Regarding Public Buildings: The Schloss

[Salzie Sachertorte]

The fact that the Schloss is still here and seems to have survived the rampage intact has raised many questions and much confusion in everyone's mind as to who exactly owns the Schloss and under what type of arrangement it was paid for. As there are more pressing issues, this is on the backburner. But if you have any insights to this situation, please post in this thread and let us all know.

[Dianne]

My understanding is that it is a really tall unfinished building on the hill called the Schloss.

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

To the best of my knowledge, the Schloss is a structure contracted by Ulrika to Kendra, and was on Ulrika's land.

I would suggest to contact Kendra (and eventually Ulrika) to take a copy of that structure, since that land now is "public commons", but the Schloss has no practical purpose now.

Historically, that bit of town used to have the old "Senate room" on top of a round tower. This was where the RA used to sit in session. When the casino on the Marktplatz was replaced by the current Rathaus, Ulrika was given permission to buy that parcel, provided that she created a Schloss there. She had announced that this would be a combination of her home, her shop, and the physical location for her workshop (including space for her Journeymen and Apprentices). With her leaving the city, the structure is now empty of purpose.

Also, I happen to have seen (informal) proposals for remodelling that section of the town (I hope the proponents will have time to post here the 'formal' proposal soon!) which will certainly remove the Schloss.

[Nikki]

At this week's Guild Meeting I brought up the topic of the castle that is above Neufreistadt called the Schloss.

It was decided I could inquire to see if others are also interested in talking about the future of the Neufreistadter Schloss, and if this is the case then it would be possible for us to make a task force to discuss it further.

Such a discussion would include the fact that this castle is the creation of a few different people already. Among those I know of are Kendra Bancroft who started it and Samantha Fuller who has put a lot of work into it. I would like to acknowledge them for what they have done so far, and would also like to invite them to be included in conversations about its future.

Another issue to make clear is that the Schloss would not be removed or structurally revised until at least one alternative plan was presented and approved by the Chancellor, which as I understand it is required by the CDS Constitution. It would be my wish that the Representative Assembly (RA) also agree to such a plan before it came into effect, and possibly even that there be a referendum of the Neufreistadt landowners to determine their level of support for making such an important change in the character of this public area. In addition to these precautions, anything removed would be maintained in an archive for historical preservation.

Please let me know if you would like to join in a task force to discuss the Schloss further. To me it seems best to include anyone who would like to participate whether they own land in the CDS or not, but of course that idea itself can also be discussed. If there is a common interest in this subject we will try to find a time for everyone to meet.

Nikki

[Salzie Sachertorte]

I would be interested in helping with this.

[Arria Perreault]

I totally agree with this project. I will just report here the remark that I have made at the last Guild meeting. Our sims will continuously change, like the real world. Because our world is made of pixels, we don't consider that this world has different steps and evolve. Because I have studied archeaology, I am really interested to build archives about the history of our sims. So if we build again the Schloss or make some changes, we have to keep a "souvenir" of the ancient version (pictures, snapshots, etc...). This principle should be general.

[Jon Seattle]

[quote="Arria Perreault":1qcm3opq]Because I have studied archeaology, I am really interested to build archives about the history of our sims. So if we build again the Schloss or make some changes, we have to keep a "souvenir" of the ancient version (pictures, snapshots, etc...). This principle should be general.[/quote:1qcm3opq]I agree with this. Not only to keep a record but also to have something to put back in case we later decide we have launched our new design in the wrong direction. I have had to do this from time to time with my own builds.

[Jo Sapeur]

I've formed a habit of putting old clubs, homes etc. into automated rezzing utilities like [url=http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?n ... 7:37o3p12n]Rez-Faux[/url:37o3p12n] and sharing them with friends, respectively, all those who were sufficiently involved. This way I always have a backup of all important works and can rez a building for demonstrational purposes on the fly.

[Tanoujin Milestone]

"The increasing use of firearms in the 15th century led to substancial changes in building method. The change from the castle to the "Schloss", although this is only broadly true […], is a change from the home that needed to be defended to the dwelling of the nobility or ruler which could no longer be directly defended. Defence was moved out to fortresses […]. Some little used castles became the nucleus of new fortresses" Friedel /Großmann

Could the "Schloss" (after documentation) be replaced with a castle? Rothenburg has been built on the foundations of a castle, but its structure is unknown except the parts left as one of the city gates - we would have to look for other examples.

If the community wants a castle, we should consider the typical components of such a building and place them on a model of the available space:

Main tower, walls & gates & additional towers, upper courtyard with palas, lower courtyard, well/cistern, stables and additional buildings.

Notes: (source burgus.de, J. Wegmann)
Main tower: not habitable, containing a guardroom, high entrance, ground floor may be a dungeon.
Ground plans: square 50%, circle 33 %. (Octagon?;). Hight: 12-40m. Position relative to castle walls: any, even outside.

Walls: no reason to reinvent the weel - can we have the mason mark of Dianne once more? Dianne, with all respect: I am sorry you left, and i know we have no master-apprentice system here, but regardless wether NFS will have a castle or not, please could you run a class and hand it down. 14 prims per section, right? Be the grey eminence of the city walls – take the honour and the fee and a veto right, how could anyone dare to imitate your work? (And how could it be ignored if we add a structure such close related to it?)
Ground plans: according to local geography, rectangular where possible. Hight 5-12m.

Palas: Hall(s), fireplace(s) store and residental 2-3 floors, upper courtyard, wall integration

Ok, this is descriptive, could be a discussion base. More to think about: possible extension to the east in the far future, and what is the use of it? Imprison noisy immigrants there?

[michelmanen]

[quote:3umth6nt] Imprison noisy immigrants there?[/quote:3umth6nt]

LOL!!!! Not unless Le Pen's Front National takes over our democratic institutions...

[Tanoujin Milestone]

Michel, looks like you got my number already Ernestly, i do not want to anticipate the task force, we may continue there, but i can not resist to answer your inspiring reply:

I think we talk about a stage set here, the "form follows function" principle could be applied, thats why i raised the question. If you enter NFS the first time, you discover an empty throne on the hill, with escapistic surroundings, and it looks like the mice were dancing until the cat returns.
What would reasonable citizens do with the remaining symbol of centralized absolute power? Surely NOT build a better home for the next dictator - please take the credits, I missed that point.

[Moon Adamant]

Pardon me, i am an incorrigible functionalist

I would like to see a study of possible functions for the schloss, i believe that those will condition much of an eventual remodelling.

The schloss as it stands is used once a year, average. Could we rentabilize the use of it, so it can be used oftener? The decisions we make on the way we will use it will be important for the ultimate shape of the build.

[Nikki]

If anyone has ideas for the function of this building, please post them here or tell me.

Up to now its only function has been for balls held about once per year, using the poseball collection that is there. Other ideas that have come up in discussion are: meetings, weddings, and a historical museum for the CDS.

Naturally the more popular the Schloss is the better it would be for the community.

To me it does seem possible to have a fortification or a palace mostly for purposes of community character, whether it is actually "used" for something or not. In such a case, however, it should be a place that is of the highest quality and fun to look around. Such a building would also not have to be in the same location as the Schloss is now, although having it on a hill like it is now would probably be a good idea.

One possibility would be to move the Schloss to outside the town. In my experience this would be more authentic to a RL European town and its castle, especially if there are ever to be mountains above Neufreistadt. Probably this would mean planning to have the Schloss on a future sim next to Neufreistadt. If we did this it would allow the hill where it is and about 700 prims in the town to be made free for another use.

In such a case, what to then do with the free space is something we could discuss. Some options would be: 1) include it in the plan for the undeveloped area in the southeast corner of Neufreistadt, 2) put a monastery on that hill instead of in the new 3rd sim, or 3) move the NFS School to that hill, and put the new monastery partly where the school is now and partly on the new sim. Naturally it would also be possible for us to flatten this hill if we wanted, with permission from the proper authorities.

For now the task force has decided to begin a full documentation of the existing Schloss, in case it might ever be altered or moved. Tanoujin Milestone has volunteered to begin this work. Our deadline for the documentation to be completely finished is by the end of the year 2007.

There are now 8 members in the task force.

[Tanoujin Milestone]

On Thur 16th of Aug i met Samantha Fuller at the Schloss by chance.
On the subject of public use and functionality (with Samantha's friendly permission to quote):

Samantha Fuller: "Yes and how the community wants to use The Schloss. […] Castles should have many uses, but i think the main day to day use will be as a tourist attraction […] If they would like any other rooms they can tell me i will eventualy have to replace the central tower, to much plywood and there will be plenty of room in the replacment […] in the end i think the only original part will be the throne room and the gold Dragon over the entry"

Samantha would like to make most of her work as close to full perm as possible, She could provide a texture list and some back ups later on, she said. At the moment she is working on the Clock tower. The Schloss-group could contact her if we come up with something useful.

[Pelanor Eldrich]

Here are a few ideas:

-Guild/NGO chapter house
-CDS/NFS Museum
-Function of Das Joy Phim Haus that Rudy used to run, ie. a Democracy exposition center
-The yearly Ball
-The SC gov't office
-The Executive gov't office
-The CDS Trader's chapter house
-Rent out for weddings/concerts and other events

My thinking is that the Schloss represents a somewhat fictional but allegorical past when our experiences in SL were purely autocratic.
There was Feudal rule and a King sitting on a throne. We keep the Schloss as a reminder of this past and as a symbol that we don't want to return to it. Housing some democratic gov't institutions (esp. the SC) would be a way to do this.

Also, as an aside, I think it should be a felony offense to pretend to absolute dictatorial rule of the CDS. Such blatant disregard of the constitution would include sitting on the throne or donning purple Imperial robes in Colonia Nova.