Sand Baori

A few years ago I went to see The Fall. It’s a gorgeous hot mess of a movie, if anyone’s interested. It’s a Tarsem movie, they’re all gorgeous and weird, and kind of hot messes, lol. Anyway, in among all the gorgeous weirdness, was one particular scene shot on an eye-boggling location.

What in the name of MC Escher...?
What in the name of MC Escher…?

I dismissed it as a special effect – there couldn’t be an actual place that looked like that. I completely forgot about it until the same location (or, as I found out later, a set based on it) popped up in The Dark Knight Rises several years later.

Behind Christian Bale and his angst...
Behind Christian Bale and his angst…

What.

I did a bit of googling and OMG. Yes. This place actually exists. It’s an ancient stepwell in India called Chand Baori, and it looks every bit as awesome as the movies make them look.

Whoa. That is a lot of stairs.
Whoa. That is a lot of stairs.
Stairs & stairs & stairs...
Stairs & stairs & stairs…

Awesome right?

So of course I’m looking at this huge thing and thinking “Hey… wouldn’t look cool if I built it in minecraft?”

Yes. Yes it would.
Yes. Yes, it would.

This was a bear of a build – digging out the space from the middle outwards took forever even with scads of TNT, and then you would be surprised how long it takes to precisely line up all those stairs. And then doing the fortification at the top. It’s no real wonder I ran out of steam and didn’t do the temple in the middle. Still it looks awesome – goodness knows everyone who visits it for the first time is all !!! when they visit it. My favorite reaction is still Palcto’s “Is this a Death Arena???” (He still calls it that when he visits. XD)

Another view from the corner
Another view from the corner

I have my view distance set to 350 blocks, which is over the max amount for my phone as determined by the game, but it makes for such good pictures. You can see across the swamp to Wacker Tower in that one.

From the top
From the top

It looks super awesome from the top. Just the TEXTURE of it.

Approaching from the swamp.
Approaching from the swamp.
Corner fortification.
Corner fortification.
A looooong corridor down one side of the fort.
A looooong corridor down one side of the fort.

Now comes with chicken!

A view from the side.
A view from the side.
A view from lower down
A view from lower down

So about that bit of water filling the lower stairs of this build. Since I wasn’t building the temple, I thought it’d be cool to make the bit of water at the bottom more interesting…

The chicken is not the interesting part.
The chicken is not the interesting part.

So as you can see it goes down several more levels under the water. But what’s in the very center?

Lets swim down and see.
Lets swim down and see.
Hey - where are we?
Hey – where are we?

I’m always creating stuff with the idea that I’m going to turn this world into a more public server someday. So I designed the lower level as a hidden apartment complex. I think Wee Beast does have a base down here, but the rest is empty. In fact, I may not actually be finished digging some of the units out lol. Someday.

By the way – I do design a lot of these builds on graph paper. Here’s a rough sketch of the apartment level floor plans:

Keeps the hands busy while you're on the phone.
Keeps the hands busy while you’re on the phone.

also gives me chance to use netherbrick, which is one of my favorite textures in the game – I just dont get much practical use out of it.

A peek inside one of the units.
A peek inside one of the units.
A corner reading nook
A corner reading nook

Bookshelves are another big Thing I like To Use A Lot.

Tiny corner veggie garden
Tiny corner veggie garden
Where does this corridor go?
Where does this corridor go?
Steps up
Steps up and out

This way ends up at a stairwell on the west side of the structure.

It's a long climb.
It’s a long climb.

But if you keep going down the hallway instead of climbing out…

Well first you pass this.
Well first you pass this.

I’m a big fan of preserving natural terrain or caves or other generated weirdness in and around my builds, or at least faking that I did so more or less convincingly. There was a waterfall here, but it was only a single stream and flooded the area I needed to put floor, so I dug it a pit to drain into and widen it a little.

Keep walking though, and eventually you come to…

a subway station!
a subway station!

This was actually the first station I had to add to the Netherrack line after it was built, which partially explains why this station was on the other side of the tracks from the rest of them. (Also easier to connect the rest of the structure.)

Sand Baori actually sits on the Granite line as well, via an unconnected subway station on the north side.

Entrance dug under the north wall
Entrance dug under the north wall
platform level
platform level

I… might have a subway station formula I adhere to… >_>

Anyway, that’s the build!I leave you with an animated version of today’s cover photo:

sunrise, sunset, swiftly flow the days...
sunrise, sunset, swiftly flow the days…
(click to animate)

A few more pictures from my very first server run can be found at this post.

World: Main
Location: 131 64 -142
Creation Mode: Creative
Build completed:Jan 2015

Ziggurat of Ur

While I work on subway tunnels, get caught up on documenting previous builds, and chomp at the bit waiting for 0.11.0 to appear in my update list, I figured I’d post something small, and noticed I haven’t used the Minecraftspiration tag yet. Clearly that needs to be fixed.

At some point – not super soon cause OMG busy and stuff, and also because I am still burnt out on using sandstone after GCT – I think I’d like to build a ziggurat, probably based on Ur. I mean, look at that picture. It is screaming to be recreated in cubes. I already have a pyramid build, and its not bad for something constructed when this world was still strictly vanilla survival, but I’d like to build something ridiculously huge. Why not a giant Mesopotamian temple?

what it probably looked like from the air.
what it probably looked like from the air.

I’d have to find a desert biome big enough to build it in, but this could probably happen.

GCT is done!

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

I kinda fell off the face of the earth in terms of updating various blogs and journals. Sometimes real life (and chronic illness, unfortunately) catches up with me. I want to post on Monday’s server run (it was quiet due to problems with new settings in the updated Plug PE) and take pics of the various things 576875 and Swarmhut have been building. I’ll get around to those posts at some point, but here’s the big exciting news – aside from retail spaces and the food court 576875 is building on the mezzanine, Grand Central is finished!

It’s going to be a very very VERY long time until I work with any kind of sandstone again, lol. Several weeks of a big build using nothing but and I am thoroughly sick of looking at it. Still, I’m really proud of this build, it came out awesome and even though I have a few problems with the final build (mostly aesthetic stuff)… yeah.

But enough blather. PICTURES. There are many.

The Terminal from the road.
The Terminal from the road.
Looking northwest.
Looking northwest.
a view from the top.
a view from the top.

So in preparation for boats, I dug some small canals around the station so that it wouldn’t entirely block off the river surrounding it on three sides. I honestly should have built one straight across on the north side. Might still.

Looking at the station from the North.
Looking at the station from the North.
Northeast Corner
Northeast Corner
Peeking in from the North windows.
Peeking in from the North windows.
South entrance.
South entrance.
window illumination outside
window illumination outside

I took lots of pictures inside the Grand Concourse. Mostly from similar angles, oops.

Dim and empty.
Dim and empty.
Sunrise.
Sunrise.
View from the floor.
View from the floor.
Information needed?
Information needed?
I sort of made Orion and then put more "stars" around him.
I sort of made Orion and then put more “stars” around him.
Looking south.
Looking south.
Moonrise
Moonrise
Grand Concourse, looking East
Looking East from the roof.
I like the pattern of light here.
I like the pattern of light here.
One of the corner antechambers.
One of the corner antechambers.

I’m not sure what to do with these rooms in the corners. Maybe additional reading/waiting space?

Overlooking the waiting area.
Overlooking the waiting area.
Waiting areas.
Waiting areas.

Think that sign needs to come down a block.

Ticketed passengers only
Ticketed passengers only
The waiting room looks comfy.
The waiting room looks comfy.

I haven’t managed to do much in terms of retail space (the real Grand Central is packed with shops), but there are at least four spaces under the grand staircases that I’ve managed to do things with.

some delicious cake for sale.
some delicious cake for sale.
No one seems to be here.
No one seems to be here.
A book for your journey perhaps?
A book for your journey perhaps?
Flower shop.
Flower shop.

A quick peek downstairs to see what 576875 has been up to.

Staircase down.
Staircase down.
Food court in progress.
Food court in progress.

Looks good so far!

Finally my favorite thing – stand on the roof of whatever I’ve built, batman style, and enjoy the view around it.

The road rambles on in the distance.
The road rambles on in the distance.
The road stretching east.
The road stretching east.
The river and flatlands to the northeast
The river and flatlands to the northeast

So yeah, there you have it. And now I have a tiny chunk of home in my minecraft world. 🙂 I suppose I ought to get cracking on expanding the subway in its various directions, lol. Soon.

World: Main
Location: -1665 65 -3
Creation Mode: Creative
Build completed: Post date

GCT, part 2 and some notes on last week’s open server

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

Made a fair amount of progress in the past few days on GCT. It’s starting to actually resemble its inspiration now…

Chunk error.
Chunk error.

…well okay, when there aren’t huge holes in the floor/wall. Also there is apparently a HUGE cave system under the south tracks. Going to have to investigate that later.

track level from the corner.
track level from the corner.

Track level is done, lit, and has a ceiling. One of the challenges of this build was how to keep the various levels lit without having a mess of torches, something that proved challenging as GCT has >6 block high ceilings. This became much easier once I realized that light passes through stairs and I could hide glowstone behind “moldings.”

Mezzanine floor
Mezzanine floor

Time to do the next story! I’ve since finished up the mezzanine level.

The center column of the mezzanine level.
The center column of the mezzanine level.
Mezzanine staircases going both up and down.
Mezzanine staircases going both up and down.
Mezzanine lights
Mezzanine lights

It’s currently a big empty room bracketed by the two staircases on either side. I may put in some vendor booths and cafe tables later. The real station has a fancy food court and a branch of the NYC transit museum on this level.

I’m still working on the main level but so far it looks awesome.

View from East Staircase.
View from East Staircase.
Info Booth
Info Booth
Ticket office.
Ticket office.
The West Grand Staircase.
The West Grand Staircase.

The grand staircases were annoying to design and build, and I ended up trying three different things before settling on this, and then I had to build it from scratch an extra time since I had a game crash and none of the work I’d done that afternoon saved. D’oh!

Honestly I should have known the game was a little screwy – I cam up to work on one of the starcases to find that all of the stairs I’d put down had oriented themselves facing north.

Thats a weird looking glitch.
Thats a weird looking glitch.

I didn’t get a picture but some of the stairs I’d placed upside down in places had also turned themselves around. It was a little creepy looking I won’t lie. But then the game crashed and I had to start over, but the nice thing about having to build a thing twice is that you’ve already worked out the kinks so it goes a lot faster the second time around.

Peeking down the stairs.
Peeking down the stairs.

This is just the top of the staircases down to Mezzanine level.

So, yeah, it’s coming along. Maybe a little slower than I’d like, but I’d been busy this week with other stuff.

I realized earlier that I hadn’t made my post-open-server post this week, so I’ll just take this moment to thank The_Swarm_Hut, Mathguy40, 576875, and Brandonthekid-don’t-remember-your-reddit-handle-lol for coming. 5’s underwater surprise seems to be coming along, while The_Swarm_Hut built a bunch of neat stuff by spawn. I’ll probably make a separate post about this tomorrow, but I’ma need folks to start ranging a bit away from spawn for building stuff – the area by Spawn House is filling up quite a bit. 🙂 But yeah, it was a good open server night, and being able to play with friendly company was nice after a long and unfortunately crappy day beforehand. I will be running tomorrow night at 6, hope to see folks there.

GCT, part 1 & subway expansion

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

I feel a little bad starting a completely new build when I’m still technically not finished with Bad Joke Prison (I’ll explain it when I post about it), or a lot of the last little fiddly details of Wilshire castle or Sand Baori, though they look awesome as is and I shouldn’t stress about it. I mean when you really get down to it there some detail work I haven’t finished on the Crystal Palace. and that was months ago. I’m really excited about this build though, and after my nerdrage of last week, plus some real life Stuff Happening, things to get excited about = win.

I’d considered teasing what it’s going to be, but I’m terrible with that sort of thing, so in case you couldn’t figure it out from the title:

Grand Central Terminal, New York, NY
Grand Central Terminal, New York, NY
This is a multi-layered challenge for me. One, this is the first time I’m building something based on a place I’ve actually been, as opposed to seeing a picture of somewhere and thinking “ooh, that looks cool” and building something with a LOT of imagination and creative license filling the gaps. Not only that, this is one of my favorite places on earth. To a native New Yorker who is also mad for all things having to do with railed transport, Grand Central is like… you know what, there aren’t even words. I guess the closest I would come up with is a devout Catholic getting to visit the Vatican. So there’s an emotional component in this build. This isn’t to say there won’t be creative license taken with it – it’s not going to be a dead accurate model by a long shot – but I hope to capture the feel, the grandness, if you will, of this train station by the time I’m done.

But before I get into how I’m doing with that so far, a common question from people visiting my open runs is “how the heck did you build this subway and how long did it take you?” I usually answer something along the lines of “in sections, and for-freaking-ever,” but since I had to expand the tract from its former northern terminus at Wilshire Castle on up to the GCT site, I figured I’d try documenting the process a little.

I will note that building said subway expansion is a crapton easier now that Plug gives me coordinates. Now that I know the extant subway runs at (x, 42, -3), all I have to do is line up x.

Lets say Point A is where the existing subway ends and point B is where the new station/end/next build will be. The first thing I do is dig a 1×2 tunnel all the way end to end.

what the initial tunnel looks like from point B.
what the initial tunnel looks like from point B.
Honestly this part can be the most tedious, especially when either a) you don’t know where precisely you’re going because you don’t have access to coords and are therefore counting off every time you move forward a square or b) you DO know where you’re going and you’re all like “what, I’ve only gone 100 blocks? and I have 500 more to go?”

also bad if 2 block high spaces trigger claustrophobia.
also bad if 2 block high spaces trigger claustrophobia.
Then once you have your teeny Steve-sized tunnel you get to go back through it, laying down TNT in intervals. You can also just keep digging it out by hand/tool. Either way this process involves running back and forth through your tunnel a LOT.)

Pro-tip: do not place TNT on cobble fences.
Pro-tip: do not place TNT on cobble fences.
Tedious as it is the fun part is if you do this correctly, you light the TNT at one end and then it just keeps going off in thin this lovely chain of explodey all the way to the other end. It’s kind of hilarious because it only goes so far as the couple of chunks you can see, and then you walk forward a few minutes later and OH NO MORE SPLODE. It’s pretty glorious.

But then the funs over and you have detritus to clean up. Ugh.

we're gonna need a few more pickaxes.
we’re gonna need a few more pickaxes.
If you’re in creative mode, this is where “bulldozing” comes in handy, especially if a) you’re flying b) you have blocks above you to clear. Get your face level with the line of blocks you want to clean out, then tap and hold. You’ll dig out the six blocks in front of you and then stop. Keep holding, but hit the forward arrow at the same time. Watch the blocks in front zip apart as fast as you can fly at them. Makes things a lot less tedious. It does also work with blocks directly in front of you on the ground, but you do run the risk of jumping if you don’t time it right. Still – practice! Anything that makes clearing a large number of block faster = win.

It's getting better...
It’s getting better…
I dig out a five block high by five across square for my subway, and then line it with cobblestone on the top and sides. The bottom gets gravel in a 3×2 U formation, with the track running in the groove in the middle. But before I start slinging cobble around I end up with these cavernous long square holes that call to mind the giant water tunnels running waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay below Manhattan. Go look em up sometime.

Clear tunnel.
Clear tunnel.

a long cuboid to nowhere.
a long cuboid to nowhere.
Well now I have a tunnel, now what? Dig out a line of holes on either side? Why would I do that?

Wait no actually I AM doing that.
Wait no actually I AM doing that.
No real practical reason besides aesthetics. I put netherrack in those spots so that the tunnel walls have a little color. It makes more sense in the next shot.

From the former terminus.
From the former terminus.
And here.

beginning of tunnel lining
beginning of tunnel lining
Also about every 64 blocks or so, there’s a shaft with a ladder up to the surface.

hey there is sky up there!
hey there is sky up there!
I used to need to dig these up so I could figure out where the hell I was. Also it proved handy sometimes to have a periodic access point to the train tunnel below from the surface. Slightly less handy from the tunnels, but still possible if you have a couple of blocks and a couple of extension ladders with you.

an end section waiting...
an end section waiting…
Most of the rest of the tunnel construction is just more running back and forth laying down cobblestone, gravel, rail, alternating patterns of torches and netherrack, and it’s all very tedious grunt work at this point.

Almost done, just gotta do the ceiling.
Almost done, just gotta do the ceiling.
one thing that does liven things up is that digging out subway tunnels you will inevitably cross paths with a wandering cave or three. I don’t seal these intersections usually, it’s more fun to leave access to caves open for later exploration. If the cave is mostly above the tunnel, I glass in the ceiling instead of using cobblestone so you can see up as you pass. Occasionally this leads to random discoveries, like hey, I’ve never been in this cave before why is that wall randomly cobblestone?

There is nothing suspicious about this wall, nor about the moaning behind it.
There is nothing suspicious about this wall, nor about the moaning behind it.

Murrrrr. Growl. Gurrrrr.
Murrrrr. Growl. Gurrrrr.

Totally a dungeon.
Totally a dungeon.
We’ll have to come back and investigate that at some point.

Meanwhile above ground…

Outline in gravel
Outline in gravel
This pretty much looks like a glorified crop circle (crop square?) but it’s actually me translating a graph paper outline to the actual terrain. (Terribly; I had to lay down that gravel three times before I got it right. D:)

And then you pull out the explosive stuff.
And then you pull out the explosive stuff.
clearing out that sizable of a space requires quite a bit of both controlled detonation and “lets pack a 7×7 space full of TNT and see what happens” sort of detonation.

still clearing out the rock.
still clearing out the rock.
And occasionally putting up single walls.

One wall up to the surface and 3 bellmouths of subways future.
One wall up to the surface and 3 bellmouths of subways future.
So there are going to be 12 tracks feeding into here altogether. I highly doubt I’ll build out ALL of them, but I’ve always been more ambitious than practical.

Clear crater. Or hole? Or something.
Clear crater. Or hole? Or something.

Looking at the cleared space from above.
Looking at the cleared space from above.
The obsidian is just for me to keep track of where the middle is.

More bellmouths for additional lines.
More bellmouths for additional lines.
Thinking since the primary subway line had Netherrack embedded in the wall I may change that up for the other ones. I think I want some sort of green block for the line that will eventually go east/west. Or hell, I always end up with more lapis than I ever know what to do with, maybe I’ll just make it the blue line. We’ll see.

Finished the floor, bellmouths and track stubs.
Finished the floor, bellmouths and track stubs.
Makes an interesting light pattern.

Floor notches, for later
Floor notches, for later

Finished bellmouths with walls.
Finished bellmouths with walls.
I’m pretty happy with how the wall patterning came out here.

That’s all I’ve done so far, but it’s going really well and I remain really psyched about this. There will be more work in progress updates to come… can’t wait to get the mezzanine done so I can get cracking on the grand hall.

The Four Guardians

Note: Written before update 1.1.0 when the direction of the sunrise/set was fixed. North here is now west.

One of my MCPE builds on Fisher Price® My First Creative World™ was a giant zombie. It was a challenge figuring out what color blocks to use, and working around the fact that unlike skins, blocks have the same texture on all four sides. But the statue got built with the necessary fudging of detail and it lurked on one side of several incarnations of my scavenger hunt world, at least until in some of them, Wee Beastie TNT’ed them to the ground. ‘Cause, you know, Giant Zombie.

Fast forward to my infinite world, and a pretty patch of shoreline and a small island out from the mainland, and I thought, what the heck, I’ll rebuild the Giant Zombie. And then I thought, nah. I’ll build FOUR of them. Get all Lord of the Ringsy. So I squared off and expanded the island and built these four colossal gentlemen quietly menacing onlookers in each direction. Though it’s really hard to menace anything with hordes of chickens sprouting out of your feet.

Yes, they are connected.
Yes, they are connected.
A door inside!
A door inside!
Its a long way up...
Its a long way up…
Shoulder level!
Shoulder level!
balconies and doors connect the four.
balconies and doors connect the four.
A view out of an arm
A view out of an arm.
Interior of Head #1
Interior of Head #1
Interior of Head #2
Interior of Head #2
Interior of Head #3
Interior of Head #3
Interior of Head #4
Interior of Head #4
There were stairs going down too.
There were stairs going down too.
A vast white room...
A vast white room…
Wait, more down?
Wait, more down?
down down down
down down down
Four Guardians subway station
Four Guardians subway station

This was actually the first subway station I built on the north/south line. (When I add more, it’s gonna be called the Netherrack line.) It’s a little smaller than subsequent stations, since I was still figuring things out, and the only one with stairs on the platform instead of in a space behind the wall. The rest of the stations got more standardized over time, but this one gets to be quirky because it was first.

Not pictured – I should have gotten a picture of the island from the sky during a creative run, because the water around these guys? FILLED with chickens. There is a circle of flapping white specks around the island. Yes, there’s a spawner somewhere. Occasionally they get down into the subway and hop a minecart. Chickens in minecarts are way funnier than they ought to be.

And thusly ends the tale of the four.

UPDATE (6/28/15): About that aforementioned picture:

So. Many. Chickens.
So. Many. Chickens.

Also these guys have since acquired names. They are Icky, Stinky, Yucky and Clyde. Don’t ask me which one’s which.

World: Main
Location: 551 64 16
Creation Mode: Creative
Build completed: Summer 2014

At the Circus!

All right, Crazy Busy-making Stuff is over with for a moment, so time to catch up on posts about my MCPE builds!

I finished the circus a hair too late for the Reddit WBC it was created for, but it still came out cool and I’m pretty happy with it. It gave me something to do with the dead flat mountain space on the main subway line between the Crystal Palace and the Castle. I’d briefly considered starting a giant train station build there but I think that’s ultimately going to go north of the castle.

Anyway. Pictures!

What? A circus? Awesome, lets go.
What? A circus? Awesome, lets go.
Up through the mountains!
Up through the mountains!

Carving stairways and roads through mountains is kind of a pain, but at least the views are nice from up here?

I see the Big Top!
I see the Big Top!
Tickets, Please!
Tickets, Please!

It’s always a little tricky designing spaces for villagers to stand in (lunch counters, ticket booths, any sort of service type place) and not have them wander off. you end up getting rather good at overhangs.

Ticket obtained! Lets go in!
Ticket obtained! Lets go in!
That's one way to make a tightrope. Or should I say tightfence?
That’s one way to make a tightrope. Or should I say tightfence?
2 out of 3 rings visible.
2 out of 3 rings visible.
See Mr. Hmm's performing dogs! In ring #3 - Hmmph's Wild exotic mooshrooms.
See Mr. Hmm’s performing dogs! In ring #3 – Hmmph’s Wild exotic mooshrooms!
Farmer Hmp's Rainbow Sheep! Here for one day only!
Farmer Hmp’s Rainbow Sheep! Here for one day only!
...is that a sheep on the tightrope!?
…is that a sheep on the tightrope!?
The Purple Sheep of Pachysandra Island!
The Purple Sheep of Pachysandra Island!

Which of course means I now have to create a Pachysandra Island somewhere and fill it with purple sheep…

Would you like to buy a flower?
Would you like to buy a flower?

I apparently have a thing for flower shops. Be nice when you can actially buy things with emeralds…

HMM. one hot dog please!
HMM. one hot dog please!
No idea what's going on here,  but maybe we should move along.
No idea what’s going on here, but maybe we should move along.
Popcorn, getcher fresh popcorn!
Popcorn, getcher fresh popcorn!
Wait - a Freak Show? Ooo.
Wait – a Freak Show? Ooo.
Quick, the ticket guy isn't looking... *sneaka sneaka*
Quick, the ticket guy isn’t looking… *sneaka sneaka*

Don’t do this in real life, kids.

Behold, the terrifying and explosive Creepers!
Behold, the terrifying and explosive Creepers!
Observe the horror inducing Skeletons and Zombies!
Observe the horror inducing Skeletons and Zombies!
Tremble at the sight of the Zombie Pigmen! Straight from The Nether!
Tremble at the sight of the Zombie Pigmen! Straight from The Nether!
Marvel at the Mildly Annoying Silverfish!
Marvel at the Mildly Annoying Silverfish!

And that’s the end of it. I might put more tents in at some point and there was a cave system underneath that I hadn’t had a chance to map out yet, and the grounds are overrun with loose sheep with colors not found in nature and chickens.

World: Main
Location: -745 78 -34
Creation Mode: Creative
Build completed: post date

Wacker Tower

I mentioned I liked browsing Brutalism tumblrs and other images for inspiration for Minecraft builds. One day I happened across a pictures of  the Blue Cross Blue Shield building in Chicago, IL.

Apparently Hertz has been around a while.
Apparently Hertz has been around a while.

The building still stands, although it’s been given a bit of a facelift and the more generic moniker of “55 West Wacker.” (It nevertheless has made several “Chicago’s ugliest buildings” lists, which seems a little unfair – I’ve seen way uglier examples of Brutalism.) It also now has very tall neighbors on all sides but the front, rendering all those pretty windows useless and making the building itself look a little squat by comparison. Nevertheless something about this building held my attention. Maybe it was all those pretty windows.

Oh hey look, I figured out how to make WordPress galleries work, go me.

 

This building was my last big MCPE build in cheat-less Survival and as such it was a pain in the butt. It’s the reason why there are five nether reactor tower corpses across the samd biome (for all the glowstone and quartz) and spruce trees in an oak biome. And the poor rainbow sheep in the farm. Even with the Shear button I still accidentally punched all of them at least once getting carpet. And I still haven’t cleaned up all the supply trunks from in front either – figured their content’s’ll be useful for when I get bored and switch back into Survival. Still, oddly enough, for all the time and frustration in building it, it’s probably second only to Seuss Library in my list of favorite builds so far.

 

World: Main
Location: -120, 71,-427)
Build Mode: Survival
Build completed: Early October, 2014

Seuss Library

I surf a lot of brutalism galleries. I find the architecture style hideously interesting. It doesn’t help that UMass Amherst isn’t too far from me, so I’m confronted with many intensely ugly buildings on a fairly regular basis. The other fun thing about Brutalism is that examples of it are really fun to make into MCPE builds. Weirdly enough, they do not look anywhere near as ugly within the cubed off aesthetic of a Minecraft world.

My second brutalist build is based on the Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego. It looks quite a bit like a UFO crashed on campus and then people just shrugged and filled it full of books.

This is the inspiration for this build. Yes, that is a real place!
This is the inspiration for this build. Yes, that is a real place!

 

Just for the record I’ve never been to California, let alone this campus, so I had to improvise a lot of the inside. I do think I did a pretty good job approximating the outside though. Lets take a tour!

On the Road facing North.
On the Road facing North.
It's a long path from the road to the front of the library.
It’s a long path from the road to the front of the library.
There's the road all the way back there.
There’s the road all the way back there.
A peek at the front.
A peek at the front.
Welcome to the library!
Welcome to the library!

 

The librarians are busy tonight.
The librarians are busy tonight.

BTW it is a super pain in the ass getting villagers to stay in one spot. Hence all the glass panes on the ceiling. Good thing they compliment the info dest.

The guys at the Skull Cafe are not so busy.
The guys at the Skull Cafe are not so busy.

Nope. They just keep jumping on the stoves back there.

Such pretty work tables! And cozy couches!
Such pretty work tables! And cozy couches!

It was fun figuring out how to get “houseplants” inside without just having ugly exposed dirt blocks.

A flower shop? In a library? Sure, why not.
A flower shop? In a library? Sure, why not.

So lets go downstairs to the basement!

It isn't a proper library without a creepy basement of stacks
It isn’t a proper library without a creepy basement of stacks.
Lots of stacks. We might be searching awhile.
Lots of stacks. We might be searching awhile.

These pictures aren’t really conveying what a huge basement of stacks this really is. You’re seeing a glimps eof maybe half of them.

Because my stepkids got jokes.
Because my stepkids got jokes.

I really don’t know what is with them and setting random animals loose in my builds but at least the library cows are funny. Anyway…

Up to the "UFO" part of the library!
Up to the “UFO” part of the library!
Level 5 has some cosy reading areas!
Level 5 has some cozy reading areas!
It's much more inviting up here.
It’s much more inviting up here.
A peek down at the road.
A peek down at the road.
So much for no talking in the library.
So much for no talking in the library.

Because these guys will follow and aggressively HMMM at you.

Level 7 is the widest floor. Lots of work and read space.
Level 7 is the widest floor. Lots of work and read space.
So this is what an all-nighter looks like.
So this is what an all-nighter looks like.
No idea how the villager got outside.
No idea how the villager got outside.

Also whoops, forgot to finish slabbing over the ceiling – you can see the wool blocks holding up the table upstairs.

Looking up to the skylight on level 10. Quite a climb!
Looking up to the skylight on level 10. Quite a climb!
Top floor!
Top floor! Phew!

Level 10 isn’t part of the original library design, but a rooftop workshop felt somehow necessary.

The minions are super busy up here.
The minions are super busy up here.
Busy in the workshop
Busy in the workshop…

Okay, back outside.

A daylight view from outside
A daylight view from outside
a side view at sunset
a side view at sunset.
Looks really cool all lit up!
Looks really cool all lit up!
...this needs some sheep or wolves or something.
…this needs some sheep or wolves or something.

 

This took me maybe three solid weeks of work to finish up and furnish, but it’s the build I’m happiest with so far. I may go back and add more light at the base of the “UFO” at some point, as I’m afraid if I switch this to creative that dark area is going to be a ripe spawning area for hostiles. Also go back through and make sure there are no further patches of ceiling I forgot to slab over. and maybe give that poor cow a companion to roam the basement with…

 

World: Main
Location: from the road: (-1113, 69, -463) Library front: (-1137, 65, -526)
Build Mode: Creative
Build completed: December 14th, 2014