Jade Phoenix and Mega Toyko 2041

Hello all – I have been away for awhile working on some very exciting projects.  First off, I will be adding a couple of new garages and a layout for a private, in home theater lobby.  I have also been working on a new dining concept and most recently, a new video game concept.

A while back, I was working on a video game concept for a group called “Always Beyond”. I really enjoyed working on the concept art work, but unfortunately, do to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, the project has been put on hiatus. 

Always Beyond: The Pavilion

Always Beyond: The Cathedral Hanger

Always Beyond: The Tower

So, after that news was relayed to me, I got back to work doing my usual stuff – images for clients and promo work for my portfolio.  Then, out of nowhere, I got a call from Steven Lundberg, a gentleman that had contacted me a few times through my page on DeviantArt.com.  Every now and again I would see a post telling me that he liked a particular image that I had created, and we spoke through messages on a few occasions.  But this time, he actually called me, on the phone – which was a bit of a surprise, to say the least.  He called to invite me to work with his team, Jade Phoenix, who is currently developing a new video game based on some classic Anime TV shows, such as AD Police and Bubblegum Crisis.

 

Who? What?  Yeah, that’s what I said.  I love the Sci-Fi genre, but I have always leaned more toward the Blade Runner, Firefly and Star Trek side of the Sci-Fi spectrum.  I have a few friends that really got into the Anime scene, but I just never got into it, so I was a little baffled as to why Mr. Lundberg would want my help…with anything.  Apparently, Steve liked my design style and wanted me to bring some of architectural expertise and graphic vision into his project, and I said okay.  So, after getting a crash course in Anime, watching a few episodes of AD Police as well as researching some of the other shows mentioned, I got to work on the “test building” – a simple u-shaped structure that didn’t have all that much to it.  There was a basic blueprint in the “Bubblegum Crisis” handbook that had the layout for me to use as a guide. 

The basic layout concept of what would become the Hugh Geit R+D Facility.

Steve wanted to see it more of a doughnut shape with an atrium in the middle, and that was it – after that, I was on my own to create.   So, off I started coming up with a basic geometry – continue scrolling to see the black and white model evolution.

The under-roof supports.

The environment.

The roof shield from above.

The roof shield from below with additional supports.

At this point, the building started to get a bit more complex, and after sending these latter images to Steve, the building was given a name: The Hugh Giet Research and Development Facility.

HG R+D from above.

The front of the facility.

The inner lobby with elevated decks.

The central atrium with lateral bridge and elevator cores.

Back end of the building showing the roof and truss system.

The landing pad for VTOL aircraft.

The landing pad with a VTOL aircraft from above.

The front of the VTOL aircraft on the pad.

At this point, Steve started sharing images with his colleagues and as well as www.indiedb.com – an independent gamer/ developer site, as well as on the Jade Phoenix blog and website: http://megatokyo2041.wordpress.com  and http://jp-studios.com.

Over the past couple of days, I have been rendering the model in daylight conditions.  I plan to render them in nighttime conditions at well.  Here are some facts about this model:

- Modeled in Google SketchUp Pro.

- Rendered in Artlantis Rendering Engine v 1.1.

- Contains over 1100 individual points of light.

- Has a file size of 800 megabytes (and continues to grow as more items are tweaked and added).

- The trees alone account for 300 megabytes of information.

- Building footprint is approximately 20,000 square feet, and the roof shield stretches out to approximately 100,000 square feet.

- The Hugh Geit building has multiple elevated walkways and 4 exterior elevator cores.

I will share more images and designs as they are created - thanks for reading!