The Floating Palace
As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I moved onto the Oasis city's floating palace after finishing up on its outer wall. This is an idea I've had for a while so I already had a rough idea for the silhouette in mind. I started by scribbling down these two very rough sketches:
The rough form of the palace is consistent across both sketches; a large plateau seemingly held up by a massive body of water suspended in the air. The form intentionally mimics the winged disc imagery that is found across many Ancient Near Eastern mediums and represents the respective supreme god. The main difference between the two sketches is that I was playing around with the design of the irrigation system that receives the streams of water flowing down from over the plateau. In the first I opted for a fairly simple aqueduct system, with a ring structure under the plateau that catches the water, which then splits off into multiple linear aqueducts that carry the water off through the city's districts towards the outer limits. The second is largely the same, except the inner ring features large statues with their hands outstretched, seemingly handing out the water to the rest of the city. The figures here are hooded, as I was playing around with a more priestly feel at this stage. With these rough ideas done, I moved on to some more explicit plateau silhouettes, to explore its design some more while preserving its overall form.
The first thumbnail (A) is more or less exactly the same as the sketches above. The idea at this stage was for it to essentially look like a large body of earth that was somehow ripped from the ground and suspended above. As a friend pointed out, this idea is similar to a major set piece from the second Avengers film, when a large chunk of city is ripped from the ground:
In thumbnails B and C I adopted a more architectural look. The layered edge of the plateau in B is supposed to resemble the feathers of a wing, just like those found on depictions of the winged disc:
The architectural structure surrounding the body of water in C would be a kind of 3D maze of gardens, with plants growing in all directions along its multiple arms. I think this design most embodies the perplexing nature of the founder's creation ability, due to its confusing structure. In the end I decided not to use this design though, because I think a maze-like, almost dimension defying garden would be far more interesting as a space that can be explored down on the ground, rather than seen from far below. It's likely that this idea will return at some point within another context.
For designs D and E, I took the opposite approach and went for a more natural and mystical approach with elements that resemble an uprooted tree, particularly in the case of D, which appears more raw and unrefined. This is also where I first committed to the idea of an otherworldly swirl of water extending down from the main body to meet the city below, and I ended up sticking with this as I think it accentuates the mystique.
Design G is where I finalised the look of the palace plateau, combining the treelike 'roots' with a more architectural upper half that I find helps tie the structure back to this world's historical influences, despite how fantastical it is. At this stage I also added a representation of what the plateau holds. There is a thick garden of trees that surrounds a small, highly private palace on a lake that is the plateau's centre. This can be seen more clearly on the top view sketch at the bottom of the sheet. Between G and H, I was experimenting with the irrigation system below the plateau. I ended up pursuing the founder statue design of H because I like the idea that even when the actual king is keeping to himself up above, he is still visible to the whole city dishing out the water through his statue. The design also places a representation of the king directly under the winged disc, just as we see in historical murals. Another aspect of the idea I really like is that with the statue, his scarves are what transition into the surrounding aqueducts.
The City Centre
From this point I imagined the city centre as a big open market space covered by an ankle height layer of water at the founder statue's feet, and enveloped by his scarves above, so I got to work on conceptualising this next.
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| A rough layout sketch of way from the front gate to the centre. |
The sketch above shows the layout of the city centre, as well as the processional way that leads new arrivals from the front gate towards the city centre. Water flows down the palace onto the founder statue, and from there some spills down into the city's central hub, while the rest flows down the statue's scarves and into aqueducts. The way is lined with these aqueducts and fountains and it is covered in a thin layer of water. The aim is to achieve the feel of a desert paradise.
I decided to explore the forms of these aqueducts, as I wanted them to look unique as a display feature of the city:
While it seems counterintuitive to have aqueducts running over waterways (which it is), that's exactly the point. The aqueducts are entirely unnecessary and are purely an aesthetic choice, which makes them a display of excess rather than functional infrastructure. In a world where water is limited, a place that has so much of it that walkways are covered in it and it is used as an aesthetic feature is all the more miraculous.
With this in mind I wanted to play up the visual splendour of the aqueducts, trying things like loops and ramps. In the end I went slightly more subtle, but still visually appealing, I think. I chose to incorporate the Babylonian crenelation and blue glazed bricks that are also found on the city's walls, to maintain a consistent visual language. Similarly, I reincorporated the swirling motif of the scarf designs on the aqueduct pillars, and I now envision this as a consistent visual hook for the city. The aqueducts are also made of what looks like marble, and I had the idea that this would be the material that corresponds to a structure that the founder has raised out of water, rather than the ground, from which the more sandstone-y structures are raised. I have tried to visualise this idea by showing the gradual transition from water to solid material at the base of the aqueducts. I am particularly happy with this idea because of how otherworldly/inexplicable it feels, which is an aspect of the brothers' powers that I am always keen to convey.
Once I was happy with my aqueduct design, I made a piece showing the oasis city centre.
The central scene here depicts a bustling marketplace at the city centre where citizens come to exchange goods and services daily. In the foreground we can also see where the main processional way from the gate joins into the central hub. To the left and right of the way are public gardens with channels, water features and other structures placed throughout. The background shows the vastness of the city extending out behind the statue, as well as the inside of the outer city wall at the very back. The inside of the wall is significantly more green than its outside, with tiered gardens packed all the way up it.
Thanks for reading!
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