Nothing quite like the simultaneous awe and dread of looking at a construction so gargantuan that you feel like an ant on the floor of a cathedral

Pic is by Étienne-Louis Boullée. Also if you're into this kind of stuff, check out the work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Also have a look at the short film The Centrifuge Brain Project.

  • iridaniotter [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    No one wants to imagine 500 meter tall neoclassical architecture anymore. It's all orbital, dyson sphere, and ringworld now. kitty-birthday-sad

    edit: Alex Jay Brady for more original gigantic scifi structures https://xcancel.com/AlexJayBrady https://www.artstation.com/boac

  • Tervell [he/him]
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    2 days ago

    Fan Wennan does basically this but for socialist realism

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    (I had one more I wanted to post but it seems like I hit some kind of rate-limit and it's not expiring after a few minutes of waiting, so I'll just link it: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/g8qe0x)

    • BeamBrain [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 days ago

      Nice, an intersection of two of my favorite things!

  • Philosophosphorous [comrade/them, null/void]
    ·
    2 days ago

    yea i love it, an amazing kind of liminal vibe with the impossible architecture. others in this thread already mentioned the game Naissance, but i also have to recommend the game Lorn's Lure, a game about being a cyborg/android and climbing very similar kinds of spaces. also there was an episode of Off the Air on adult swim that had a segment towards the end with a flythrough of a 3d fractal that had marble architecture aesthetics that remind me of this.

  • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
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    2 days ago

    I recommend the manga Blame! which takes place in a world entirely composed of one massive abandoned megastructure.

    • BeamBrain [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 days ago

      I remember learning about that one from a Jacob Geller video!

  • regul [any]
    ·
    2 days ago

    There's a really good French/Belgian comic series for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Cit%C3%A9s_obscures

    • BeamBrain [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 days ago

      I'm intrigued. Is it possible to find these comics online?

      • LeZero [he/him]
        ·
        2 days ago

        Just checked, you can find them in Soulseek you-want-my-treasure

      • regul [any]
        ·
        2 days ago

        Possibly? I've never had much success. Even finding them in print is tough.

  • tombruzzo [none/use name]
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    2 days ago

    Nothing quite like the simultaneous awe and dread of looking at a construction so gargantuan that you feel like an ant on the floor of a cathedral

    Yes, I've played dark souls. This looks cool as hell in it's own way

  • Tervell [he/him]
    ·
    2 days ago

    a few by John Martin:

    Belshazzar's Feast, c. 1821

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    John Martin, Pandemonium, 1841

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    Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council, c. 1823–1827

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    • BeamBrain [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      Ooh, I've seen these before, and I love them. Pre-modern ones hit especially hard for me, probably because the less advanced construction techniques make their impossibility stand out even more.

      • LeZero [he/him]
        ·
        2 days ago

        That's where it's from! I love the architectural shots in this movie, especially from the ground, the city looks so alien

  • Babs [she/her]
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    2 days ago

    I'm afraid of being inside really tall buildings cause I keep worrying gravity is gonna suddenly reverse and I'll plummet to the ceiling.

    • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
      ·
      2 days ago

      I was going to recommend that too, it's a good (if unforgiving) game and definitely strikes the feeling BeamBrain is looking for.

  • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]
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    2 days ago

    Have you seen the YouTube video called Monumentality? I think by solar sands or Jacob geller I can't remember, it'll knock your socks off