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| | Cahersiveen police station
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| I needed an entry for the Hirst Arts Design Derby and I needed it fast. I had 2 months to plan and build a structure that could compete with the best. So I went to work.
Cahersiveen is a small city located on the Ring of Kerry in the Southwest part of Ireland. When I saw this small castle I immediatly liked it. We were on a tight schedule, so I only made this one photo. Later I learned that it had been built to be a police station, then burned and was rebuilt. Now it's the local heritage center.
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| | Das fertige Schloss von Amadee
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| | A digital model of the castle
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| | A digital model of the castle
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| | An early drawing of the front side
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| | The first floor
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| | The second floor
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| | The building is beginning to take shape
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| | The small round tower is difficult to design
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| | Lets make the round tower a little higher...
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| I wanted the building to be fairly complex, with balconies and platforms on different heights as well as intersecting roof sections. While designing it came clear that there should be 2 main structures, the houses. These houses would have different heights, the larger one being taller. The middle section grew smaller and smaller and degenerated to a connecting hallway 2" wide.
When I got the octogonal pieces I just had to add them so the octogonal tower section was born. First I wanted to make it part of the main balcony, but it proved to be better to have the octogonal section reach up to the second floor. The connection between the octogonal balcony and the rectangular house was a very tricky one to solve.
I made extensive use of the turret mold, building a complete tower and a small balcony on the third floor. The main balcony has circular elements as well. I envisioned the main balcony to be supported by gothic arches, but changed by mind later and used no gothic architecture at all, instead I used roman style arches and windows.
The greatest challenge while designing the building was that I wanted to avoid the mistakes I made with the large Greek Temple. This time I would ensure the building to be accessible for miniatures. First I wanted it to have an open side, like a dollhouse, that could be fitted in place - if the interior is not important (when used for wargames scenery). This seemed to be a good idea, but probably impossible to build. Then I had the idea to build the buildings in sections and allow modular rearrangement. This would ensure that players could move their minis through the structure. Additionally the floors can be removed to allow even better access to miniatures.
These molds were used building the castle:
- Wizards Tower
- Dragons Inn
- Prison Tower
- Octogonal Tower
- Turret Mold
- Wooden Shingles Mold
- Bridge und Tomb molds (not necessary but lessens the number of castings for basic blocks)
- I made a mold of the decorative window sides of the Octogonal Tower to reduce the amount of castings necessary (would have been 60+)
While building I changed the plans slightly again, building the large house half an inch wider and rearranging the windows here and there.
One of the hardest part was the top of the circular tower. First I wanted it to be 3 stories high and have a crellenated top. When it was finished, it looked bad. The main problem was the diameter of the top piece. In castles we assume the crellenation to have a larger diameter than the rest of the tower. So I rearranged again and tried making the tower a fourth story high. I added a decorative rim with a slightly larger diameter but still was not pleased. Then I decided to just put an angled wooden roof on top. Due to the fact that the tower was circular, this was a bit complicated but this time I liked the result. I keep the other tops too, I just like versatility.
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| | Schloss von Amadee
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| The "A"s in Amadee Castle is pronounced like the "A" in Julia, the two "ee"s like the "ay" in day.
When I build the castle I thought how a structure like this may have evolved over time. Given that most of the windows were quite large, even thos in the lower floor, the building seems to be located in a secure area. Since the octogonal tower section has arrowslits, this is a hint that this section may be the oldest of the building, built when times were not so secure.
Later the houses will have been build. These structures have large windows, but only two doors that are in a defendable position. When more peaceful times came, the fancy round tower and the balcony in the rear was added, being symbols of wealth and luxury. A small balcony in the third floor was added, too. |
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