These are the five real-time images taken inside Crysis of my completed bridge and elevator architecture for Angela Merkel and Helen Keller.


Power, as a human expression, can be expressed by distinctive and significant scale. I have explored an architecture that would be near-impossible to reproduce in reality. That is the essence of power - to make the impossible, possible; to convince the masses, for a fleeting second, that reality is what you dictate, and not what it is in reality.




Parts of my architecture express a resounding uniformity in form and function. The impact of power upon those whom it is impressed upon is magnified when it is reinforced by repetition. The first Roman emperor, Augustus, had his likeness plastered across all corners of the empire in a powerful example of the dissemination of the imperial cult. Today we know that image as the Prima Porta Augustus.



The two elevators in mid-motion. The offices of Keller and Merkel serve a double function as elevators to take them to the meeting area. I have chosen to model the movement of the clients continuously in the context of their offices because their power is transmitted far beyond their capacity as individual human beings; their power also resonates in the ideas, works, people, projects, productions, beliefs that surround them as they go about their business. I have simulated this by encapsulating their in-game movements entirely within their offices.


I have chosen to use dominant rectangular shapes and ambitious linear forms in my architecture because they have been hallmark features of 'powerful' architecture throughout the ages - the roads and basilicas of Rome; the Gothic cathedrals of medieval Europe; the great transnational railways of the Industrial era; and the soaring glass and steel edifices of the modern capitalist world.


To the left is Angela Merkel's office, modelled directly on the real-world office building of the German Chancellor - the Bundeskanzleramt, in Berlin, nearby to the Reichstag. To the right is the office of Helen Keller; it is based on the 'Pile of Boxes' architecture proposed in Tianjin, China. It also resembles a stack of books, reflecting Keller's significant role as an author.
Crysis Wars sandbox files - Level folder and Objects folder

Levels folder - 95MB

Objects folder - 9MB

Also I would like to explain how my elevators work in Crysis.

Essentially there are two phases of my in-game animations - the first is the arrival stage, where Keller and Merkel are taken to and arrive at the dining table; the second is the departure stage, where Keller and Merkel leave the dining table and return to the bridge.

These two phases are triggered in-game by pressing 'p' and 'n', respectively.

When 'p' is pressed for the first time, two elevator shafts rise out of the water and move skyward to connect with the offices of Keller and Merkel in the bridge architecture. Meanwhile, a large narrow platform containing the dining table slides out of the nearby terrain horizontally to form a cantilever stretching out over the water.

The offices of Keller and Merkel are in fact the elevators, as well. Once the elevator shafts have fully extended and connected with the offices, the offices will descend along the shaft down to the bottom of the valley. Once they arrive at the cantilevered platform with the dining table, the first phase of the animations - the arrival - is completed.

When 'n' is subsequently pressed, the elevator / offices of Keller and Merkel ascend the elevator shafts and return to their positions in the bridge architecture above. At the same time, the cantilevered platform containing the dining table retracts back into the nearby terrain to be concealed. Once the two offices have returned to their original positions, the two elevator shafts will disconnect and retract back into the water. Once they are concealed, the second phase of the animations - the departure - is completed.

While in-game, please do not press 'n' after 'p' until all features of the architecture have come to a complete stationary halt. The animations utilize simple delay timers that will become unbalanced if the different keys are pressed too quickly.

Also it is important to note, as previously mentioned, that the architecture for the meeting space in the valley and the accompanying dining table is not readily visible when the Crysis environment is first loaded. That aspect of the architecture is concealed, and will not be revealed until after the animations for the elevator is initiated. I have decided to model the dining table and meeting area as transitional and non-permanent because it reflects well the nature of 'the meeting of power' in the modern age - world leaders can meet in a multitude of different places nowadays; distinctly different from the age when people travelled huge distances to appear at the courts of the emperors of China and the kings of Europe.
Completed Sketchup model

The bridge and elevator architecture was built primarily in Crysis Sandbox, with Google Sketchup used primarily for applying object textures and constructing the various component parts of the Crysis architecture.

However I have provided a rough translation of my in-Crysis architecture in Google Sketchup as another way of approaching an interpretation of my architecture.

Coming soon ~
-Linear- -Rotational- -Scalar Translation-


-Transition- -Orientation- -Path-

Experimenting with a curved solution to connecting the two offices and two disconnected spans of the bridge.


The final solution used to connect the two ends of the bridge, as well as the cantilever platform that supports the meeting area that the two clients will later occupy.
More architectural precedents that helped me explore the sort of architecture I wanted to construct and convey.


Below: the new Westfield Sydney redevelopment. Skybridges are used to connect office and retail buildings.

John Wardle Architects, http://www.johnwardle.com/images/JWA_website_1image_constuction_westfield.jpg


Below: Strelasund Bridge in Germany.

Road Traffice, http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/secondstrelasund/images/8-strelasund-bridge.jpg


Below: Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong.

Wired, http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1702/st_bridge3_f.jpg
Early in-game images showing early developments of my Crysis environment.




Experimenting with the placement and interaction between two opposite bridge pylons.


Exploring ways of connecting two opposite ends of the bridge; experimenting with cantilever solutions.
Some particularly useful architectural precedents that helped me develop the look and feel of the architecture I wanted.

Below: Deutsche Bank building, Sydney. The glass elevators form a distinctive part of the overall architecture, instead of being wholly internalized and resigned to a purely utilitarian function.

Sydney Architecture, http://www.sydneyarchitecture.com/cbd/cbd4-039.htm

Below: Looking up the atrium of the Deutsche Bank building, exploring the interplay between light and space, glass and steel.

dcthomson, http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2555/4079353002_afa0691a4f.jpg

Below: 'Pile of Boxes', Tianjin. Stacking rectangular prisms to create interesting visual effects.

Shanghaiist, http://shanghaiist.com/2007/05/19/tianjins_pile_o.php

Below: The Bundeskanzleramt, the office of the German chancellery.

Wolfsraum, http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2537/3943680845_18a4258ffe.jpg

Below: The Bundeskanzleramt from a distance, showing distinctive archway architecture.

Yiannis the Greel, http://www.flickr.com/photos/exlorer/3215356271/
Here are two images taken from the Sandbox elevator tutorial for Week 2.





Coming soon ~
A 'mashup' of three separate news articles about Angela Merkel, Miranda Kerr, and Helen Keller, that communicates a distinctive and significant approach to the idea of Power.

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First, the news articles:

"Angela Merkel"

Some call Angela Merkel dowdy.

For them, we have just 10 concise words: “Vibrational Properties of Surface Hydroxyls: Nonempirical Model Calculations Including Anharmonicities.”

Get the picture?

Maybe not.

It might help to know that this is the title of a scientific paper Merkel authored in 1988 along with several other researchers, including Joachim Sauer, her second husband.

So, sure — she’s dowdy, all right. Dowdy as a quantum chemist.

The paper just cited is one of numerous scientific publications that bear the name Angela Merkel, now the chancellor of Germany.

Not only is Merkel smarter than the rest of us – see under: “Nonempirical Parameter Estimate for the Statistical Adiabatic Theory of Unimolecular Fragmentation Carbon-hydrogen Bond Breaking in Methyl” – she’s vastly more powerful, too.

She is, in fact, the most influential woman in the world, according to Forbes magazine – a distinction she has won every year since 2006.

Raised the daughter of a Lutheran minister in what was then Communist East Germany, Merkel, now 55, is both the first woman and the first East German to govern the now reunified state.

In addition to being a scientist and a politician, Merkel is also a leading environmentalist who has put her country on an ambitious course to produce 50 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050.

In 2008, the Guardian newspaper of London included Merkel on its list of the 50 people who could save the planet.

This is dowdy?

Merkel also loves soccer and frequently attends league matches. She is even an honorary member of Energie Cottbus, a Brandenburg-based team in Germany’s second division, whose slogan mixes sport with politics: “Show Racism the Red Card!”

So, what was that adjective again? Two syllables? Rhymes with Audi?

[Oakland Ross, June 11 2010, http://www.thestar.com/iphone/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/822690--angela-merkel]

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"Reynold's Rap"

You! You! What’s in you is the answer to your problems. Outside help but no outside solution. The solution has to come from within. It is more important to become and be than to get get and possess. What you carry inside yourself will take you farther than what carries you. The mind builds barriers or demolishes them.
Helen Keller definitely proves this. She came into the world with a raveled life, but she unravelled it. Born blind, deaf and mute, she graduated with honors at Radcliffe. Her unconquerable spirit triumphed over all handicaps and lifter her to a place of glory.

[Larry Reynolds, June 1 2010, http://www.mexiadailynews.com/index.asp?Story=2710]

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"Miranda Kerr secures coveted modelling deal with Prada and Jil Sander"


Victoria's Secret angel Miranda Kerr has secured two of the most coveted advertising campaigns in the modelling world.

Kerr will feature in the high-end fashion advertising campaigns for Prada's and Jil Sander's autumn/winter 2010/11 collections.

It places her on equal footing with fellow Aussie supermodel Abbey Lee Kershaw, who has landed the advertising campaign for Chanel's autumn/winter 2010 collection.

Kerr has had a rapid ascent from lingerie model to celebrity supermodel and is now among the fashion world's elite.

Barely a year ago, Kerr got her first major assignment when she posed for influential photographer Terry Richardson alongside fellow Aussie beauties Kershaw and Catherine McNeil for the 2010 Pirelli calendar.

Then in February, she rejoined McNeil on Prada's runway for the autumn/winter 2010/11 show before appearing for a second time at Balenciaga's Paris Week show, this time modelling in its autumn/winter 2010/11 show.

The latest advertising coups for the luxury brands cement Kerr's new fashion status. She is only the second Australian model to have been shot for Prada, following in the footsteps of Gemma Ward.

"I think she's a very good little businesswoman," said Edwina McCann, Australian Harper's Bazaar editor.

"That in itself is incredible because she was the classic kind of Victoria's Secret girl, more into the lingerie/swimwear category than the high-end runway category."

Kerr, 27, found international celebrity through her relationship with Hollywood hunk Orlando Bloom, her multi-million-dollar contract as a Victoria's Secret angel, and as a regular GQ cover girl.

"I think people like Miranda are very good for fashion overall and I like the fact that models can become brands, because in a lot of ways it's more appropriate I think than celebrities," Ms McCann said.

[AAP, 3 June 2010, http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/miranda-kerr-secures-coveted-modelling-deal-with-prada-and-jil-sander/story-e6frfku0-1225875192527]



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And the news mashup:

Victoria's Secret angel Miranda Kerr has secured two of the most coveted advertising campaigns in the modelling world. Raised the daughter of a Lutheran minister in what was then Communist East Germany, Merkel, now 55, is both the first woman and the first East German to govern the now reunified state. Helen Keller, in fact, came into the world with a raveled life, but she unravelled it. Born blind, deaf and mute, she graduated with honors at Radcliffe. Her unconquerable spirit triumphed over all handicaps and lifter her to a place of glory. I think people like Kerr, Merkel, Keller are very good for the planet. An unconquerable spirit is one of numerous ways The most influential people answer incredible handicaps. the chancellor of Germany triumphed over major barriers because she has an unconquerable spirit. Kerr has had a rapid ascent Not only because she has an unconquerable spirit, but because she also proves in addition to being a supermodel She is a very good little businesswoman. Keller definitely proves she's a very influential woman in the world because of Her international status. influential people Produce a solution That is ambitious and in a lot of ways powerful.


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The Höllental in Germany

I knew I had to use this valley the moment I saw it - everything from its intimidating name, its jagged and precipitous forms, the awesome scale of its space, everything about it conveyed a spatial visualization of the significance of Power.



I am thinking of running water through the valley floor to add an interesting dimension to my custom-made valley.

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