Modeling History: Recreating the Fairmont Royal York with a Dystopian Edge

[Music] the Fairmont Royal York Hotel built in 1929 by the Canadian Pacific Railway was for a Time the tallest building in the British Empire originally conceived as a grand Railway Hotel it served as a luxurious stopover for travelers arriving in Union Station the hotel's classic architecture is a Living testament to the Past glamour of Canadian rail travel and the next dystopic land Mark to be added to the union project let's get [Music] started as with past projects I began working on the rail York hotel by determining its basic size using Google Maps Google Earth and photographs after sketching the main shapes of the hotel I realized its 900 mm height was nearly twice as tall as my backdrop to capture its Essence I applied selective compression and reduced the building's height by almost half as this is only a background structure I wanted to experiment with a process that could create visually compelling background structures that are only a few millim thick and relatively easy to build I decided that using layers of laser cut Crystal board would be a quicker way to capture the details of the building without having to construct the entire structure the hotel features a significant amount of ornamentation which I didn't want to spend excessive time reproducing therefore I simplified the forms and ornamentation into basic shapes through trial and error I developed a plan to assemble the building using seven different layers of card stock and one additional layer for details the first layer of the building was laser cut black foam core I chose foam core due to concerns I had about bristol board warping since the final building was larger than the laser cutters footprint I divided each layer into four quadrants and assembled them individually to maintain rigidity in the first foam core layer I use glue and aluminum tape to assemble the individual quadrants with the foam core layer assembled and painted I began cutting priming and painting each building layer I lightly primed the bristol board with spray paint given cardboards tendency to Wick moisture and warp easily I hoped that a light coat of enamel paint would make it more impervious the window Mion and Frames were painted a dark brown and the visible Stone sections were painted with a light creamy color once each of the window mions were dry I glued strips of acetate sheet behind the windows to create a glazing and then primed the backs of that plastic with a flat primer to avoid gluing each layer together with water-based adhesives I sprayed the backs with a solvent base glue similar to rubber cement this prevented any warping or buckling and allowed me to reposition each layer before it had fully cured as I added each layer I strategically airbrushed my standard weathering solution a mixture of rubbing alcohol and India ink onto parts of the building that would typically be further away from the viewer I focused on areas that could have a weathering build build up as well as other areas to help increase the visual contrast and create the illusion of [Music] depth I painted the roof with a soft green color to mimic the appearance of oxidized [Music] [Music] copper as each layer was applied I added additional weathering using the airbrush to exaggerate the layers and increase some contrast with all the layers assembled I allowed nature to reclaim the building and added ground foam to represent overgrowth and Vines [Music] with the main structure weathered I finish the sign on top of the [Music] building I experimented with a series of painting techniques as I wanted the sign to appear if it was glowing red the final step was to use a white roller ball pen to represent the glowing bulbs inside each of the red letter forms I added a few bits of vegetation let everything dry thoroughly and then added the building to the layout I am very happy with how this structure turned out and I like the depth it creates despite its meager 5mm thickness moving forward I'm confident I can create various background buildings especially the ominous black towers of the financial district the Fairmont roal York completely transforms the area designated for Union state and casts a menacing Shadow across the platforms below thanks for stopping by I'll see you next time