuring straight lines are very controlled and human as there are no straight lines in nature. This makes rectangles, squares, triangles, octagons, pentagons, etc. all very human shapes which work particularly well in industrial or modern style or in general in urban settings.
Circles have an other interesting property, they have no visual focus point. One can follow the outline of a circle and won't find a place to focus their attention on, as it's everywhere the same. Architects exploit this to draw attention to parts they want to feature. If we take a half sphere, a dome, and stick something we want to feature on top of it in the center, all the focus will be drawn to this thing, as there are no other visual focus point on a perfect dome. Examples, a church with a dome roof featuring an cross in the center, a mosque with a cressent moon on top or a theater with a pagado/pinacle on top.
Domes, arches and triangles have another interesting property with regards to structural integrity. They distribute energy/weight very effectivelly to the legs of the shape which then can be transfered to the ground. This is why you will see a lot of arches and traingular shapes in historical styles, as they used this property to support their structures. Domes feature the same property, and perfectly distribute the weight to the edges, this means you can have a large open space under a dome. An example would be the inside of a theater, where there are no pillars among the seets to support the roof, as it's self supporting, making it so that everyone has a clear view at the stage.
To illustrate how shapes affect the feel of architecture i'll use Lord of the Rings:
Circles - The shire features virtually no straight lines, making hobbits feel very natural and gentle
Angular - The human parts of LOTR feature a lot of angular elements, angles being very human this makes it fitting
Transitional - Ofcourse there are also transitional styles, Elven for example uses as well angular as circular/flowing designs making this a more challenging buildstyle. It also suggestive about the nature of the elven race.
Lines
Lines work the same as they do in fashion, vertical lines make things look thinner and taller, horizontal lines make stuff look fatter and wider. Vertical lines come in handy on parts of builds where you want to exagurate the height, an example would be a tower. Horizontal lines are typically used to show various floors on the exterior, these also act as supporting lines to easely divide the building in parts, which makes it more easely comprehensible.
Colors and Textures

Light & Dark and Space

Patterns & Repetition and Rhythm

Symmetry, Balance & Elements

The Early History of Architecture
This blog will be updated as more parts are recorded and published
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Update #5 : by lentebriesje 11/16/2013 2:54:33 pmNov 16th, 2013
Episode 6 "The early history of Architecture" is out now! I know it took a bloody long time xD
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I am curious though... Have you ever, or will you ever, provide some sort of map/world save we can walk around and interact with as we learn these principles?
((p.s. the missing letters on the various images of this thread is eating me alive))
DUBSTEP!!!