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Home » Great Library at Hoeth » Tome of Creation » Architecture » On Elven Architecture
| On Elven Architecture |
| by LochNESS |
On Elven architecture:
By LochNESS
The Elves have been portrayed in many different ways through different fantasy worlds. One thing has been quite the same in all the different worlds though, the extreme finesse Elves have for the fine arts. The Elves may be savage, or be evil and dark or noble and proud, each form of Elves has finely detailed armour and weapons and their creations have an “un-earthly” feel around them.
This not only goes to objects of war, but also their gems, magical items and indeed everything they produce. In addition, Elves have a weakness for gems and although they are not as fond of gold as Dwarves, still can appreciate the shining yellow colour of this precious metal. In the architecture of the Elves, we also see this finesse for the fine detail. Again, this has been portrayed in many different ways. This article will cover the different styles of Elven architecture and be the introduction to making High Elf scenery.
The Elves of Rivendell have a rich art-deco style, much like the French avant-garde (See picture above, Entrance of Parisian Subway, notice especially the framework). Their builds are low, have large, Frank Lloyd Wright like verandas and a horizontally orientated style, again like the same person before. However, unlike the mentioned architect, the building is covered in the detailing of mostly nature like forms. Also up growing plants cover many of the columns that support the veranda. We could see such buildings most likely as houses of the Elves in the rural areas, but this style is probably only available for the very wealth merchant families from Lothern or the Noble Houses from other Elven kingdoms.
The layout of these buildings will likely be orientated on the surrounding. The pleasure of farmlands will please almost any Elf and for that the building will not likely have long corridors. You could expect a large central hall, that is slightly higher then the rest of the building and where lots of light enters through a circle of windows on which the roof rests. From this central hall two or more wings will emerge. Most likely with one or two rooms with an entrance to the central hall and one larger room behind this (think of a bathroom, bedroom and library for the male Elf, and a bedroom, bathroom and dressing room for the Elfmaid) The last wing would then contain a livingroom and maybe some additional rooms. Around most parts of the house would most likely be a veranda, from where one can also enter certain rooms, or leave them to have a quick breath. The façade will likely be very open, unlike many of the GW art shows, to let as much light and nature in as possible. You are insight, but feel outside.
The Lothlorien Elves have a very different style of building, with their houses in the trees. Their buildings are again, mainly one floor high, but can spread over more floors within the tree, interconnected with a system of ladders, stairs, lifts and probably for the more experienced elves, swinging. We can see the mighty, somewhat gothic, but in this case very lightheartedly staircase around a tree in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Although this does not particularly goes for the High Elves, the Elves in Averlorn could certainly be expected to live in such creations, where the trees are actually living parts of the buildings the Elves live in. There are not really aspects you can rely on when building these things, nor any layouts that could be expected of a “Wood Elf” home. Like said, most likely will a settlement spread several large trees, most likely around some sacred place inside the forest. The trees here can go up to 50 meters, in which you could house a darn load Treehuggers (unless they smoke all the leave, in which case the tree would get pretty angry)
Finally I want to review the Games Workshop view on the Elves. The Elves in this world, and the world we play in are renown for their high structures, pinnacles stretching high in the clouds. The Elves here are much more “urbanized” then the Elves in Lord of the Rings. Like I said in the review of Rivendell, those houses are quite likely to appear in the rural areas of Ulthuan, but do not fit the urban idea that Games Workshop gives us.
 
In this case, we must think more in the city layout of an ancient city. Where there is a large central square for market activities and the center of cultural life. This center is likely to be most densely builded, and we can expect some pretty high-rise buildings here (see image above). Artwork made by Games Workshop of a ship entering the lagoon of Lothern suggests buildings with an approximate height of 200 meters. Actual information from the army states that the Tower of Hoeth (the tallest building in the Warhammer World) is half a mile (that is approx 800 meters) high. For ideas on how such a building would be structures we have to go back to how the Elves would like to live. Conditions in medieval cities were extreme bad. Often life expectancy was not higher then 25 years, although a high child mortality rate was also dept to this. We cannot see the Elves living in such cities. Although background information from the Dark Elf Armybook states that it’s quite usual that the streets there are flooded with blood at the “slaughter fests” not so much of a high hygiene as well. Although here again, artwork suggests an extreme densely build area with lots of high-rise. Skylines like those of Manhattan or Shanghai begin to come to idea.
The high-rise of the Elves would probably be structured around different “main levels” within the building. This would be an “inner courtyard” that would be enclosed within the building and stretch almost an entire floor with possibilities to walk onto large balconies that run around the building. From this inner courtyard you could enter several houses of Elven families. This way, the Elves could have good houses in a nice natural environment without having the large problems of the large city.
This would also explain why, and how the Elves have and can maintain such buildings in our world. Of course, a large part of the buildings will be warehouses and production facilities, but in those cases the inner courtyards would be removed.
Then there is the problem of transportation within such building, not every High Elf has a Great Eagle to ride on. So some kind of “lift” system would be needed, although magic would be a solution here. It would be most likely that the transportation would be through the center of the building to give it a solid core (necessary for the stability) from each central level the Elves would then be able to go to their houses.
This system is the idea what is being developed for many of the new high-rise projects, where the buildings are getting so tall they are becoming a village on their own. Only the balconies would allow here for the Elves to be more outside. And enjoy the fresh air. In detailing it would be probably much the same. Elves would probably use some column/beam supported system for their buildings, which would make it able to have very open buildings. Although this is not always wished for, in which cases the facades would be closed, but knowing elves some suggestion of a window would be given, although only the contours of the window might be shown. Also, again we would encounter the detailing on the metal work and railings around the balconies. The original, weight-bearing columns that are probably hidden within the façade would be probably articulated in the façade with pilasters in some renaissance or artdeco style. Baroque would be too overdone for Elves, and would be only something the hummies would sin on.
All in all I hope this short article with ideas on Elven architecture might have helped you. In the next I will cover these ideas on the High Elf architecture in an article on how to build this with easy and cheap materials you might never have thought of. Until then, check the internet and some books on the different architectural style and you might be find what an “Elven” architecture you will find.
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