Stylism&Kausao

Jadepunk:Tales of Kausao City by Ryan M Danks is copyright. In no way do I contest that ownership. I am a fan creating fan art in the medium of 3D digital design. Another way to look at it is that Kausao city is a big influence on my 3D design.

When I first read Jadepunk core book, I lay down and closed my eyes and I visually mediated, astral projected into the alternate dimension which is Kausao. It is a real place, a world accessible through dreaming and death (which are the same thing really). It's a pretty big place and it is nuts there. They have an entirely different technology to what I am used to, and although I can imagine it: assimilating all that data is not enough to prepare for what it is like there. People who grow up there are used to the miracles of jadetech. To me it is bizarre as any exotic culture.

Kausao has only recently become a big city, within a handful of generations. Compared with the Wild West transition to Industrial Revolution Kausao is still in its late 19th to very early 20th century early gangster era of model T Fords and Speakeasy's. The technology of this industrial revolution is predominantly Jade. One generation before the advent of the Jade era most people were medieval farmers, bandits, traveling merchants and wandering warriors.

Now because of the Jade Rush, Kausao is rapidly emerging as a city state in its own right and capitol of a wide and expansive trade empire. Denizens are used to construction of increasingly daring sky-scrapers. The style is oriental. Pagoda's are common, traditional eastern building techniques and resources. As each generation, each year, heralds a new breakthrough in the mystical qualities of Jade and discovering what else it can be used for, so too the architecture changes.

As a powerful stylistic the stone from which the buildings are erected is sepia. There may be sandstone, there may be marble, all of it conforms to the same "vanilla & manila" spectrum. Only the types of jade bring colour to a yellowed visual backdrop.

Is metal silver? I don't know. Kausao has steampunk elements. Metal is bronze, copper, gold. Sandy tones.

Water is blue or dirty brown. Glass is translucent blue. Sky is blue or smoggy brown.

official Jadepunk art

"Kausao has developed its own architectural style." quote from corebook which makes me wonder how ar I can legitimately push it before it breaks far beyond the scope of everyone else enjoying this world to cope with.

The illustrations from the corebook explain it well. The city has been built fast by corporations which means it is a corporate style based on preserving lavish wealth for the lavishly wealthy and erecting bog-standard prefabs for the working caste. The design styles are minimalist with influence of pagoda's for where there is any flair. Simple designs. The street levels are likely more decorative than the towering high-rise. All of it is inspired by the aesthetic of minimalism which seems natural given the Wuxia class of martial artists focused on purity of motion and perfection of form with no excess, no wasteful energy. The traditional oriental techniques and styles are the source influence.

It seems probable that both cut stone and some sort of concrete admixture will exist, especially given how Jade can be ground and blended as dust to all manner of concoctions. White Jade in a concrete makes for incredibly light weight but hardy building material. Pouring this into molds for prefabs makes for rapid construction of facilities.

official Jadepunk art

official Jadepunk art

this unaccredited pic from internetland is not from Jadepunk corebook. It is similar so I included it here.

The following are pictures of civic architecture I uncovered while researching the Stylism&Civic blog. They remind me so much of some of the Oriental influence of Kausao City that I simply had to include them.

At this time due to very recent breakthroughs in 360 degree camera technology to meet the demands of post-Oculus Rift Virtual Reality, manually rotating 3D photographs is trickling into our attention.In theory by the time I am done building some Kausao Streets there will be a way to make a Google Street View Mode for it.

Following are some pictures of the 3D WIPs (work in progress) designs I have been putting together inspired by Kausao.
I have no deadline for this fan project.

"Given the context of the group, this is the coolest thing I've seen this year. " 

- Ryan Danks September 2016

After this it made sense to scrutinize the official concept art. I discovered more about the unique style of Kausao architecture. Many of the larger skyscrapers have diagonal protruding corners. In addition, the sensible solution of diagonal cross-beams as support structure, is identical to the construction of oriental paper and balsa lanterns I have owned and made myself. This permits for extended vertical beams in traditional oriental styles which can support wider elevated floors than the perimeter of the ground level. It also permits for strong mid-level balconies. As a craftsman who has studied architecture at university degree level as part of my Fine Arts with honours qualification, it seems absolutely logical to me that this is the method of construction discussed and visualized by the official description in the Kausao corebook. What's more is this that solution is easy to build - everything (rooms, windows) is square apart from the diagonal cross-beams. I proceed with confidence.

Pictures in this blog are used non-profit for educational purposes within international fair use policy. Pictures of my own cyber art is ©2017 snakeappletree although obviously I accept that it may be used by others under the same clause. Accreditation would be respected due to source being known.

stylism&cubic

Blogs about Brutalism

Brutalism has five styles that I can identify based on commonly occurring design features which in Brutalism are also construction features. There is the Cubic form (the main focus of this blog), not to be confused with the art movement called Cubism. I have already written extensively about the Angled Corner form of Angular Brutalist style (Y axis and X axis angles respectively), which also utilize the Corporate or Rectangular form (horizontal balconies).

Angular Brutalist Building

a lot of examples are difficult to sub-catagorise because they cross boundaries ...

... technically Cubic style with additional angled features as structural design element

As soon as you add round bits it becomes Brutal Deco. Brutal Deco does not necessarily have to have round bits, there are classic examples of Brutal Deco with no round bits at all. Below are some examples of normal, non brutalist Art Deco architecture so that you will see why Brutalism becomes Brutal Deco as soon as round bits are added.

Art Deco, not brutalism

Is this Art Deco or Brutal Deco ?

 Yes it requires a trained eye to recognize the difference. Note how both buildings are red brick.

Brutal Deco

Brutal Deco

Then there is 60s modernist influenced Modernism Abstract Brutalism which like all 1960s modernism is fucking ugly and deserves to die on the simple basis that the facade detracts from the infrastructure. The emphasis of quality brutalist architecture it that is all about purity of  infrastructure speaking for itself, no frills and bells. 

City Hall, Kurashiki, Japane, 1958-60 by Kenzo Tange

An example of appalling, 60s modernist influenced Abstract Brutalism, see the galling irregular cube-within-cube nonsense making sure anyone who dwells in this space is going to feel sick. Let there be no more of this abuse of an otherwise perfectly beautiful aesthetic movement. There is no need for it. The same building with more minimalist panel decor would have been a superior construction. Thankfully there is time yet to cement over the insult.

Assymmetry

Of course all four sub-styles, most especially Deco Brutalism, have many assymmetrical features inherited from the bolt-on Frankenstein extensions of Victorian Gothic Revivalism. It is necessary to break up the monotony of square boxes in grey - and it is here that the true beauty and genius of very unique constructs is to be enjoyed.

The key to Brutalism is concrete. Concrete and Brutalism are intrinsically bound. While you can have one without the other and many examples of both do exist, it is a lot like having sex by yourself compared with sharing pleasure time with your perfect partner.

It is here we see how elegantly light plays against simple concrete with use of slats as a necessary variant of the in the cubic form of Brutalism. 

the stairs are anlged, the main body of the building is not, it is vertical slats)

ceiling slats with rectangular horizontal balconies)

Below are examples of classic Cubic Form:

Cubic Form inspired by Minimalism

Cubic Form Minimalism

The early 21st century has seen emergence of many cross-overs between Brutalism proper and the different thing completely of Minimalism.  A lot of people are incorrectly ascribing minimalist designs as brutalist due to the current trend in popularity of the brutal bandwagon. Were the two pictures above made of wood and brick they would hardly be regarded as brutalic at all. The styles are converging.

Below are examples of the rectangular or corporate form:

note this essentially corporate form has also features of angular form

stretching that fine line between modernism and brutalism proper

Simplicity of Living - the Minimalist Aesthetic as Lifestyle

cubic style with many traditional Japanese architectural features

And then ... there is Brutalist Sculpture, which is an entity in its own right, sharing similarities and great differences with the architectural forms involved in building dwelling spaces. Brutalism, especially a lot of post-modern minimalist examples of cubic form, is all about the space as much as it is about the structure and materials.

Hamish Grace wrote an interesting blog about brutalism in computer games.

Pictures used non-profit for educational purposes within international fair use policy.