Final Project: Local Old Boston Statehouse

For this final project I was assigned to make a building modeled after the Old State House in Boston, Massachusetts. This was time consuming but ultimately pretty fun to do. I built it using the dimensions we used in class. This is 39 blocks long, 12 wide and 14-16 in height. The height is difficult to measure due to the different levels in the front of the building. 

First I cleared the ground. There was little flat terrain in the world so I found the least mountainous area and began to level out the ground. This was difficult because there were so many different layers in the area. Just this part alone took at least an hour but once it was done I think the land looked pretty good if I do say so myself. (:

Once I leveled the land, I began to form the outline of the building. I dug a level into the ground so that it would be easy to build up from there and have the shape outlined. Making enough room in this area was difficult and required even more landscaping than I had originally thought. 

After filling in the base with bricks I then began the side of the building. I chose Nether Bricks because it was the type of brick that most similarly reflected the Old State House in Boston. Lining the blocks was a balancing act while my person stood on the blocks and ran backwards laying them out. I fell off of the building quite a few times but ultimately the building came out like I had hoped. 

I then began adding the roof. This was the least time consuming of all the work on the building. Running backwards while floating rather than standing and balancing on other bricks is much easier in my opinion. 

I built the levels on the roof that seemed to most resemble the actual building. 

I put the steeple on the top using sandstone blocks and glass blocks. To add a little more flair I put two torches on top of the sandstone blocks.

I then began adding windows to the building. I used the glass pane to set them in a realistic manor. 

I attempted to add the front clock to the building. That was no easy task while working with just blocks and no circles. I used the sandstone blocks to make the outline and then added metal bars to the center and angled them in a way that appear to be the hands on the clock (or as close as possible). I then added to the roof with stone. And finished up!

This is the actual Old State House:

This is me building in Minecraft, emulating The Old State House in Boston, MA. It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc