The Oasis City Walls

Moving on from the brothers' designs, I got to work on designing the 'Oasis' city that is founded by one of the brothers and expanded into a bustling desert metropolis over the next few years. I've started with the outer walls, as they are the first impression the city provides to new arrivals. Here is the initial sketch for its design. 

The aim was to create something that felt massive in scale, dwarfing everything around it. At the same time, it needed to be inviting, like a sort of paradise, rather than imposing. The main aesthetic inspiration was the Ishtar Gate from Babylon, from which I decided to carry over elements such as the blue, glazed brick and the distinctly shaped crenelations in my own design. 

The winged bull statues also reference the mosaic beast designs found on the historical gate, as well as various other depictions of such creatures from the Near East. As you can see from the sketch above, from the front it appears that the winged statues are presenting a floating palace, which is the centrepiece of the city, and the private quarters of its founder. This intentionally parallels the winged disc imagery I discussed in my previous post, making the palace, and by extension the king, watch over the city just as the various gods represented by the disc watch over NE kings in murals. The brother/founder is hence like a god to his city, which is in turn 'king' of the surrounding landscape. 

The Ishtar Gate was part of a grand processional pathway into the inner city of Babylon, making it a sort of display piece. I aimed for my walls to have a similarly 'presentational' feel; they don't have any actual gate, since the aim is not to control access. They instead serve to protect the city from violent sandstorms and make it visible from far away, to guide people to the city. The walls are hence extremely tall, reaching a scale that is only possible due to the power belonging to their creator. I imagine that in the event of a particularly threatening sandstorm, the king would use his power to temporarily fill out the archway, providing further protection until it passes.

The water pouring down from the top and out into the surrounding land was intended to add to the inviting character of the city, and this water flows out far and wide in streams that act as physical trails to lead people in, while also potentially providing a lifeline for them out in the desert. I also feel that the water flowing over the top of the walls gives the impression that the city experiences such prosperity that it literally pours out over and beyond its own limits. The tiered design is inspired by the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon, with water flowing down from layer to layer, passing through layers of garden as it does so. I feel like having a forest of trees so high up above really adds to the wondrous aspect of the structure, which I'm very happy about.

As well as the rough sketch above, I also worked on a more polished rendition of the walls, as I feel like they serve as a strong tone setter for the rest of the city.

The constant stream of immigrators seen in this piece is meant to indicate the welcoming and miraculous presence of the city, as it draws desert survivors in from far and wide just like a natural oasis, but on an altogether different scale. They also really help in selling the sense of scale I was looking to achieve, as those that have reached the gate appear as little more than dots. 

In my next post I will be exploring the design for the city's other most immediately visible feature - the floating palace at its centre.