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Architecture
Ahnslen architecture in modern times has been relatively consistent with popular trends, but some adaptations and styles have been created due to climatic and cultural factors. Up until the days of the Arnish Empire, tribes on Ahnslen land built wooden huts, due to the abundance of woodland. It was not until the formation of the Arnish empire that the full threat of bushfires was realised.
This bushfire threat called for a new style, and material of housing to be formed. The Arnish observed that fire slowed down and became weaker on a downwards slope. This meant that the Arnish people favoured building towns and cities, as well as houses near downwards slopes. This can be seen in the placing of Arnton, which is almost surrounded by downhill slopes coming into the centre of the city. This idea was also applied to houses, as the Arnish began to build partially submerged houses to mitigate the threat of bushfires. In the 19th century, at the time of the modern unification, houses which are closer to the trends of other nations in the Isles were built.
Notable Ahnslen features are the Oberré and Wagstaffen ‘Waggie’ style of housing. Iconic Ahnslen designs include the Hope Spire in Arnton CBD, the Burnett Bridge in Hauton, Dockland House in Wellington and the iconic Armet Estate in Borderton, which used the famous Oberré style.
Four main divisions of architecture can be defined in Ainslie. These are Traditional, Unification, Contemporary and Alternative Modernist.
The first notable period of architecture was in the 17th and 18th centuries, as the Arnish empire endorsed the beginnings of the Oberré style of housing, in order to cut costs and resources after large and frequent bushfires wiped out many Arnish settlements. The next waves of architecture came in the unification times, where the new nation embraced the two traditional styles of housing, as well as very much forwarding housing designs and plans very similar to nearby nations, and the regional trend. This new Ahnslen nation, forged between an alliance of goodwill and development between various city states meant that new settlements were being established.
Particularly on the southern floodplains of Ainslie, near Wagstaffe a new style of architecture was formed. Richard Staffen and Mark Wagsten pioneered the building of settlements on floodplains, which was a rarity before their times due to these adverse conditions. Staffen and Wagsten created homes which were elevated off the ground by concrete or wooden stilts, depending on the wealth of the future home owners. This ‘Wagstaffen’ style became very popular in the south. This created an entirely new and innovative form of architecture, which was disconnected from the northern and western traditionalist designs. The Wagstaffen ‘Waggie’ design maximised outdoor space, with houses often being single storey on unusually large blocks.
As the decay and presence of natural disasters began to destroy the traditionalist ways of old, the new nation set forth on a journey back to its roots. Oberré style houses were being built once again in the highlands and tablelands.
As the 1950s approached, Arnton, a small city of 1.2 million, was faced with a very large problem. Arnton was the capital of the nation, yet was significantly underdeveloped except for the northern districts. As the previously mentioned factors became very obvious in Arnton, the decision whether to renovate or rebuild was at the forefront of the government’s agenda. Up until the 1990s, the decision was to renovate these structures. Early in the 1990s, a new force entered the socio-political domain. A new religion spread across the nation, and new ideas, a renaissance of ideas to be exact, was sweeping the nation. The architectural movement of Alternative Modernism began in Ainslie.
Alternative Modernism sought to blend the modern ideas both domestically and internationally with the unificationist and traditionalist ideas of the past. Here we see a picture of a street in Arnton, where the early unification style of houses is combined with more modern nature-centric ideas.
This bushfire threat called for a new style, and material of housing to be formed. The Arnish observed that fire slowed down and became weaker on a downwards slope. This meant that the Arnish people favoured building towns and cities, as well as houses near downwards slopes. This can be seen in the placing of Arnton, which is almost surrounded by downhill slopes coming into the centre of the city. This idea was also applied to houses, as the Arnish began to build partially submerged houses to mitigate the threat of bushfires. In the 19th century, at the time of the modern unification, houses which are closer to the trends of other nations in the Isles were built.
Notable Ahnslen features are the Oberré and Wagstaffen ‘Waggie’ style of housing. Iconic Ahnslen designs include the Hope Spire in Arnton CBD, the Burnett Bridge in Hauton, Dockland House in Wellington and the iconic Armet Estate in Borderton, which used the famous Oberré style.
Four main divisions of architecture can be defined in Ainslie. These are Traditional, Unification, Contemporary and Alternative Modernist.
The first notable period of architecture was in the 17th and 18th centuries, as the Arnish empire endorsed the beginnings of the Oberré style of housing, in order to cut costs and resources after large and frequent bushfires wiped out many Arnish settlements. The next waves of architecture came in the unification times, where the new nation embraced the two traditional styles of housing, as well as very much forwarding housing designs and plans very similar to nearby nations, and the regional trend. This new Ahnslen nation, forged between an alliance of goodwill and development between various city states meant that new settlements were being established.
Particularly on the southern floodplains of Ainslie, near Wagstaffe a new style of architecture was formed. Richard Staffen and Mark Wagsten pioneered the building of settlements on floodplains, which was a rarity before their times due to these adverse conditions. Staffen and Wagsten created homes which were elevated off the ground by concrete or wooden stilts, depending on the wealth of the future home owners. This ‘Wagstaffen’ style became very popular in the south. This created an entirely new and innovative form of architecture, which was disconnected from the northern and western traditionalist designs. The Wagstaffen ‘Waggie’ design maximised outdoor space, with houses often being single storey on unusually large blocks.
As the decay and presence of natural disasters began to destroy the traditionalist ways of old, the new nation set forth on a journey back to its roots. Oberré style houses were being built once again in the highlands and tablelands.
As the 1950s approached, Arnton, a small city of 1.2 million, was faced with a very large problem. Arnton was the capital of the nation, yet was significantly underdeveloped except for the northern districts. As the previously mentioned factors became very obvious in Arnton, the decision whether to renovate or rebuild was at the forefront of the government’s agenda. Up until the 1990s, the decision was to renovate these structures. Early in the 1990s, a new force entered the socio-political domain. A new religion spread across the nation, and new ideas, a renaissance of ideas to be exact, was sweeping the nation. The architectural movement of Alternative Modernism began in Ainslie.
Alternative Modernism sought to blend the modern ideas both domestically and internationally with the unificationist and traditionalist ideas of the past. Here we see a picture of a street in Arnton, where the early unification style of houses is combined with more modern nature-centric ideas.
Homes built in an alternative modernist style, in Arnton
Outside of Arnton, The Oberré style gained more interest, as it was approached by Alternative Modernists who combined modern architecture with the unique and traditional style of the past. These houses to this date are still quite common in satellite towns of rural towns and cities, as well as more sparsely populated communities in the centre and north of Ainslie.
Property built in a modernist, oberré style just outside of Miellen
This is a house overlooking Highland Ridge in Ainslie, which has a strong Alternative Modernist, Oberré influence.