Medieval Castle Project: Design Preview Report

It was a challenging choice to find the right concept for my project, but I have finally landed on an aesthetic I am happy with, something cool I can make, and a dynamic component that will hopefully work well and add to the project. Building on my upcycle project and my available resources and interests, I plan to do another art piece which I will 3D print and paint to display in my room so that I can glance over and admire it every now and then, and hopefully it will be something worth admiring. In a previous post I discussed the fantasy aesthetic and my appreciation for it, and my project actually will end up being pretty close to this aesthetic. My plan is to create a medieval inspired castle, or a part of a castle. A castle design like this is quite prominent in medieval fantasy, but I don’t plan on adding any fantasy elements, instead making something relatively historically accurate and based on both real and fictional architecture. I’m still not sure on all the details, of how it will look, but I plan to incorporate a liftable front gate that could be activated via a crank of some kind, and a drawbridge which could act in similar fashion. I might only finish one of these depending on time and progress, but I hope to incorporate both. The image below from yarpen (1) does a good job of illustrating what my concept for these two key features is. You can see the drawbridge connected via chains to some internal crank system we can’t see, and the spiked and rectangularly patterned gate which is lifted to allow passage. It doesn’t necessarily represent what I plan to have a structure of the castle look like, but rather those two features, specifically.

Another inspiration for what my design will end up looking like is the featured image, which is a photo of Corvin Castle in Romania, taken by Walter Bibikow from Getty Images (2), so a real castle as opposed to a fantasy/fictional version. It looks very classic, with a stone exterior, red highlighted pointed features reaching up from the roof, and many square and circular pillars which create much of the unique look. It also has a connecting bridge, which is something I will want to add in order to have the drawbridge make sense and connect. Below is another similar inspiration, a drawing from AVA Bitter (3).

It incorporates many recognizable features, like the drawbridge and the pointed and flat cylindrical pillars surrounding the fortress walls. That being said, neither of these inspirations is exactly what I will be building. I want it to be unique, but also small scale enough for me to complete and paint it precisely in time. So, as my initial concept, I have made the quick sketch below. My sketching skills are pretty limited but hopefully you can understand the idea, and my printed model with have more detail.

I plan to have a pretty classic medieval castle design, with the prominent conical features on the corners, square featured ramparts, and a stone exterior. A stretch goal would be to include some items in the interior courtyard to make it look lived in. The sketch above is very basic, and in my final design I don’t want it to be as simple as a square, but I don’t think I have the capabilities at this time to make a fully realized castle with all essential rooms and places. So, it might be more like a fortress, with walls surrounding an interior, so that I don’t worry about rooms and such.

An alternate aesthetic would be to go in a more gothic direction for the architecture and gate system. I do really enjoy this aesthetic and have made a (rough) sketch below to illustrate what it could look like, along with inspiration, which is an art piece from Audrey Burmakin (4).

Here the colors are darker, the architecture more aggressive, with some more modern features like the analog clock. The gate and drawbridge system would not really fit this aesthetic, hence why I adjusted it in my sketch. I like this aesthetic, but ultimately, I will not pursue it due to wanting to incorporate those dynamic features I have discussed, and I think the medieval castle/fortress will be more recognizable, and quicker and easier to CAD.

Another alternative would be a more sci-fi fantasy inspired design. This is a much less defined category of what a castle/fortress could look like, and I drew the following simple dome building.

I started with trying to sketch something curved, as that fits a futuristic feel, and contrasts with the typical rigid and boxy nature of medieval architecture. What I drew looks quite like a cistern, inspired by the following image from bluefishds (5). Again, the dynamics I want to incorporate and the uncertainty regarding this aesthetic choice make me lean back towards the medieval design.

Ultimately, this project will be mostly CAD design, with printing, painting, and connecting coming towards the end of the process. The CAD will be very complex, with multiple pieces joining together, small details etched into the castle walls, and probably some time needed to learn some new techniques. Because of this, I don’t yet have any completed CAD or drawings, and drawings won’t be necessary as I can just translate my design directly to my 3D printer.

Below I have outlined the timeline I expect my project to follow.

Currently I have only decided the concept with a clear direction, but I feel like this was maybe the biggest hurdle to overcome. My next big steps are to come up with how I want my drawbridge (and potentially front gate) to operate, with some sort of crank system. Alongside this I will create an initial form of my fortress in CAD, lacking most of the fine details. I expect the longest part of the project to be getting the CAD detailed and finalized, which is why I allotted three weeks to complete this. Then 3D printing and painting should be relatively quick. In terms of a detailed fabrication process, I mainly have to consider how best to print it. I expect the main walled fortress part of my design to fit in one print with my printer size, but I will undoubtedly have some parts which I will opt to print separately. I have strong glue and sandpaper to connect pieces when I need to. I’ve never printed anything functional or connected multiple printed pieces in a way that allows them to move, which is what I will need to do in this case. I am excited to develop my design and printing skills in this case. What I won’t be able to print is the chain connected to the drawbridge, so I will need to find a suitable material to purchase, my plan is to find a small chain used in art. Then I will just use my various paints and paintbrushes to breathe color into it.

Overall, I am excited to dig into designing my project. I am developing skills I already have while also strengthening them and forcing myself to learn something new in regard to the dynamics of this structure. I enjoy this process and am glad to continue and make good use of my 3D printer, while making something I can display and be proud of.

Sources

(1) yarpen, 2016, Medieval castle – Artwork / Finished Projects – Blender Artists Community

(2) Walter Bibikow, 13 Medieval Castles to Visit for History and Architecture

(3) AVA Bitter, Old Medieval Castle Various Buildings Surrounded Stock Vector (Royalty Free) 2293672621 | Shutterstock

(4) Audrey Burmakin, Wall Mural Mystery gothic castle – PIXERS.US

(5) bluefishds, Environment Panoramic View Of Sci-Fi Dome Castle, Floating Island And Waterfall Stock Photo, Picture and Royalty Free Image. Image 169148910.