Architecture in Malaszec
Within Malaszec are many cities of various ages. Older cities like Dorovec contain historic neighborhoods with buildings from centuries ago that still stand. Some of faerie cities are entirely inaccessible to big people, as they were not built with cohabitation in mind. The increased cohabitation in modern times has led to intersize design, which takes safety in mind. The Urban Green is another architectural style originating in Malaszec, which developed as a reaction to the fall of the Malaszec People’s Republic and a desire to reduce pollution. In modern architecture, there is significant interplay between the ideas of each philosophy.
Intersize design
Due to the cohabitation of faeries and the larger non-faeries in the modern era, buildings are built with this in mind. This is known as intersize design. Buildings for non-faeries can often be retrofitted with faerie-accessible designs, but this is not the case for buildings that start off as faerie-only buildings. Because of this, new big-accessible city centers were created near formerly all-faerie cities. Often these new city centers and the old city grow into each other over time, forming a big city with a faerie-only historical city center and residential zone, a mixed transition zone, and the newer intersize developments.
A prominent example of intersize architecture is faerie zoning for otherwise very large residential buildings. Intersize-zoned buildings generally contain one or two floors or mezzanine levels with housing for faeries, which have a smaller size footprint. In more economical residences, units are cramped and high density, like public housing. In more upscale areas, faerie levels contain additional amenities like swimming pools, local markets, and community centers all in the same floor.
Safety is a critical consideration in intersize design, as the small size of the faerie may be hard to see for the big people. One simple safety feature often seen is the urban faerie garden, flower beds in front of faerie doorways large enough that big people avoid. These serve not only as safe staging areas for faeries to take flight, but can also function as urban farms.
The Urban Green
An
architectural style popular in Malaszec’s elven cities is the Urban
Green, a synthesis between the economical, utilitarian styles of the
Communist era and new ideas of eco-friendly design. It was created as a
reaction to the formation of federal Malaszec, which sought to
differentiate itself from the Communist past while utilizing any
leftover pieces it could. The biggest complaint by urban dwellers,
especially in the north, was the pervasive pollution that came out of
factories, which the Communist government built a lot of. With the
advancements to renewable energy, buildings were designed with the
placement of solar panels and vegetation in mind. Sloping designs were
popular because not only were great for putting solar panels on, but
they were also good for sun-heated water tanks and provide a good view
for security cameras without having to sacrifice visual cohesiveness.
These new designs were initially well received, receiving commendations for its commitment to sustainable development. As the style matured, developers wanted to maximize the energy output that their buildings could generate while still following municipal building codes. This led to a phenomenon where windows became smaller and smaller as the surface area was repurposed for more solar panels. A criticism made by opponents to this phenomenon was that while these buildings would look excellent from the outside, they often felt more like prisons on the inside due to the lack of windows. Combined with the fact that most housing is corporate-assigned and therefore claustrophobic multi-tenant buildings (including faerie-sized mezzanines), living inside is less than ideal.
Hostile Architecture
An important facet of designing buildings in Malaszec is hostile architecture (also known as defensive architecture), which aims to stop people from doing things you don’t want them to do near your building. For example, the benches in bus shelters are often built at a slight incline or bisected by planters to prevent people from sleeping there. Lights built near floor level provide visibility at night but also prevent floor sleepers. Roofs of shelters discourage loiterers with gaps in it which lets rain and leaves fall on you if you’re not in the correct spots. Municipal law in many cities also requires some kind of barrier on high rooftops to prevent people from injuring themselves, accidentally or intentionally.