here is the stuff from the other SM threads, mostly from crackedtoothgrin & myself.or.?. They, and some others, have delivered a ton of valuable info here that I will be further organising. There is masses of information available on the web but it's these comments from people that also know the game that are the most valuable.
(I am slowly removing info from here and categorising it. That's why it's a bit all over the place)
In 1221, the use of thatched rooftops was outlawed by virtue of their flammability. Instead, shingles made of wood (usually oak), stone slabs, or clay tiles were used as roofing materials. The usage of stone, except in fringe settlements (highlands in Scottish terriotry, for instance) were relegated to the rich. Especially brick. Brick was for rich people. Shaping stone was expensive and time-consuming, so the poor (the vast majority of the population) would maybe use field stones on a foundation, around windows, or on corners of their homes, assuming they used them at all.
The ones that still used thatch, either prior to the ruling, or outside of cities, would have homes that basically looked like straw lean-to's. Supports leaned together with a central beam on top (held by pegs) with cross-bars (also hed by pegs), were laced with uprights weaved throughout with horizontal reeds and overlain with thatch. The top of the building possessed a hole, called a louvre, that served as the chimney. Chimneys in poor homes were all but unheard of, the same as windows.
In game terms, these types of homes should be close to one another, but NOT linear. That 'city block' style was just not the way of things. Villages flowed along roads. In fact, twin lines of homes facing a center street, with maybe a manor house or two, a keep, or a church in the center, would roll along the road, and have lines of fields extending away from the village and behind the homes. Nearby, maybe a water or windmill would exist. It would belong to the church or the local lord. As a matter of placement and construction, this building would NOT ever be nightlighted, nor would it ever be near a fire or a building like the blacksmithy. The particulate nature of mill-ground materials in the air made the air within combustible. It was against the law to carry even a candle most times in the vicinity. You could make the building blow up.
The lotting should be done to take this non-linear design in mind, at least for low-density, non-urban settlements.
Flora: There should be lots of farms. Like, lots of them. Depending on whether or not the two- or three-field system was in place, this should change seasonally. We've done it with trees, we can do it with crops. The same crop wouldn't stay on the same field all year. The fields left to go fallow should be covered in various weeds, grasses, flowers, etc. And, they should have ploppable livestock and people. The fallow fields served as the grazing ground for the livestock, and were often owned by the local lord. The vast majority of the land should be wilderness, and forested, depending on where the locale is. The clearing of trees was a highly regulated process. Messin' around in the nobility-owned forests was sometimes an offense punishable by death. Also, any building of military worth should NOT have ivy growing on it. Gardeners were paid to remove it, as sturdy ivy could be climber in times of war. That image of ivy growing up the castle walls is a nice effect in modern times, but would be reprehensible on a contemporary basis.
Fauna: The vast majority of the land should be forested or left wilderness, as mentioned. This means lots of wildlife. (Maybe even replace 'airplanes' with flocks of birds?) In the cities, there should be lots of livestock. Horses, cattle, pigs, ducks, rabbits, pigeons, etc. Everywhere. People used horses and cattle like cars-slash-labor machines. They used them for everything. Even if the people didn't own their own horses (being owned largely by the local lord) they still took care of them. This means the construction of stables, rabbit hutches, falconer coops, etc. The domestication of animals is one of the primary reasons for human ascendency. (In fact, the stirrup is considered the most-important military invention of human history.)
To be honest, my area of expertise when it comes to architecture is in the High Medieval Period. I'd be down to help.
However, when you say 'Medieval,' you have to be more specific than that.
Clear glass for windows wasn't regularly used until the 16th century when the Venetians invented Cristallo. Mosaic glass for stained glass windows were sometimes used in the period, but almost exclusively in churches. Many buildings of the time just covered the windows with shutters and tapestries/drapes/etc. or used translucent oilskins. You should really have shutters on them.
You also need more 'junk.' The smithy should have barrels of water, tools, benches... They should have horseshoes, bands for the coopers, wood for the fire, a place to stable horses (The blacksmith shoed the horses. One of his most important functions.)... The presence of a sign is a matter of personal taste. In many communities, the ubiquitous need for a blacksmith wouldn't necessitate one, as the building itself would be evidence enough as to the business contained therein. An exercise in redundancy, unless this is intended to be part of a 'metropolitan' medieval blacksmithy, in which case such delineation as to the contained profession may be applicable.
Assuming you're going for the 'fantasy medieval' ideal, the tradition is latticed wattle and daub, thatched roofs (or maybe wooden shingles), cantilevered buildings (or 'jetties'), high roof peaks, and romanesque/gothic church architecture. However, if you were going the brythonic/celtic route, the building could be organically designed to 'grow' from the ground, and would contain turf as part of the structure, cob walls, thatched reed rooftops, little to no windows, and excessive use of straw. Iberian medieval architecture would also follow this route, but would incorporate more stone, and less of a need for high-peaked roofstops, as the snowfall is less, same for Balkan, but with a little Mediterranean. Mediterranean architecture would follow standard conventions for Roman styles, terra cotta tiles, some 'classical' ideals on some buidings (largely inherited from Roman-period structures), otherwise following Germanic/French traditions the further north you went. Southern Iberian/Moorish architecture would incorporate a vastly different style of building. Far more artistic as well...
(Maybe blacksmiths/tanners/artisans/etc. could form the 'Industry' of the mod?)
And, is it even possible to replace the automata with horses? That would be an interesting concept.
For the windows, if you are going for a 'British' 13th century look, and, I'm assuming, a 'metropolitan-centered' approach (I use metropolitan loosely here), as opposed to village buildings, then either thatched or wooden shingled roofs, cantilevered, wattle and daub and latticed walls, and for the windows, just square openings with external shutters. If you want, an oilskin could over the interior (make it opaque and only slightly translucent) as a 'window', or have a drape/tapestry of some sort.
For the chimney flue, it's very important that it is made to be higher than the roof and the roofs of surrounding buildings. You wouldn't want embers to catch the whole town on fire. It may even worth it to mention that in the information when and if you release it, so it gets placed properly.
On a slightly related note, it may be useful to investigate if it's possible to include more than horses as automata. Pigs, cattle, chickens, wagons...
And, if you're doing medieval architecture, it might be a good idea to do buildings of earlier Dark Age structure, as some forms would have carried over. Especially churches.
And, you should make lots of varieties of manor houses. And fields. And walls. And businesses. And mills, fairgrounds, keeps/castles/baileys/mottes, bridges, ruins...
What about sticks jammed into the windows as a security measure? It would make them a bit more interesting and i just found out that happened. Its a solution i suppose.
For some buildings, yes. You could also have small glass panes on richer buildings, especially if you are going for a 'tudor' style approach. An important note: Buildings in bigger cities, with the bottom floors serving as storefronts, would have horizontal shutter on street-facing windows. The bottom part would serve as a counter, and the top part an awning. Just remember that when making a tradehouse/home. The time period you're aiming for would have a bit more glass. But, most importantly, like I mentioned, there would be no thatching in the cities. It was outlawed in 1221, but smaller villages would likely still have them. The most common thing would be oaken shingles, followed by stone slabs and ceramic tiles, respectively.
-- Edited by thingfishs on Friday 11th of June 2010 03:48:47 AM
The cities, from Luebeck up north via Brugge down to Italy evolved. The villages stayed almost the same for a thousand years.
A few other towns just by name: Prague, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Brugge, Brussels, York, Luebeck, Brasov, Edinburgh, Avignon, Krakov
As much as I like timber-frame or lattice-work late medieval, I am in love with pre-romanesque architecture and the social structure prior to the black death shifting the agrarian economy into one with a labor defecit, and the beginnings of a crude wage system.
The whole thing could be open for massive interpretation, and although my help will be available for all, I will focus on historicity throughout. That's just the way I am.
As much as I love timber-frame (grew up with it), my favorite periods are the days of William the Conquerer (there just ain't much left from before) up to the crusades alongside Gothic architecture. Basically I'm talking 800 - 1400.
It's also worth it to note that not all houses would be perfectly square. A lot of them had non-parallel walls. A consequence of building without a solid knowledge of math or modern tools.
I agree that this should be broad, but regardless of the exact age chosen, it should still be medieval, should still be representative of realistic architecture, and should be identifiable, in my opinion.
I'm not saying "Everybody should make mid-13th century Languedocian rural buildings!" or something like that. But if someone makes a 'medieval' building and it is actually two or three hundred years later than the period, I'll have something to say. In either case, I'll still contribute, albeit rather on the historical side more so than anything else.
For anyone who's interested, within the next couple of weeks (or months?) I should have the following completed:
11th-15th Century Cruck Houses, in both English/Norman, French, and Germanic Style.
10th-13th Century Celtic/Celtiberian/Scottish Cottages
13th-15th Century Half-Timbered Houses in a variety of styles
11th-12th Century Wooden and Stone Motte and Baileys in Norman styles
10th-15th Century Moorish/Spanish Houses (Rural and Urban)
10th-15th Century Russian Khatas and Izbas, in Kievan, Novgorodian, Karelian, and Zaporozhyian styles
There will likely be more, but those are the ones I can definitely get to work on.
In addition to the usual angles, I plan on rendering them diagonally, in a variety of angles, so that people can use the model files with the different transit sets and custom lots...
