Worldbuilding: Architecture

The biggest factor in what your fantasy architecture looks like is the materials available. In today’s time, the most widely used materials are concrete, wood, steel, plastic, stone, textile, glass, brick, Kevlar, bamboo, carbon fiber, photovoltaic cells, earth, waste, straw, and organic materials. Materials that I often see in fantasy are marble, granite, obsidian, limestone, plaster, clay, and mud.

When coming up with architecture in my fantasy world, I use ancient architecture as a mold. I begin in pre-colonial America. This requires a bit of research. First, I had to know what tribe’s architecture I wanted to see. I began with Mesoamerican architecture because that’s what I was familiar with. Mesoamerican cultures used stucco, mudbrick, and stone for their buildings.

These ancient architects built their structures according to alignment with astrological and cosmological features. Most buildings, especially the ones carved of stone, were decorated with ornaments depicting animals, gods, and rulers. They also built great pyramids.

Cities were organized around a central plaza, with smaller city buildings that were multi-story with openings for air ventilation. In the plaza, there were important government buildings and religious temples. Many times, there was an elaborate ball court for ritualistic ball games that may have included human sacrifice.

Next, I moved north. I chose three tribes that were personal to me, but there are many more. The first was Lakota-Sioux. The people of the Great Plains often lived in tipis. They were durable and light enough to carry. For structure, tipis use poles made from pine or fir trees found near the hills that were at least twenty-five feet tall. They are often carved one to four inches wide at the base and two inches wide at the top. There could be as many as thirty poles that support the tipi. The people of the Great Plains wound as many as fifteen buffalo hides. First they would scrape the fur and flash off them. They would let the tipis dry in the sun. Some people would paint their tipi, but only for special reasons.

The people of the Great Plains also made earth lodges. They were around fifty feet in diameter with a large fire pit in the middle. An earth lodge will usually consist of large posts made out of trees that form a dome shape and are covered with soil. Four large posts made of cottonwood trees were located toward the center and are connected to the outer frame with mortised joints.

These homes were originally used as winter homes, but they were popular all year around for their heating and cooling properties.

Another tribe that I researched was Cherokee architecture. Cherokee usually lived in single family houses. Usually these houses were circular. These houses were made of tree branches that were bent in a circular shape. Then they were plastered with mud. In the middle, there was a stone hearth for a fire to cook with and keep the house warm. These houses were partly sunk into the ground.

Some people lived in different houses in the summer. They were usually larger and would house several families at once. Because they didn’t have to keep them warm, there were more windows.

The Iroquois people often lived in longhouses that had a long, narrow, rectangular shape. They housed multiple families, sometimes up to one hundred people. A longhouse has a framework built with posts and poles and is covered with sheets of bark. The typical longhouse was one hundred eighty to two hundred twenty feet long. There were only doors at each end. Each longhouse was about twenty feet wide and tall.

Greek Architecture

The ancient Greeks demonstrated a preference to marble in their architecture. There are five orders of Classical architecture. Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite. All orders feature columns, but there is more nuance to it. I’ll include the link to my research. This blog sums it up nicely. https://inky-duchess.tumblr.com/post/617578251291885568/fantasy-guide-to-architecture

Greek architecture is famous for their temples. Most temples are similar in design, bearing geometric design and column on the exterior. Many temples featured a statue narrating the story of the gods. Temples also showed how the Greek architects understood the importance of providing stable foundations to support large buildings. They focused on water drainage, and they used bases on foundations that were above layers of fill material (soft rocks, soil, marble chips, charcoal, and even sheepskins). This has allowed this architecture survive the ages.

Islamic architecture

I have a particular fondness for Islamic architecture in my books. The geometric designs are lovely. A minaret is a staple in Islamic architecture, which is a spire featuring small windows and an enclosed staircase. Found next to mosques, it is one of the oldest elements. They are necessary to allow a muezzin to call worshippers to pray from an elevated point. When there are two minarets, it is traditionally because the mosque was founded by a sultan.

Domes are also very popular features. Muqarnas is a type of ornamentation within a dome, sometimes called a honeycomb ceiling. This would be cast from stone, wood, brick, or stucco. Arches are another fixture of Islamic architecture. There are several types of arches. Pointed, ogee, horseshoe, and multifoil. My favorite is the ogee and multifoil arches.

Multifoil arch

The best part of Islamic architecture is the attention to ornamental detail. This is usually reserved for interiors. It includes jewel-like tiles arranged in geometric mosaics, patterned brickwork and kaleidoscopic stones, and calligraphic adornments.

Gardens are very popular features in Islamic architecture. Paradise gardens are usually symmetrical and enclosed within walls. They commonly have ponds, fountains, pools, and fruit trees.

African architecture

Africa is a huge continent, so I chose the styles I found pre-colonial information and pictures on (which was harder than you might think, especially southern Africa). First, I chose Egyptian, not because I found their architecture pleasing to the eye, but my list wouldn’t feel complete without it. Ancient Egyptians used limestone, granite, mudbrick, and sandstone which were usually painted with bright murals of the gods.

Everyone knows about the Egyptian pyramids, but that wasn’t the only architecture the Egyptians had. They had many features like piers, columns, and obelisks. The columns were thicker, more bulbous. They would sometimes carve buildings out of cliff faces. What made ancient Egyptians cool was they planned their buildings to adhere to astrological movements.

The Egyptians also only built residences on the east bank of the Nile River, because the opposite bank was for the dead.

Nigeria is home to many cultures. Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba are the tree main tribes. I focused on pre-colonial society for this study. Most buildings were made of mud and thatched roofs which indicated what they would have had for materials.

A traditional Hausa architecture is a housing structure large enough to house the man with his wives and children. This will be a small walled city with a gate built into a several story building. When Islam was founded, most houses added an azure or male section of the house to keep the men and women separated.

Most Hausa architecture was made of simple materials like mud, stones, grasses, corn stalks, and straws for thatching. The mud was made into sun-dried bricks, and a mixture of straw and mud was used to make concrete wall plastering. Entrances were usually in the form of arches.

Igbo home

Igbo architecture was traditionally round-wall mud houses with thatched roofs. To build, they first wove using bamboo poles or sliced bamboo poles. The bamboo is placed in slopes then crossed with palm fronds. To make a roofing structure that can withstand wind, rafters are tied at certain points. Lastly, they would thatch, meaning the skeletal structure is covered with grasses and fronds.

Yoruba architecture had a large courtyard. These houses were for extended families. Building was a communal effort using readily available materials like mud for walls.

I know that didn’t encompass much of the African continent. If you find any scholarly articles with pictures of other African tribes/ countries (especially southern Africa, sub-Saharan) I would be happy to include in an update. Specifically, I am writing about pre-colonial architecture. Similar architecture to what is above won’t be featured. For example, Morocco was inspired by Islamic architecture. Or other mud/ grass style homes. Unless they look significantly different.

Chinese architecture has remained fairly constant across history. The ancient Chinese used walled compounds, raised pavilions, wooden columns and paneling, yellow glazed roof tiles, landscaped gardens, and a careful application of town planning and use of space.

Wood was preferred over stone, and the roof was made of glazed ceramic tiles. Typical buildings for the elite or public use was built on a raised platform made of compacted earth and faced with brick or stone.

Most Chinese architecture has an overhanging roof set with wide eaves and upturned corners.

Small private homes of ancient China were usually built with dried mud, stones, and wood. Most ancient houses were square, rectangular, or oval with thatched roofs supported by wooden poles.

The ancient Chinese also were famous for their cave architecture. These usually consist of one long rectangular chamber cut deep into the rock face. Longmen Grottoes are a famous example of this. It consists of hundreds of mostly Buddhist shrines that have been carved from the 5^th century CE onwards.

Japanese architecture features wood as the most popular building material. Unlike the Chinese, the Japanese did not paint the wood. They left it bare to show the grain. Stone and other materials weren’t often used because of earthquakes. The ancient Japanese were very in tune with nature, and it inspired their architecture.

One prevailing feature is screens and sliding doors. They divide chambers in a house. The screens were made of light wood and thin parchment that allowed light throughout the house. The screens that kept out the elements were heavier. Inside, tatami mats blanketed the floors made of rice straw and rush straw. The Genkan was a sunken space between the front door and the rest of the house. It is where people discard their shoes.

It was common to see a veranda along the outside of the house. It acted as an outdoor corridor, and people would sometimes rest there.

Indian architecture is diverse as the country is big. Mughal architecture was a blend of Islamic, Persian, and native Indian. When India was ruled by Mughal Emperors, between the 16^th century- 18^th century, it was popular.

Many ancient houses had access to water and drainage facilities. These sewers drained into nearby rivers and streams. It wasn’t until the 1900s when people started moving away from the cities did things begin to decline.

Indian cave architecture is some of the oldest styles of architecture. In third century BC, monks carved temples and buildings into the rocks of caves. There are also rock-cut features in Indian architecture. This style was used frequently in temples.

Some blogs I found:

https://www.tumblr.com/inky-duchess/617578251291885568/fantasy-guide-to-architecture

Research: