During my years of gaming I have experienced two major shifts in game design that I consider being paradigmatic. There are of course others, but perhaps not as fundamental as incremental. First we have the transition into 3D environments or the extended exploration of three dimensional worlds….
So if you follow architecture news, or tech news, you may have heard about Apple’s new proposed facilities.
It raises some questions about the architecture of technology, as well as the design of the consumer electronic products we interact with everyday.
Most Minecraft architecture is merely a reproduction of traditional trends practiced in the real world because designers simply tend to recreate what is familiar to them. However, if the unconventional physics of Minecraft were more often embraced, an entirely different sort of aesthetic would be produced. The Minecraft designer does not actually need to address the laws of gravity or weather that dictate the design of shelter in the real world, and so every use of pitched roofs or support beams and the like is completely unnecessary. An architecture that is specific to the Minecraft world does not need to appear to stand, it should instead appear as if it is floating. Minecraft architecture should appear altogether unique, as there is, with the exception of sand and gravel, no force of gravity for the building materials to resist. A new set to physical laws should produce a new building logic.
This is important.
View Larger This almost utopian monument to modernism is often criticized for its inhuman scale, as the complex seems to have been designed to be viewed from a distance and experienced mainly through photograph rather than in person. However, since Minecraftian architecture isn’t really meant to cater to individual inhabitants, it’s Brasília’s otherworldly scale that makes it a perfect candidate for Minecraft.
Minecraft buildings can only exist in the same sense: as decoration of the landscape or an embodiment of an idea (as monument, or sculpture). Their primary functions — be they parking lots or hospitals, or capitol buildings — are all stripped, leaving only the experience of looking at these structures from afar. Minecrafters can learn quite a bit from Brasilia’s existence as a photo-opportunity.
A house in modern society really has too many functions to list. First and foremost, however, a house serves as shelter from the elements. However, this is not the primary function of a house in Minecraft, as rain does not affect the player in any way. The main purpose of structures in Minecraft is similar, but unless creepers start falling from the sky, entirely different structurally. I am going to address some of the functions of houses in Minecraft, and how that affects their structure. I am also going to look at the structural requirements of buildings in the real world, and how they differ from the needs of Minecraft.
Structure by User: 
Structure-as-building by User: