oasis cities

[Francissimo]

Hi there!
Here's an extract of mars topography in the Kasei Valles. The relief makes me think about a desert, with crater that could be some oasis, so i wanted to play a bit more with that idea and add a few buildings on that relief. Still not sure if this is gonna become a real map, but here's my wip
DESERT.jpg
I'm not really use to draw this type of architecture so critics are welcome

[kacey]

I like the rooftop on that big building it would be neat to see it in a perspective view, this looks really good so far. Can I ask where you got the mars relief? I've been searching, but haven't been able to find any of descent quality.

[Francissimo]

Thanks Kacey, i've been working with sketchup for building so i guess i can try a perspective view

The data is from here:
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/dtm/
Their webmap shows the footprint of all their high resolution data, it's pretty usefull (go in browse map on their website).
You'll probably have to use qgis to convert the image format in something photoshop can handle.

[Francissimo]

upadate with a bigger city inspired by mandala shapes:
DESERT.jpg

[Mouse]

You're making some very pretty patterns here, Francissimo

I have a slightly uncomfortable feeling about living in the second city, though. There's no real centre to it. If there was a ginormous palace, or a library of some kind - something to give it an excuse for existing?

Also, is it part of the alien way of living that all the buildings in an area have exactly the same kind of roofs?

[waldronate]

... There's no real centre to it. ...
Also, is it part of the alien way of living that all the buildings in an area have exactly the same kind of roofs?

What you describe is what we in the USA call a "suburb". Identical houses by the thousands, thrown up the cheapest contractor from one set of plans and one set of suppliers.

[Mouse]

We have suburbs in the UK, but they don't usually form the entire city. Maybe its because most of our cities have relatively ancient hearts, and there's a good deal of variety throughout. Also our cities and suburbs are probably more tightly packed, since we have one of the highest population densities in Europe, which tends to crunch things up into a bit of a clutter. We like to call it... 'charm', and we try our best to get on with each other

A difference in culture, then

[Quil]

Why is the other city shaped like that? I mean, they would have to have some reason, or they would just go with a square, right? regardless of the reason, it looks awesome!

[waldronate]

If the city was all built at the same time and especially if it was built in a hurry, there is a very good chance that most of the cheap buildings will be built of the same materials and possibly with the same plan. A city built into a particular shape will probably be built in a short time and on a government budget (that is, lots of money for the homes and workplaces of the politicians, with a mud-brick and straw-roof budget for everyone else).

See Brasilia, for example. It was a master-planned city and its surrounding districts tend to appear highly uniform at any but the closest inspection. Chandigarh is another example. A delightful contrast is in nearby New Delhi (and most other redeveloped old cities): it has the twisty cowpath core surrounded by regular blocks of fancy stuff. The classic counterexample is the ruins at Timgad, where the Roman planned core was surrounded by cowpath development outside of the wall.

[kacey]

Thanks Kacey, i've been working with sketchup for building so i guess i can try a perspective view

The data is from here:
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/dtm/
Their webmap shows the footprint of all their high resolution data, it's pretty usefull (go in browse map on their website).
You'll probably have to use qgis to convert the image format in something photoshop can handle.

Thanks for posting this link it's really helpful, now I just have to figure out how to use qgis.