WIP: Cozy Keep

[Green-Pilgrim]

So I've been playing around with a small keep idea for a while. I think I've even posted some stabs at ideas on here a few times and this is another incarnation. The basic premise is that this would be a small keep situated near a moderate sized village. It would be large enough for the local lord and his family to live within as well as a respectable number of servants and guards.

Step 1: Concept and Previz.



As this is a keep, the idea is that the buildings that comprise the structure would be situated to create an internal space that would be secured from attack. Rather than in a full castle or purely military structure, the 'cozy keep' uses the walls of its own buildings as the first (and last) in its defenses. Using the space between the watch tower (a) and the stables (d), a psuedo-barbican is created that would monitor who could enter the keep and provide at least a minimum degree of security should they ever come under siege. The smithy (i) lies just inside the courtyard and is braced against the barracks (H). The left wing of the keep (E) would house the great hall and some other rooms with the right wing (g) would house some of the servant's quarters and such.


Previz (thank god for sketchup) gives me a sense of how high the various buildings are in the structure. Most of the side buildings are only a story tall where as the two wings are two stories and the keep is three with a sort of smaller structure on top.



The structure would, conceptually, be totally whitewashed to give it the appearance of being a new, clean and solid structure with roofs covered in either slate, tile or something non-thatch like.

I'll be adding floor plans soon but what do ya'll think?

-GP

[Larb]

I think it looks good. I am assuming the keep is meant to be comfortable while providing at least some defensive value. (the outer walls of all the buildings are probably going to be thicker, btw!)

The roof part of a (romanesque-style) keep is usually sunk in to the structure on stone corbels so that you wouldn't see it or would only see part of it. The way you have your keep currently means you need a lot of load bearing walls to hold up the roof structure in the middle so you end up with a sort of arcade or corridor around a central room that gets less light on the floors below. It still works of course but it might be worth looking at the roof of norman stone keeps if you are aiming for something more like that aesthetically.

Sketchup is so awesome for mocking up building ideas!

[Green-Pilgrim]

Howdy Larb,

Yup - the keep is basically a 'cheap keep' that's situated near an already established settlement. The exterior walls would all be something around 3-5 feet in thickness to provide a degree of protection from siege.

After looking at the model and reading your comments, you're right - The actual tops of the buildings would probably not look like the design in the Sketchup. The idea would be that the tops of the main building and the corner tower would be equipped with crenelations so that the defenders could position themselves up there and fire down upon the attackers. The idea for the central structure on the roof was just a stab at covering the stairs that would lead down.

I could always go with a conical roof. hrm.



Can still shoot out of it, covered from the weather. Would fit for the tower at least.

-GP

[Green-Pilgrim]

Step 2: Basic Walls & Wall Thickness



Just a first pass at the basic wall thicknesses at play within the "Cozy Keep". It's been a long day but i wanted to get something posted.

All external walls are 2 'blocks' thick and internal walls are only 1 'block'. Assuming that each block is 3' (for this example), then the external walls are about 6 feet and internal walls are 3. I know that with Norman Style fortresses that this would be around the norm (ha ha) for external wall thicknesses - just not sure if they were 'thinned down' for internal ones.

Thoughts?

Observations?

-GP