Alethi Architecture?

[Stirlzzz]

Alethi Architecture: what does it look like? Do we have any WOB or textual evidence on Alethi Architecture? Or do you have any opinions?

I am thinking of doing a painting of Kholinar, as there doesnt appear to be any definitive fanart of it. I have found some descriptions of the windblades, their strata, and the ways that the walls of the city are built onto them. But I havent found any description of the actual architecture. small towns have the stormward slanted roofs, but the houses in kholinar shouldnt need that.

We definitely know that its mostly stone. When Dalinar visits Thaylen city his descriptions of the columns and domes makes one picture greece, and the fact that this feels foreign to him kinda rules out a greco-roman look to kholinar.

The sturdy, stone architecture of ancient Mesopotamia feels right if theres no evidence pointing anywhere else. reconstructions of Babylon or Assur and that kind of thing, but made grander and more fantastical .

[I Am A Fish he/him]

A few things, @Stirlzzz 

We know that religious artwork would be commonplace, and there is a heavy emphasis on symmetry so you may want to include that.

We can see some Kharbranthian architecture here:

Spoiler

 

Most buildings, even in Kholinar, would probably be relatively low down.

The Alethi warcamps seem to be semi-European in design.

Spoiler

 Honestly though, we don't get an incredible amount of insight into the architecture so I'd use what you have, and not worry to much about it.

[PiedPiper she/her]

This, from a WoK prime reading, all describing the same room but giving a lot of helpful details. Much of the book is non-cannonical now, but I can't imagine he's made a lot of big changes regarding architecture:

Quote

He analyzed his surroundings with a quick glance. He was in a long rectangular chamber set with beds along both walls. The room was set with stone pillars and the windows were shaped with triangular peaks. In fact, the architecture had a great number of angles and lines. He was probably in the Alethi section of the city.

...

There were two long doors leading out of the room and the windows provided an alternative exit. They looked wide enough to be broken with relative ease.

Also, @I Am A Fish I'm not sure Kharbranthian architecture will be comparable, because while they're both Vorin cities, they still have very different cultures -- e.g. Alethi are more war-like and Kharbranth is an academic city. That might not necessarily affect architecture, but it's an example of a major, very obvious difference and I'd be surprised if there weren't many more.

As for being semi-European in design -- not sure I agree with that either, seeing as he's set precedent for cultural influence by pulling more from the Middle East/eastern Asia in terms of influence.

I do agree about them being low down to protect from highstorms, but I'll add to that: most tall buildings will probably have slanted sides facing toward the origin. For example, we know the palace is absolutely huge, so it probably incorporates some of these safeguards.

Edited August 3, 2020 by PiedPeterPiper

[Quantus he/him]

The problem is that Im not sure we have any great examples of current Alethi design.  Most of the capital is inherited from the radiant era and they arent even sure how it was built, while the modern post-unification era has been almost entirely dominated by the seat of power moving to the warcamps, which have a sharply utilitarian bent and a lot of prince-to-prince variation.  The best example might be the affluent area's of the capital, if we got good looks at those.  They're more likely to be contemporary construction, and to try to aim for the cultural ideals more than pure utilitarian Highstorm protection and simplistic soulcaster limits. 

[I Am A Fish he/him]

5 hours ago, PiedPeterPiper said:

As for being semi-European in design -- not sure I agree with that either, seeing as he's set precedent for cultural influence by pulling more from the Middle East/eastern Asia in terms of influence.

Yes, but the buildings in the drawings, while still greatly simplified, are very much reminiscent of European architecture (Sebarial does mention that roofs in his warcamp are rounded.)

5 hours ago, Quantus said:

Most of the capital is inherited from the radiant era and they aren't even sure how it was built.

That is a very good point. @Stirlzzz If you're drawing Kholinar, I would not look at modern Alethi architecture, but instead look towards the radiant era. Dalinar's visions confirm that it hasn't changed much.