May 17 + 18, 2011
THE WEEPING GATE
The removal of the upper floors to the Library of Darkrodin
Due to the low number of prims available for use on the sim, the upper floors of the Library of Darkrodin were taken into inventory today. The old build had been the first location of hunts on ACC Alpha, housed a display of readable books, and a collection of artwork. The Library which sprawled over the Plateau of Man park, now affords open sky above the gardens.
The complex build of over 800 prims was collected in 31 linked batches for inventory. The original camel tour was also removed. But the price to pay was for a reason. As I’ve been participating in the UWA art challenges, I need the prims for my sculptures. Having rezzed my most recent work on the calm North Shore of the sim, I built a large stone background to help frame the piece. The frame became so intriguing to me, that I kept developing it until a viable architectural build in its own right emerged. The new gate was so large and inviting, that I wanted to see if I could make some interior space for it, even though the structure hugs the side of a cliff. The solution struck me to hollow a tunnel thru the cliff into the interior space of the subterranean level of the Library of Darkrodin. The link was challenging but successful. Terraforming in such a densely developed area presented numerous barriers. There was no land to see over the city when in bulldozer mode, so I had to go to the bottom of the sea. Placing cube prims over the city scape to delineate a path for the tunnel, I then sunk them on Z axis below the sea to mark where the land needed to be chiseled away. It was a sandwich: ocean and land below, city and park between, and rezzed cubes above to show the path necessary to cut the tunnel. Next, I lined the walls in crystal, and refer to this tunnel as the Ice Cave.
Ironically, the placement of my sculpture “Immortal Blue” (which used 100 prims, and was the cause of my need to take drastic measures in recycling prims), was soon after replaced by another statue I’d purchased of a woman reading books... appropriate for the entry to a library. To commemorate the architecture of the library, the original dome was placed atop the new Weeping Gate. (Weeping refers to the giant old weeping willow tree that has always been in this area, combined with the sadness I felt at removing the original library). In this way, the old style is partially preserved, and gives an interesting look, as it hovers above the first dome I’d made for the gate. It produces a semblance of layering of domes.
