Welcome to the City of Astoid!
Get ready for an awesome tour of our underground utopia. The city has three queens – Naddy, Trevor and Bai. Today, Queen Naddy will be your guide.
Just a quick background info:
The Astoidians are a scientifically-advanced race of humans who were born from the depths and flourished living underground. The city is powered by the Astoid stone, comes in both black and silver colours which they harvested and mined from the depths.
They created a megastructure hub for its citizens to gather known as the Arch, which is a massive spiral structure made up of many repeating molecular looking units of energy-storing spheres and energy-absorbing solar panel.
Constructed strategically under a system of crevices, the solar panels absorb the rays of light seeping through the crevices from the ground above (gaps between stairs) in the morning, and radiates it out through the complex highway system at night to provide luminance and warmth to the whole city.
In a quest for efficiency and perfection, the Astodians realised that they could expand this energy-harvesting systems, thus renovating all their homes (habitats) into extensions of the Arch, allowing for more light to be absorbed and gaining more energy to use for science.
our location
We have specifically picked the space below ADM level 2’s staircase as it conceals/hide our city very well and people can only see it if they come underneath. We also wanted to give sort of a spider’s cobweb feel where the city has been there for a long time and the highway (strings) and habitats (silver modules) keeps on increasing as time goes by and more citizens move in/are born.
Hub
The hub in the City of Astoid, called the Arch is made up of 2 curved planes each made up of expanded molecule structures. Each module in the Hub is spray painted black individually then connected by attaching the aluminium twirls together. The aluminium pieces of each module when placed together accented the metal motif which is the dominant motif of our soundtrack.
The black painted spherical part of the module allows for the plane to be more cohesive with the space we have chosen while also providing contrast from the habitat that is metallically layered. The two planes of the hub forms a symbolic loop where the tapered end of one plane flows seamlessly into the non-tapered end of the other plane, this creates a void contained within the two planes.
A closed feedback loop provides symbolisms of life and energy, which is what the hub provides for the entire city: In context, the black spheres are the energy-storage devices while the metallic twirls are the energy-capturing solar panels, and the Arch functions as a massive reservoir that absorbs sunlight seeping in from the crevice above and stores it for the city’s use.
habitat
Made to be extensions of the hub, the habitats are made using the same molecular modules but a smaller size. The habitats are located at varying distances expanding the city to the entire obscure space. Each module was individually painted metallic silver which represents our bells from out soundtrack.
The habitats are constructed in a pyramid format which provides two layers of symbolism: firstly with regards to our track, it symbolises the progression of the notes made by the xylophone, which is of three harmonious notes. Secondly, with regards to the context of the city, the pyramidal shape is thought to be a symbolism of the descending rays of sunlight by the Ancient Egyptians.
As such, it ties in with our concept of our city being sunlight-absorbing structures, pyramids are also believed to have the ability to channel energy from above due to its reverse funnel shape. The habitats allowed for the voids within the space to be filled with a little spark. The reflective surface allows for the backlight to be cast onto the highway made out of translucent threads.
highway
Spanning across both ends of the obscure space, the highway serves as the bridge for all the modules in the city. Constructed strategically under a system of crevices, the reflective highway reflects the rays of light seeping through the crevices from the ground above(gaps between stairs) in the morning, and radiates it out through the entire highway system at night to provide luminance and warmth to the whole city.
nighttime
In the night, the City of Astoid illuminates from the light it has absorbed during the day enough to provide warmth and light for its citizens. The city officials have also equipped its citizens and visitor with a special ray that allows for them to light up the city and find navigate their way through. Blue lights are used for Astoid citizens whereas white lights are for visitors. This is important as the visitors would need extra brightness in order to not get lost in the city’s complex highway system.
