Nos Astra Architecture

These are the guidelines for futuristic buildings created by DakkaDok and used at his city, Nos Astra.

Building Materials

The main building materials for this style are quartz blocks, blue stained glass and dark oak planks. Cyan stained clay and stone bricks can be used in small amounts for more industrial-looking buildings and streets. For lighting, redstone lamps and sea lanterns should be used, depending on the area. Light blue stained glass can be used instead of blue stained glass in some buildings. Since most of these materials are fairly hard or dangerous to get in large amounts, it is important to only use exactly as much as you need, and to make sure some cheap block type is used for any scaffolding or internal constructions.

The Basics

The name, as well as many of the general ideas of this style are inspired by Mass Effect. If you need inspirations, try looking at pictures of the original Nos Astra or The Citadel from Mass Effect 2.

PICTURE PLACEHOLDER: Original Nos Astra

Most non-functional buildings should be tall and thin. While parts of them will always be rectangular, try to incorporate curves or round edges into everything. Large, flat walls are boring to look at, and should be broken up by either some structure or at least a different blocktype. Make sure to use at least as much glass as quartz, making the buildings look transparent and layered in front of each other.

Ground Level

Roads should look like this:

Fill in the space between the buildings and the roads with grass and light blue flowers. This should always look cultivated, not natural.

PICTURE PLACEHOLDER: Light Blue Flower.

Make sure to light up everything in as unobtrusive a fashion as possible.

Higher levels

SECTION PLACEHOLDER