Why You Should Use Architecture as Inspiration for Sci-Fi Ship Design

The Sojourn on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2JImkuQ...
Spacedock delves into architecture as an inspiration for sci-fi spacecraft design.
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Spacedock does not hold ownership of the copyrighted materiel (Footage, Stills etc) taken from the various works of fiction covered in this series, and uses them within the boundaries of Fair Use for the purpose of Analysis, Discussion and Review.

[@Spacedock]

The Sojourn on Spotify (Only in certain regions): open.spotify.com/show/2JImkuQbQlI4dJFEpO6FHx?nd=1&si=dhhKojLiSkWDrRuFcx_b-A

[@citamcicak]

You are back on sopotify? I vaguely remember, Danial stating Sojurn was leaving over contract/royalty split issues.

[@Spacedock]

@@citamcicak That was Audible, not Spotify. Spotify, at least for audiobook and audio drama creators, pay a quite reasonable rate.

[@citamcicak]

@@Spacedock derp is me, somehow I mistook the largest music streaming service for Audible. My bad. Good to hear Sojourn getting more widely distributed.

[@orcaman1353]

1:09 speaking of Yamato space battleship Yamato ship breakdowns when?

[@hamishsewell5990]

Love your material! Yeah, the techno-Gothic aesthetic of the the Imperium’s ships in 40k really does it for me

[@andyb1653]

WH40K has some of my favorite spaceship designs, from the elegant-yet-brutal flying Cathedrals of the Imperium and forces of Chaos, to the ramshackle and comical "this really shouldn't work" jerry-rigged Ork ships. Star Wars also has some stunning designs, especially in the Imperial capital ships (the Executor class being my all-time favorite space warship). Colin Cantwell could really do some incredible things with a simple triangle.

[@opensketchbook]

That Holly Jencka art at the end is from the upcoming RPG "Torchship", an exploration game which combines soft sci-fi, Star Trek like space exploration with hard sci-fi concepts and dangers. Holly's an amazing artist and its incredible to have her on the team bringing it to life.

[@hoojiwana]

Hey there!

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

@@hoojiwana Great vid, and thank you for correcting your pronunciation of Yamato. Keep up the great work, mate!

[@akizeta]

Sounds interesting. Got a link?

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

This may seem like a stupid question, but it's actually not really: is that concept art for a video game RPG, or a book art for a tabletop RPG? I tried googling it and came up with nothing (because "torchship" is a common term in theoretical spacecraft design).

[@davidcolby167]

@@ArcaneAzmadi It's for a tabletop RPG! There's a website being made for it, but it's not finished! ...yet.

[@DrakeAurum]

The Alliance capital ships in Firefly take this to an extreme, being basically just a set of modern skyscrapers on a platform with engines.

[@Mark-in8ju]

Artificial gravity would be perpendicular to thrust, which would defeat the purpose of a building-shaped ship.

[@DrakeAurum]

@@Mark-in8ju The Firefly setting doesn't use thrust-based artificial gravity in the first place. And the Alliance ship design isn't functional, it's symbolic - taking their idea of urban civilisation and comfort out with them to the rest of the system.

[@Raguleader]

@@Mark-in8ju The purpose of the building-shaped ship in this case was to be a ship that was also a bunch of buildings. The Dortmunder was not designed to be a *subtle* metaphor for Alliance culture.

[@DolusVulpes]

​@@Mark-in8junot really, since the outer facades of many buildings would work equally as well no matter which way the rooms inside are oriented, especially in the vacuum of space.

[@Melody_Raventress]

Yeah, Alliance cruisers are pretty arrogant vessels when you come right down to it.

[@mitwhitgaming7722]

One thing that I always love in sci-fi is when they have a continuous shot that follows the characters through the ship, giving you a clear picture of how it is layed out. I always love the slice of life sorta stuff, what is actually like aboard ship.

[@DigitalJedi]

I've been trying to write some slice-of-life shorts within my setting now that my main project is out of my hands. I've been loving writing about the random things that go on in a ship or station, or just a day in the life of somebody visiting one of the massive colony crater cities, like Occator, Ceres. I've loved thinking about how people would just get around, what there is to do, and how life is compared to what we're all used to.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

With the star of the show: the post-title almost-one-continuous-shot walkthrough of Serenity. Four and a half minutes of apparently-single-take handheld camera. (IIRC, there are two or three well-disguised cuts.)

[@sharksareneat8723]

Firefly was the best for this, I love how you get to see how every room and hallway connects and how lived in the ship seems.

[@heathb4319]

@@sharksareneat8723 ...You beat me to it. Was about to say the intro shot in Serenity does it well with the walk through from the bridge back to the engine room passing the crew quarters then down to the cargo bay and infirmary. Some serious steady cam work with continuous shot to give you a real feel.

[@andrewreynolds912]

Exactly

[@lostmarble540]

I love that imperium ships in 40k have battering rams on them. It's got to be the silliest thing to put on a space ship but damn does it look cool

[@lachlanmckinnie1406]

Well given that 40k loves its glorious close combat, it makes sense. Can't just sit back and only shoot the enemy from a distance like a T'AU!

[@outis7080]

What's even cooler is 40K's void combat is surprisingly (relatively) more realistic than a lot of popular franchises. Void combat can initiate at lightsecond ranges, using relativistic kill weapons. A few thousand kilometres is considered within close range, although this can devolve to ramming enemy vessels with your ship's armoured prow. I love how it goes from the (relatively) hard sci fi method of firing projectiles traveling at a good chunk of the speed of light to the pre-gunpowder method of ramming enemy vessels.

[@xo-1320]

@@outis7080 plus given how armored the hulls at the front are it is a valid tactic.

[@XShadowzVarcolac]

considering the size of an armada in 40k, it's not surprising if a smaller ship would run out of ammo before half the enemy armada is even destroyed

[@dlyonthescreen2657]

@@outis7080 On a smaller scale, even the fighter spacecraft are more realistic than most franchises. The Fury Interceptor, workhorse of the Imperial Navy, is as big as a Boeing 747 because weight is less of a concern in the void of space and can therefore carry more powerful armament and propulsion. Their spacecraft cannot fight in atmosphere and their atmospheric craft cannot fight in space, because these are two separate environments that require their own specialized designs.

[@The_Lone_Aesir]

I like how in "Space above and beyond" the Human Capital ships were basically futuristic aircraft carriers, and the Hammerhead fighters drew inspiration from, well hammerheads.

[@knghtbrd]

I really liked S:A&B. I suspect this one isn't hoojiwana's cup of tea given a video in recent months calling out so many SciFi properties for basically regurgitating WWII … but in space! S:A&B was just about literally that, short-lived, and some of the premises for the episodes we did get were a little silly. No, a real military isn't going to take highly trained and specialized fighter pilots and order them to leave their fighters behind so they can be left behind as a consequence of the brass having to make the hard decisions about leaving troops to fend for themselves when the tactical situation means losing a lot more people if you try to get them out. Despite its flaws, the show had a lot going for it at a time when TV Sci-Fi just didn't really address those topics well. The good guys are racists? How the war happened in the first place, who the alien enemy is, the politics involved in war, the toll it takes on the people fighting it, trauma, PTSD, addiction, military medical care, betrayal, discipline … that's a lot for a single season that's also basically cribbing its plotlines from WWII stories. The show does not get enough recognition IMO.

[@ClassicMagicMan]

@@knghtbrd It really was an amazing show. It needed a second season, the finale was wild!

[@richardn3387]

Great show. The ide of carriers works because they emphasized boots on the ground. Taking a planet was not hovering over it in space and calling it victory. The ships were there to protect landing craft. Very much WWII Pacific theatre.

[@Teekanic]

There's a particular Union ship in Firefly that I always thought looked like a city in space. I love it because it looks so practical and different from other ships in sci-fi, and even the series.

[@jeyfromnowhere]

First thing that came to my mind, too. Just a floating skyrise.

[@atariduckman]

That was the "Dortmunder". Named after the city in Germany. It was one hell of a ship. A really great design. A floating Cityblock in space.

[@Malocalypse]

Came here for this, also the Sentinel citadel in Doom Eternal is basically a castle turned spaceship

[@Big_Red1]

In that vein, cant forget Atlantis (stargate) as well.

[@Raguleader]

Ironically enough, the Dortmunder was designed specifically to look impractical, because the engines are at "ground level" but the skyscrapers give it a wild imbalanced effect, showing that the Alliance doesn't need to conserve resources by creating practical designs, they just stack cities on top of a big set of engines. That said, the shot of the gunships hanging off the bottom of the ship like bats ready to launch at a moment's notice was pretty neat.

[@Ushio01]

Using naval traditions makes a lot of sense since during the age of exploration sailing ships could take years for a one way journey even with lots of stops on the way (discovering strange new worlds and new civilisations) Even crossing just the Atlantic in the 1840's could take over 50 days while today it's 6-7 hours on an airliner. So going back to look at how people coped on incredibly long voyages on tightly packed ships for up to 2 months at a time is a good basis for sci-fi ships that can travel between stars.

[@zchen27]

And also note how much naval traditions have influenced future vehicle terminology. Planes "navigate" despite not being boats, and have "port/starboard" sides instead of left/right. Tanks have "compartments" and "hatches" and a "hull", the top of of which is called a "deck".

[@Ushio01]

@@zchen27 Port and starboard isn't really the same thing as left is left depending on where you are facing while port is the left side when facing the bow only.

[@MegaKnight2012]

Looking at the superstitions of sailors stuck on ships for long voyages, it's strange such superstitions don't make it into more space travel stories

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

Note alot naval words refure to things that can just as easily apply to space vehicles as sea ones. Navy/naval/etc comes from navies (boat) which is believed to come from a word meaning float. Things in space float. Ship? Comes from a word meaning hollow object (which a space ship is). Vessel? Also hollow object. Fleet? From a word meaning float. Marine is one of the few that actually directly references water.

[@deusexaethera]

"The Eiffel Tower is damn near a spaceship already." Well, I'm never going to look at the Eiffel Tower the same way ever again.

[@d.robertdigman1293]

I loved the fact that HMS Camden Lock from the British series Hyperdrive was basically the British Telecom Tower with engines attached!

[@CanadianFabe]

I'm a bit surprised spacedock missed that one.

[@d.robertdigman1293]

@@CanadianFabe As am I!

[@d.robertdigman1293]

@@CanadianFabe I also think the Camden Lock would make the subject of a nice video here!

[@DycuswasHere]

Might as well throw in the Castle of Lions from Voltron: Legendary Defenders. A bit of a surprise when we found out it was really a rocket ship in the first season but the more you saw it the more sense a castle would make as a ship.

[@deusexaethera]

I mean, except for bricks falling off when accelerating.

[@DycuswasHere]

@@deusexaethera Space bricks son! They stick together with electro-magnetic sealing and provide thermal shielding for atmospheric re-entry!

[@boywithcrackers3871]

Damn, just remember that show. I watch the show until season 2 finale and never pick it back, does the show really go downhill from there?

[@DycuswasHere]

@@boywithcrackers3871 It's not the dumpster fire that fans make it out to be but it does dip in quality after season 2. Post season 2 has some great characters and concepts but they get underutilized or messed with by execs.

[@lonniecombs7431]

It was a starship in the OG series too, in the movie 'fleet of doom'

[@lukasvillar9328]

The OG Iserlohn Fortress is beautiful... It is like a castle inside a silver snow globe in space. Also, we need a video about the ships from Legend of the Galactic Heroes universe ASAP, the Flagschiff Brünhild needs some love.

[@thearchives1094]

I second this

[@ATRStormUnit]

I third this.

[@la_potat6065]

Brunhild and Barbarossa my beloved, both need their respective vids. Heck why not Konigstiger too, I love the brutish look of its prow.

[@lukasvillar9328]

@@la_potat6065 The Perceval too... The delta-looking flagship is the most gorgeous ship in scifi IMO.

[@gilbertosantos2806]

Absolutley!

[@Omnomface]

Regarding brutalist designs, i can easily point to EVE Online's Caldari vessels for other examples, like the Rokh battleship which used to be referred to as the cinderblock or the Naga battlecruiser. It's fun to see how they've mixed brutalist with radiotower aesthetics for that faction.

[@TheOneWhoMightBe]

The Battleplates from Schlock Mercenary were simple geometric shapes (primarily triangles), although inside them was hundreds of 'skyscrapers' which functioned as independent ships if necessary. Babylon 5 leant into architecture with a 'brand' for each species; Humans went for brutalism (with the exception of the Hyperions), the Minbari went for an aquatic theme, the Centauri chose gothic/art deco, the Vree had flying saucers because they are Greys.

[@reganator5000]

battleplates are such a weird initial design because they were supposed to deflect rocks before they came up with enough tech to make 'big tessalating shape' less of an important feature in that function. But by then, i presume all the shipyards were triangular, sort of like why you don't see many catamarans in the military.

[@DrakeRunner]

need more Schlock Mercenary in my life

[@paulsd9255]

And then there’s how EVE Online’s ships behave like submarines, with how the warp drive apparently changes the physics such that you move like submarines

[@kevingriffith6011]

This just reminds me of a bunch of digital paintings I saw a couple years ago. (A quick google search says they were done by Eric Geusz.) Basically he took a bunch of mundane household objects (bottles, electric razors, potato peelers, etc) and used them as the basis for spaceship designs. Some of them are a bit silly, but some of them are legitimately cool designs.

[@seth408]

Wow thanks for mentioning Moscow landmarks, the Mercury tower also resembles Orion-class destroyer from Freespace, and top-to-bottom Ostankino tower drone shot is glorious, Soviet-era high-rise construction is impressive.

[@44WarmocK77]

I've been working on a ship design using art deco for some time now - works surprisingly well and you get these awesome dieselpunk vibes quite easily. ^^

[@Banchoking]

Oh, you know that Art Deco motif of a series of angular ridges used as a centerpiec of a design? You could make fighter craft that are just that shape on its own. Or perhaps a ship shaped like an Art Deco bird hood ornament.

[@44WarmocK77]

@@Banchoking I used it for a very "boxy" spacecraft design akin to a DropShip from BattleTech od a drop pod from Warhammer 40k. It's supposed to be the core of a royal or noble family's palace. Consider it the Donjon of the palace of a family governing a planet, which also acts as an escape vessel in case the planet is overrun and the family has to be evacuated (although leaving a planet this way is officially seen as ceeding control to the invaders). I might upload a few renders on Deviant Art eventually, but right now I'm fully occupied with fixing Fallout 4. :D

[@nicholasolson7032]

1. I'm always happy when someone remembers the USS Cygnus 2. That last image reminds me of the rocket at the end of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. A literal castle tower was also a rocket. VHD is kinda wild like that.

[@thewanderer1317]

VHD is a strange mix of sci-fi and fantasy that somehow works.

[@spacepiratecaptainrush1237]

one influence I'm surprised you didn't bring up in the general ship inspirations is Sports cars, especially since those are in my opinion one of the main influences behind the Empire's ships in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. High ranking admirals get bespoke sculpted command ships that are part work of art and part political statement. This contrasted with the Free Planets Alliance with it's much more uniform and utilitarian ship designs. something I haven't seen yet but might be cool would be classical/neoclassical architecture to evoke some of that high Roman Empire kind of vibes. like, turn the city of Venice into a spaceship

[@hackr6751]

I see what you mean about the curved parts of the ishimura looking like flying buttresses, but to me they always evoked the idea of an exposed ribcage, as if the ship itself was as much of a decaying, undead monster as the necromorphs that infest its halls.

[@JimmyCerra]

Cylon Resurrection Ships, from the reboot Battlestar Galactica, also seem to have a very 17th-19th century design.

[@hoojiwana]

I would not be surprised to learn those are based on the USAF Academy Cadet Chapel. - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@jack1701e]

Ahhh 7:22 the Pegasus! So glad to see that again, Voyage to the Planets is one of my favourite science docudramas.

[@xenostyrant4118]

Thunderbird 3 is an excellent example of a combination of chemical rocket with art deco style

[@signorUebelst]

One thing I could see working out really well for the long noodly "hard scifi" ships is taking inspiration from Guide Wire Towers as seen with Those really long radio towers. Simply have some masts sticking out from the middle bit to which the Guy Wires attach and then guide them back to the other end of the ship so that you got anchor points to that wont shift.

[@thefob9675]

Cool video! Quick note: Mass Effect took most of it's inspiration from Syd Mead's retro-futuristic architectural sketches. This goes of course for the buildings you can see on on the planets like Earth, Thessia or Eden Prime but it also goes for the ships that are not the Normandy like the human destroyers and dreadnoughts as well as the asari and turian ships.

[@hoojiwana]

Prothean architecture is brutalist. - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@Grits420]

You got me with the 40k ship thumb nail. Best sci fi universe ship design

[@anthonyrobaky6436]

Now, this was an aspect of spacecraft design I had never thought of, because I never noticed where the feeling of familiarity came from. Now it’s making my imagination run. Thank you very much!

[@hoojiwana]

Make some cool stuff! - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@justicetaylor3050]

One of my favorite building space ships was the one from Star Wars Solo movie. You know the one at the end, the luxury sky scraper that has the office at the top and surprised you by taking off and flying away.

[@Jacob-pu4zj]

"You could even lean real hard into that style with big train-like water tanks and nuclear-thermal rockets to make it into steam, or go even harder into that look and straight-up have trains in space like in Sunless Skies, but that _derails_ the discussion from architecture. To get back on _track_ the spooky ships..." Are you proud of yourself, Mr script-writer? Are you happy with the decisions you made in life?

[@hoojiwana]

Yes - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@red_cosplay]

6:15 when I look at it from this angle, it's actually like a GTD Orion (Freespace)

[@boingthegoat7764]

Doctor Who serial "State of Decay" (1980) had a gothic castle that turned out to be a very old parked spaceship (with resident vampires who were the original bridge crew)

[@Iwanbezbrody]

Glad to see Voyage to the Planets reference

[@guyman2674]

Ngl, I'm a bit bummed that Covenant ships from Halo weren't brought up here. I've always loved their curved designs with the bulbous bow sections.

[@AllPossibleDogs]

Morphologis has an extremely great series where he reviews fictional ships and locations (mainly from Star Citizen) using his knowledge from his career as an architect. he focuses mainly on internals (since thats where SC stands out) but its worth a watch even if you don't play or like SC, which i dont, its still good spaceship design discussion

[@Lou7575]

THE BUFFALO CITY COURT BUILDING!!!!!! I walk by that every day!! Awesome shoutout.

[@Jdne199311]

Im so happy you meation the Pegesus from BBC voyage to the planets, I love that ship as a kid, and its said that its be largely forgotten by the world.

*Gasp!* Spacedock finally has Legend of the Galactic Heroes clips! ❤

[@abutb2745]

I remember seeing this guy talk abt spaceship blueprints and love how far he has gone, proud of you man

[@bottasheimfe5750]

yeah that one ship you showed at the end is definitely a nice design. the radiators make it look like a Gothic Tower with Angel Wings. I really like that

[@sargon6000]

What about ships shaped after guns, knives and other random tools? Like the Sulaco from Aliens, that looks like a shotgun or assault rifle.

[@weldonwin]

There was a ship in the game Sword of the Stars, that was a planetary bombardment dreadnought, armed with a massive spinally mounted mass driver, loaded from a revolver mechanism, so you have this huge multi-kilometre long Six-Shooter

[@ranger_8717]

The ship from Harlock Space Pirate was quite gothic too.

[@ranger_8717]

@@Eliphaser Yeah, I meant that weird cgi one

[@anon_y_mousse]

If I ever make a sci-fi themed game, your channel will probably have been the inspiration.

[@cortex8185]

I'm so glad someone *finally* mentioned the Nostalgia for Infinity! Lighthuggers (the Infinity's ship class) are fascinating from a design perspective and on top of that are absolutely MASSIVE!

[@anticlaassic]

Which would you prefere: Noatalgia for infinity before or after the capitain Brennagan infestation? Or perhaps the upgraded ship from absolution gap?

[@Culdcepter]

Love that Gunstar, with Death Blossom.

[@merafirewing6591]

Maybe I'll go full Naval in sci-fi with some Aircraft mixed in. Space Battleship Yamato would be my inspiration for design style.

[@frankryan2505]

I remember "architecture" in a Iain M book..the naval architects at their wits end because the big bad wanted these massive/impressive halls on his flagship.."what about the bulkheads?'

[@linz8291]

There are some aspects, 1. floating/cloud/moving city-sized motherships. 2. as first step to extroplanets terraforming process. 3. long-distance space journey and get ready to meet your galactic neighbors in any time. 4. planet-sized mothership networks.

[@Tangoram]

I hve a fantastic book. Called "Spaceships by Chris Foss". He was the designer of a lot of ships especially for the "Dune" Movie which was never made.

[@wiaf8937]

That background tune is super driven, I love it.

[@samschellhase8831]

8:45 also looks like the generator(?) towers on the Hoover Dam!

[@IrugaZERO]

Nice touch using the Everspace soundtrack for this one!

[@koi1762]

Well of course! On the topic of this, another reason to look into skyscrapers and tall structures for inspiration, beacause the load on the structure during acceleration makes the ship essential stand on the ground, having the same architecture load as a tall building

[@DocWolph]

Aside from B5, that one spacedock scene in the Orville (featuring "The Spirit of Fire"), and maybe parts of "Star Wars", I do not recall any franchise/universe have a broad number of ship styles despite having numerous species interacting with each other who would have differing aesthetic, technological/technical, needs/functionality, and cultural biases to direct how they would design their ships. I DO NOT merely mean that every species has their own signature style, Starfleet vs Romulans vs Cardassians vs Klingons, et al. But they you have military ships looking vastly different from freighters, from civilian transports, from government non-combat vessels, and so one and then divided by class and function because they need to, to do their often very different jobs.

[@zenebean]

Holly Jencka's art is just the kind of vibe I've been looking for in ship design! I love how it has both the elegant wing-like radiators and a core inspired by cathedrals without looking overly fragile.

[@anemoneyas]

It's a station rather than a ship, but the Talos 1 from Prey (2017) is a fantastic example of this with it's unique futuristic spin on art deco both inside and out.

[@DigitalJedi]

I've taken a lot of inspiration from structuralism and brutalism in my ship designs, as well as radio towers. Another place I've taken inspiration from is PCB design for some things. I'm just generally a fan of hard lines and angles, and functional looking utility in designs. Modern warships, and especially US and Chinese air craft carriers, are the sort of look I end up with. Big, flat-sided low-poly looking bricks of steel with girders and greebley turrets and antennae sticking out of convenient places.

[@bugfisch7012]

"I'm just generally a fan of hard lines and angles, and functional looking utility in designs." So basicly "Bauhaus" Design/Architecture? I would argue, that most of the SW Empires Design follows the Bauhaus design school. Wich is not too suprising, since the empire is kind of influenced by Germany in the early 20th century^^ The German Tank museum just had a lecture, that (and why) the Tiger Tank is basicly a "Bauhaus" Tank.

[@lewismassie]

4:50 Don't think I've heard many people talk about Revelation Space. Hugely underrated

[@jermiahduddleston4695]

I worked in Devon Tower in OKC for 5 years and every single day I walked into it I imagined it as a ship. It is spectacular.

[@aruspice]

Big ups for mentioning the Nostalgia, one of my favorite ships in sci fi

[@Josua070]

I'm really hoping you'll do a deep dive into LotGH: Die Neue These ships. I mean, you're featuring them quite a lot in your recent videos, so I really want to see a video about them. And I'm requesting this since most that does LotGH-related vids are usually talking about the series itself, or about the ships but in Japanese.

[@TotallyNotAFox]

If I create spaceships in games or as concept art for reference, I always tend to orientate the design on straight daggers and swords to get a cool looking design that's practical. (The Arquitens-class light cruiser from Star Wars is something I really like)

[@nyeti7759]

Superb video, every bit as good as I'd expect from you. I really appreciate how you covered a range of architectural styles and how they can be integrated into spacecraft design.

[@sylak2112]

I think the Forerunner ship at the center of High Charity should have been mentioned. It look a bit of a mix of Eiffel towel and the shanghai one. On a smaller scale, that could totally be a wera real and weird tower/buidling build in a current city to attract tourist.

[@DoktorApplejuceAbridged]

In regards to 6:35 - the ships of the Quarians in Mass Effect were modeled after the Lloyd's building.

[@abbiearcher4716]

If you want a building that looks like a Spaceship, look at the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, which is rumoured to be the inspiration for Thunderbird 3.

[@hoojiwana]

I think it's also the inspiration for the ship at the end of the video! - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@ImperatorZor]

Augustine Mouchot was a french inventor commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III of France who developed the first solar power system in the mid 19th century. It involved a dish a mirrors which was aimed at the sun and reflected light towards a central boiler. It worked, but was not really practical given the expense.

[@SymbioteMullet]

Remember the Alliance warships from Firefly? An angry cityblock in space!

[@resurgam_b7]

Mercury City Tower transforming into the UNSC Mercury was too perfect!

[@DolusVulpes]

Besides architecture, another source of inspiration I really like seeing in sci-fi vehicles is nature. A lot of animals have body plans that work really well when translated to spacecraft and transport ships, particularly among insects, birds, and sea creatures. Similarly, a lot of plants and fungi, and certain molluscs, have body plans that could translate to very nice looking space stations, while still being incredibly defensible.

[@joelker41]

I really enjoyed the Behemoth/Novu from Expanse and Asari dreadnoughts from Mass Effects for symbolism and design. Great ships as well.

[@robertlavery6896]

My favourite ship design is usually just the brick design, Halo's Pillar of Autumn for example.

ALso thanks for mentioning Nostalia for infinity... It is my absolute all time favorite ships of any kind, litterally the most amazing thing to happen to scifi universe imo, from its name, hard scifi elements,its capabilities, its crew, its weird affliction and crazy captain, and transformation... That shit is underrated as fuck.

[@anticlaassic]

Not to mention the cryo-arithmetic engines and hypometric weaponry. (Also bladder mines bc funny name)

[@padawanmage71]

The Eagle fighters from ‘Space: 1999’ also have their own design aesthetic, especially with the external girders around the main module.

[@weldonwin]

Really, the Eagles were taking their design cues from actual space craft. I mean, they are very much what now gets called NASA-Punk, and are a pretty realistic design

[@TheTrueAdept]

Depends on the style of universe you're going for, really. If your spaceships are basically produced like _cars_ then you'll need to minimize the flashiness of the designs if you're using more 'traditional' production methods, to give an example. While the settings I'm working on don't have that level of production, they tend to be very 'plain' compared to others. A spaceship every few months at war-pace is pretty quick compared to most.

[@jakobschoning7355]

That moment when you claim that you cant see any gothic styling on a 4km Ship after talking about Warhammer, where some of the flying cathedrals are ridiculously huge with over 20km on the biggest ones

[@Raygun9000]

Depends on the author! But 8km minimum is an accepted Battleship length. You do have the mega stuff from the heresy however (is any of that stuff still around in 40k?).

[@ledocteur7701]

the difference is that 40k ships are basically upscaled version of the smaller ones (whish isn't a critic btw, I did the same thing in my sci-fi setting.), so the details are still easily visible, were as that 4km ship has details that are the same size as they would be on a much smaller vessel, so it just kinda blends in and isn't as obvious anymore.

[@Tullaryx]

@@Raygun9000 If you're talking about the Gloriana-class battleships that each Legion had then yes, some still survive right up to 40k. Then there are the Ark Mechanicus ships that blends both Gothic architecture and the brutalism style mentioned in the video. Ark Mechanicus shap 8-10 km long with some the size of an entire continental plate (Speranza).

[@Raygun9000]

@@Tullaryx there's always the Ramillies starforts. They are mobile(kinda). A ludicrously massive abbey complex.

[@Tullaryx]

@@Raygun9000 As big as they are, Glorianas can take them out due to the Astartes they have on-board just boarding them. Also, some Glorianas have the one weapon even Aeldari and other races fear: Nova Cannon.

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Now I want to see the Sydney Opera House fitted with an FTL drive & a super laser.

[@canti288]

Can I just say, your vids are what I've been looking for on youtube for a long time. Mostly because they discuss topics that are on the Atomic Rockets website, and more short form than Isaac Arthur who is also an awesome content creator. Getting into the gritty detail that others just glance over, and not skimping on crucial elements like heat management and what truly impacts a ship

[@Aederex]

Not architecture, but in a similar vein there's the art of Eric Geusz, who makes gorgeous spaceships out of ordinary object like can openers, ice cream scoops, electric razors, etc. There's a LOT of thought and effort that goes into making commercial products look appealing to consumers, and that translates remarkably well to spaceships.

[@jacksonhoiland2664]

Wow, this just kickstarted my imagination and it actually seems like it could lead to really cool designs. Thanks for the ideas.

[@machcrs]

The alliance from firefly has awesome ships that look like buildings or cities. Love those

[@JustAnotheNeoSilver]

Had to chuckle when you mentioned using broadcast towers as inspiration. The little known BBC series Hyperdrive actually did just that, basing the HMS Camden Lock (and its sister ships) on the BT Tower in London.

[@Rasc0117]

Shout out to the channel Morphologis where he, a real life architect, has a series where he reviews ships from Star Citizen. Star Citizen might be a controversial game but they know how to build ships. If I want to go on a space adventure, it would be onboard the 400i or the Mercury Star Runner.

[@Numba003]

I watched The Black Hole recently, and while I did enjoy the spooky ship design, I was pretty underwhelmed by the movie as a whole. Thanks for another nifty video! Merry Christmas out there everybody! ✝️🎄

[@thecruzking]

i've always like the Art-deco/city of tomorrow look (like the look from the animated superman show.) i'd love to see a star ship inspired by that look.

[@eazy8579]

I’d love to see a ship drawn from Greco-Roman Gallies and Norse Longships; I feel like that would be pretty cool

[@henryfleischer404]

I like the idea for using art deco inspirations for ships. Maybe I'll make the fusion powered League Of Nations ships in my game have that style. The older, Orion drive powered ships have a design based only on practicality, basically a giant pistol bullet covered in radiators, PDCs, and missiles, with the engine at the flat end, and a railgun sticking out a few degrees off of straight ahead. The whole ship was painted bright yellow to denote it's allegiance.

[@dantetre]

It was good to hear the Everspace music again in the background. :D

[@Potrimpo]

The funny thing is you mentioned the engines being away from the habitable sections of the ship. And seeing the warp drive away from the rest of the ship on Star Trek.

[@anticlaassic]

The nostalgia for infinity is probably my absolute favorite interstellar Starship of all time. The idea of a ship big enought to have whole derrilict partitions that are like the wilderness in more than a few ways is just sooooo incredible.

[@LeoFieTv]

The Outer Worlds has a lot of Art Deco and Art Noveau going on in it's design and does a Firefly with it, combining it with realistic and practical stuff as well as soulless corporate design.

[@Edge-wx7hv]

TranStar Station from the new Prey is quite an excellent application of Art Deco style, though being a space station its a bit more of an actual office tower but in space.

[@ShawnHCorey]

Most spaceships are going to end up tall. That's because anything that is not directly over the rockets will have to be cantilevered. Ships will look like towers or skyscrapers. Cargo ships will be based on the size of the standard shipping container. There is so much equipment based on handling standard shipping containers that it will follow humans into space.

[@TheAchilles26]

I could also see ships being bullet shaped, either for aesthetics, or in the case of warships because curved armor is better protection/survivability than sharp corners. Although I suppose you could argue that this would still be tower-like, given round towers exist

[@ShawnHCorey]

@@TheAchilles26 If you're talking warships, don't forget the most power weapon a ship has is its rockets. They move the ship thru space. They are the most powerful system on the ship. And if focused on another ship, they can have devastating results.

[@erikschaal4124]

Asteroid mining ship= just strap some engines onto the Asteroid.

[@TheAchilles26]

@@ShawnHCorey the effective range and capacity for target tracking on those makes them nigh useless as offensive weapons between spacecraft

[@arsmariastarlight3567]

Bentusi vessels from Homeworld series is a good example of spaceships inspired by buildings, especially their tradeships, with internal cavity literally lined with bright neon lights and Japanese-esque malls of Akihabara Talos-1 station from Prey is literally retro skyscrapers as gigantic space station

[@GoldSabre]

6:16 the Mercuty City Tower is basically the exact same as Orion class destroyers in Freespace 1 & 2 :)

[@commandoepsilon4664]

8:49 That ship looks amazing! It's like Big Ben grew wings and is coming to kill you! I love it!

[@lachlanpollard5938]

was surprised no mention of the big ships in Jupiter ascending, basically a big church in space used as a church

[@Just_Some_Person]

In my opinion, this channel should have more views

[@everything-narrative]

I like explicitly taking the rank hierarchy names from the Air Force, and using air force nomenclature for unit organization (wings, squadrons, etc.) Also if I'm writing hard sci-fi, the ships are flying skyscrapers and combat happens at thousands of kilometers.

[@CelvinKetzer]

Very nice video :) I'm at the moment creating a rts which needs a visual style and I was thinking about using e.g. ancient greek architecture and navy designs for it. Thanks for making me not feel stupid about it :D

[@charleybabb3223]

Art Deco is great, and given that it was directly inspired by streamlined vehicles, it makes sense to have it in spaceships