Cloud City Spires – Austin Bunton Designs

These are the skyscrapers up on/in Inisfree’s artificial ‘moon’.

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Table of Contents:

Introduction
Dimensions & Layout
Tally
Special Features
Location (Images Begin)
Views
Inside
At Night
2022 Update: Scale-model in Minecraft
2023 Update: Location & Model of the Room for the Global Congress

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Introduction:

Reaching up from the topside main deck (‘ground level’) of Cloud City II, a few hundred feet inside its outermost ledge opening up to the Inisfreean sky, are the spires of this construct. Like minarets, these smooth, cylindrical, slightly concave skyscrapers stand between 10 and 130 stories tall (100 and 1,300 feet). Many of them are wide enough for AIOWs and rooms, if not also suites and penthouses, which guests are welcome to stay in.

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Dimensions & Layout:

The ratio of height to base diameter of these spires is usually 10/1; a 1,300′ tall spire, for example, will usually have a base at least 130′ in diameter, while a 100′ tall spire will have a base with a diameter of 10′.

Some spires rise up from the walkways and greenbelts of this part of Cloud City II, while others rise up from the rooftops of the boxier-looking buildings.

With their zone including about 9,726,464 square feet of floor-space (on ‘ground level’; where their foundations are), there is plenty of room for ~a hundred of the larger (1,300′ tall) spires (normal skyscrapers), and ~a thousand of the medium- and small-sized (100′ tall) spires (sub-high-rise heights).

No spires’ bases span across the width of the G.A.H., though, so it is over that ring of superhighway that no spires rise at all.

Dozens of sky-bridges connect many of them in different places, and in an overall pattern which rotates 90° every quadrant.

See the following section for individual-building dimensions.

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Tally:

The following are the counts of Cloud City II spires/skyscrapers (and high-rises) based on the scale-model built in Minecraft.

1 block (high-rises): 28
1.5 blocks tall: 23
2.5 blocks tall: 14
3 blocks tall: 21
4 blocks tall: 14
6.5 blocks tall: 12
7 blocks tall: 12
11 blocks tall: 12
13 blocks tall: 12
15 blocks tall: 8
17 blocks tall: 1
(18 blocks tall with Observatory?)
Total: 157

(thus at least 157 AIOWs; at least 1 in each of these buildings, all of which extend all the way down into Cloud City II’s lower hemisphere; to the suites and hangars, etc.)

Here are the conversions of Minecraft scale-model blocks-height to floors/stories:

1 block tall 146′; 14 stories, ~20′-diameter base, 1 ~5′-diameter AIOW (with just a spiral staircase + a climbing rope in the middle)
1.5 blocks tall 219′; 21 stories, ~25′-diameter base, 1 ~7′-diameter AIOW (with just a spiral staircase + a ~4′-wide (standard elevator size) service-lift/platform in the middle)
2.5 blocks tall 365′; 36 stories, ~35′-diameter base, 1 ~7′-diameter AIOW (with just a spiral staircase + a ~4′-wide service-lift/platform in the middle)
3 blocks tall 438′; 43 stories, ~40′-diameter base, 1 ~7′-diameter AIOW (with just a spiral staircase + a ~4′-wide service-lift/platform in the middle)
4 blocks tall 584′; 58 stories, ~60′-diameter base, 1 ~15′-diameter AIOW (with a spiral staircase, a ladder, a climbing rope, and 2 ~4′-wide service lift/platforms)
6.5 blocks tall 949′; 94 stories, ~95′-diameter base, 1 ~15′-diameter AIOW (with a spiral staircase, a ladder, a climbing rope, and 2 ~4′-wide service lifts/platforms)
7 blocks tall 1,022′; 102 stories, ~100′-diameter base, 3 ~15′-diameter AIOW (with a spiral staircase, a ladder, a climbing rope, and 2 ~4′-wide service lifts/platforms; 6 total)
11 blocks tall 1,606′; 160 stories, ~160′-diameter base, 4 ~15′-diameter AIOW (with a spiral staircase, a ladder, a climbing rope, and 2 ~4′-wide service lifts/platforms; 8 total)
13 blocks tall 1,898′; 189 stories, ~190′-diameter base, 8 ~15′-diameter AIOW (with a spiral staircase, a ladder, a climbing rope, and 2 ~4′-wide service lifts/platforms; 16 total)
15 blocks tall 2,190′; 219 stories, ~220′-diameter base, 12 ~15′-diameter AIOW (with a spiral staircase, a ladder, a climbing rope, and 2 ~4′-wide service lifts/platforms; 24 total)
(comparable to Burj Khalifa, which has 57 elevators, but no AIOWs; fewer elevators in our skyscrapers, but more ways to go up and down, plus aircraft-bays available, and many people can fly)
17 blocks tall 2,482′; 248 stories, ~250′-diameter base, 16 ~15′-diameter AIOW (with a spiral staircase, a ladder, a climbing rope, and 2 ~4′-wide service lifts/platforms; 32 total)

Multiplying the AIOWs by the number of corresponding building sizes, we get:

1 block tall: 1 AIOW x 28 buildings = 28 AIOWs
1.5 blocks tall: 1 AIOW x 23 buildings = 23 AIOWs
2.5 blocks tall: 1 AIOW x 14 buildings = 14 AIOWs
3 blocks tall: 1 AIOW x 21 buildings = 21 AIOWs
4 blocks tall: 1 AIOW x 14 buildings = 14 AIOWs
6.5 blocks tall: 1 AIOW x 12 buildings = 12 AIOWs
7 blocks tall: 3 AIOW x 12 buildings = 36 AIOWs
11 blocks tall: 4 AIOW x 12 buildings = 48 AIOWs
13 blocks tall: 8 AIOW x 12 buildings = 96 AIOWs
15 blocks tall: 12 AIOW x 8 buildings = 96 AIOWs
17 blocks tall: 16 AIOW x 1 building = 16 AIOWs
Total: 404 AIOWs connect the tops of Cloud City II’s taller buildings to its many levels (suites and hangars) in the lower hemisphere.

Sky-bridges:

28 that are 1-long; 146′ between skyscrapers, ~50′ wide, ~30′ tall (3 stories)
4 that are 2-long, all connected to the central spire; 292′ between skyscrapers, x ~50′ wide, ~40′ tall (4 stories)
central hallway in each, always 1 floor down from its top
suites (with personal hover-vehicle bay/garage), lounges, etc. in each
topside walkway on each
numerous smaller skybridges not shown in the model

These sky-bridges do not include the kind of hanging residences found in downtown-Inisfree.

As stated in the previous section, in addition to these 157 taller buildings of Cloud City II, this massive floating town-like vessel also has a thousand or so 1-story and 2-story individual shop/store-sized buildings scattered about their bases; 6 or 7 around/near the ‘footprint’ of each high-rise and skyscraper up here, with some just being by themselves along the nearby beaches and ponds.

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Special Features:

Hundreds of these spires have groups of crystals orbiting them at even intervals in ring formations halfway up their necks or higher. These serve as the majority of Cloud City II’s streetlights, often glowing an inviting sky-blue color. With the landscaping up here on Cloud City II, some of which is bioluminescent, the combined effects make for a most pleasant evening and nightfall every single time.

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Location: