Ae'gura Investigations: Concert Hall Balcony

dgelessus · **Posted:** Fri Jul 12, 2013 8:54 pm

Emor D'ni Lap wrote:

And I can pretty much verify that there are presently no stairs to/from either level of those platforms, nor any doorways built at this time that would give access from the exterior to the interior.

That might just not be modeled. The platforms are quite far away from any obvious streets, so the doors/stairs may have just been left out.

Emor D'ni Lap · **Joined:** Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:15 am **Posts:** 587

(Emor does the best John Cleese imitation he can)

I quite agree, dgelessus!
The stairs and doorways are indeed just not modeled, as you say.
They are not built at this time.
They have been left out.
There are presently no doors or stairs to/from those platforms.
They are absent; they are omitted, they are nonextant, if you will.

(I think we're kinda saying the same thing! )

dgelessus · **Posted:** Sun Jul 14, 2013 7:32 pm

Whoops, interpreted that as "physically not built by the D'ni" rather than "Cyan was too lazy".
The lower level could also just be some kinda decoration. Or it could be used to address people on boats in the canyon below... kinda high for that though. Or maybe there would be balconies further down on the other side or something, either not modeled or not yet built by the D'ni.

Moiety Jean · **Posted:** Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:57 pm

Did you all ever see this page? http://www.florestica.com/hpotd/concert ... index.html

Some nice aerial images in there as well.

ventris · **Posted:** Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:33 pm

Thanks Jean! Dang! Still no clear picture of the interior of the canyon balcony/stage. If only one among the hundreds of us now exploring had thought to bring a flashlight down.

janaba1 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:39 pm

Moiety Jean wrote:

Did you all ever see this page? http://www.florestica.com/hpotd/concert ... index.html

Some nice aerial images in there as well.

This website is an absolutely awesome treasure chest to indulge in ... Thanks for sharing, Moiety Jean ...

Tai'lahr · **Posted:** Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:54 pm

Yeah, what Janaba said. That's an awesome site. Thanks so much for sharing it.

TOOO · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 2:30 am

There's another possibility: perhaps at one time the water level was much higher (I think I see a water mark on the walls of the river canyon), allowing ships to actually dock at the theatre - or just enjoy the show from the ships. As for the buildings and docks at the lower levels: perhaps they were built after the water level went down.

Just a thought.

ventris · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 2:35 am

It would have to have been before the ferry dock was built as the water comes up pretty high on the plaza and dock. I imagine the plaza and docks have been at that level since at least the time the ferry terminal was built sometime after D'ni year 5202.

Moiety Jean · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:57 am

I like the theory that this site posits, which is that the stage has retractable doors. If they're shut now, a flashlight wouldn't do us much good anyway.

Emor D'ni Lap · **Joined:** Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:15 am **Posts:** 587

I'm still fascinated by this structure overhanging the Canyon, likely a part of the Concert Hall, and trying to piece together what its original purpose might have been.

As mentioned elsewhere, Colab Architecture recently updated its collection of URU concept art with much-improved high-resolution images. Among them was a beautiful scan of a sketch that we only had at very low resolution before:

(Click to see new high-res version from Colab)
We can finally read the descriptions on this sketch!
Of interest (to me!) are the two notations:
- "Steel like" optical ball
- NOTE: Light Catchers not shown
...both of which seem to imply some unseen part of the design that would catch light and then perhaps pass it to the "optical ball"....???

I also recently noticed this design at Chiso, which could represent an early incarnation of the Concert Hall's cowled stage/balcony/whatever-it-is:

Looks similar in structure. Don't know if the overhanging device might be the "Light Catcher" in the other sketch?
Hmmmm, /scratchhead......

(edited to replace 1st image thumbnail URL)

ventris · **Posted:** Sat Nov 08, 2014 2:05 am

So perhaps its purpose was to light the stage area inside the theater by gathering light from the lake light cycle? Searching "Optical Ball" gets ball lenses which are "can focus or collimate light, depending upon the geometry of the input source." Without the light catchers it would not be a very effective light gathering opening. Seems a lot of trouble to go to for lighting when one could presumably amplify fire marbles.

Can anyone suggest a reading besides - stone "rolled base - for the label on the parapet as that does not make much sense to me. I am not certain if the lower label is - extruded nara- or - extended nara - the first seems most likely. In any case now I have to go look close and see if they are a different texture which would give us an idea what nara looks like.

ChloeRhodes · **Joined:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:29 am **Posts:** 520

Emor, your second image isn't the concert hall. its a cropped image taken from the West Elevation of the Palace seen in this picture:

ventris · **Posted:** Sat Nov 08, 2014 3:20 am

That does not mean it is not another form of the same balcony.

Emor D'ni Lap · **Joined:** Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:15 am **Posts:** 587

ChloeRhodes wrote:

Emor, your second image isn't the concert hall. its a cropped image taken from the West Elevation of the Palace seen in this picture:

Right, Chloe!
As the first image in the newly-updated sequence from Colab - the image you have to click on to access the whole collection - that's hard to miss! :lol:

I only used the cropped image in order to highlight the one feature that was of interest to me.

As mentioned elsewhere, Colab's concept art was rarely used as a literal blueprint for Cyan's agebuilders. Rather, pieces were more often selected and moved and altered as needed. We can see Colab's work served as inspiration for what became Ae'gura and D'ni...but these aren't sketches of the end result.

For example, in URU's Ae'gura we can see some of the Palace area design from the image you cited. But the design evolved, and the end result certainly doesn't look exactly like that sketch - especially the left half!

For all we know, the Concert Hall's location could have been moved a dozen times during these concept phases, before its present location was finally decided upon.
As always, just conjecturing... and using little tidbits of new info as we go.....

Ae'gura Investigations: Concert Hall Balcony

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