Designing the Barracks and Armory

Ladies and gentlemen,

today I want to walk you through the steps I have taken in finding and designing  the next project I want to work on. In the picture above you can see part of the design process through some of my sketches and although a picture says more than a 100 words I thought I would in fact use some words to describe the journey :)

With the Viking Longship model completed my Norse series came to a end - at least for a while - and it was time to think about where to go next. Actually the path to my next building started a while ago when I made some weapon bits. I made some axes and shields for the Viking houses and I designed some generic swords, daggers, spears and bows for the market set as product details for the vendor booth. I knew I wanted to make more like these ... archery targets, weapon racks, training dummies ... and this made me think which building they would fit in. 

It didn't take long to think of an armory where weapons and armor would be stored. And then I also thought about a place where warriors and soldiers would live, like barracks or a castle. But the castle project was too big for me now. I wanted to start with something smaller, something that wouldn't take me forever to complete. So I decided to put the armory and barracks idea together and see if I could come up with a interesting design.

I knew I wanted a 2 storeys building so the the logical split for me would be to put the armory/storage on the ground floor and the barracks - the living quarter of the men and women - on the upper floor. So this was the starting place to develop my building shape and design.

As with most buildings I started with a quite boring rectangular house shape and then went on to add elements that would make sense for what I had in mind. First I added some extrusions to make the shape more interesting and then I thought that this building could be some sort of mini castle or defensive structure on its own. Maybe a little outpost out in the wild or as part of a town. So I dressed the upper floor balcony railings with crenel and merlon elements like on a castle battlement. I basically have a balcony along the long side of the house and as an option some smaller extensions on the short side.

If you look at the sketches, you will find at some point I tried out a more castle-like version of my design without a roof but with a top platform with crenellations. Now with a castle you need a tower - at least one if not more. I drew one in and it looked great. In the end I didn't follow this roofless path (for now, it might become a a reskin version later) but I liked the tower as an option as it could make the generic house structure more interesting.

So this is where I have landed at. A main house shape with some options and an optional tower to combine with. 

Regarding the look and style, I will go for an early medieval Romanesque style with the trademark semicircle arches. Another feature, buttresses, I have to see if I can fit them in making sense. It will depend how the texturing details will work out. In the sketches you can see I have already worked out a lot of the texturing approach. Here's a sketch I did over a CG render of the geometry.

For the ground floor I will go for strong doors and iron gated windows as this is where the valuable weapons and armor would be stored. The upper floor will have the arched windows, smaller doors and the crenel and merlon battlements where you can place your minis for some action on the table! The guys will want to experience the great view from the balcony ... or get a good look at the approaching forces :)

My daily routine is switching wardrobe a lot because a heatwave has arrivead and the office in the ground floor is quite cool during the day but my crafting table is in the attic where it really gets hot in the afternoon. So for computer work I need to dress up and for crafting I need to switch to swim gear :)

That's it for today. Next week I hope to show you some protoype builds and whatever progress I have made with the texturing. I hope you have enjoyed this little view into the artists corner of my mind.

So as usual, until the next time, stay safe and keep building!

Chris