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Jay Castello
Written By
Jay Castello
Published
1/12/19

Tranquil Towers

Aegos and Shannooty explain the creation of these perfect pagodas

I hope you’re good at watching your step, because today’s build looks quite hazardous. These pagodas, created by friends Shannooty and Aegos, are stunning, jutting out of the water like Atlantis re-emerging from the sea. But there’s also a lot of weird and wonderful gaps that you could easily take a tumble through! And we wouldn’t want that. Not until you’ve finished reading the article, at least.

 

Shannooty and Aegos have known each other for a long time, as they go to the same high school, and have become closer by building all kinds of fantastical creations together. “We started building with each other about four or five years ago and became better friends from then on,” Aegos explains.

This particular build was Shannooty’s idea, inspired by seeing art of these unique South and East Asian style buildings stacked one on top of the other, looking as if they might topple over at any moment but somehow managing to stay upright. Aegos had been on a bit of a break from building, but was ready to dive back in. “When Shannooty approached me with the idea of creating another build together, I was pretty keen,” he tells me.

There’s actually a video of the pair making the build, and it’s incredibly satisfying to watch. Mountains popping up from nowhere, detailed roofs being spun into existence, and the whole thing being layered up bit by bit as the clouds speed overhead.

The process itself was Aegos’ favourite thing about building. “Starting with the roofs and creating a silhouette and shape that we liked created a more interesting structure,” he explains. “If you start from the ground up and detail as you go, you can become [too fixated] with detailing and tend to lose sight of the whole structure’s form.” So by starting with the shape itself, the two managed to focus on what made their build unique!

Though they were created last, the video still helps to highlight some of the details that you might otherwise overlook, like the yin and yang symbol hidden between a tangle of pillars, and the pink-leaved tree that finishes the whole project off.

If you look closely (at about 1:43 in the video) you’ll even see them changing its colour several times before settling on pink! As someone who endlessly keeps deconstructing and reconstructing my builds because I can’t settle on the perfect colour (moody blue for my bathroom? Or snot green?) this is horribly relatable.

It just goes to show how much experimentation can go into even the smallest parts of a build like this. Shannooty also says that this tree is one of his favourite parts of the build. “It gives it a tiny bit of life.”

Aegos and Shannooty want to continue building together. Shannooty has already started work on what he calls his “largest project yet – a sci-fi styled habitat for humanity’s survival.” Aegos says that another collaboration will depend on the pair’s future plans, but hopes that “our free time will align and we’re able to create some cool projects together.”

For now, there’s just the quiet serenity of this creation, with the pagodas reaching up out of the calm sea and lanterns glowing gently under the roofs. It’s definitely the sort of place I’d like to take a stroll, admiring the architecture and watching the clouds drift by. Hopefully, I won’t get lost and accidentally tip into the waiting water below. Not until I’ve finished writing my next article, anyway.

Renders by Squity, Ploetz, Shannooty, iRobomatic, Kaotyc.

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