The Palais de la Concorde

[Serin117]

Decided to model the Federation capital building, and over time a chunk of late 24th century Paris.
Sort of going on how it looks in DS9, but placed where they have it in the novels(Articles of the Federation etc). So it ends up just a handful of meters west of the Place de la Concorde.
In the show the Eiffel Tower is apparently behind the Palais, but... strictly speaking that makes no sense, so the Tower is staying where it is in reality.

Mainly I just wanted to model the offices and spaces I imagined when reading the Destiny timeline novels, but I'd also like to imagine what a 24th century city that doesn't rely on ground-based transport looks like.
Are there more green spaces? - is the Champs-Élysées still paved or have they replaced it with grass? Did the Horror effect Paris at all? Or was it chosen as the Capital because it survived and was a major hub in the rebuiling efforts after?
That kinda stuff.

I used Open Street Map to grab the layout, but I'll be going through and modelling a lot of it manually. Maybe sketchup warehouse a few of the buildings I can find if I can get something that exports .skp to Blender.

/Unnecessary dickbutt character not to scale

 

[BorgMan]

I'm a big sucker for cityscapes. It'll be very interesting to see where you'll take this!

 

[Praetor]

Very nice! I don't think I've ever seen anyone work on this. Looking forward to your progress.

 

[Serin117]

Not a huge amount got done today. Just compiling more streets between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine. That and pulling some models from 3dwarehouse.
Started roughing out the press briefing room down on the second floor. Also worked out where the turbolift will go.

 

[Serin117]

Been wondering a lot about what would occupy the floors of the Palais not accounted for in the novels.
For instance: Is the secretary of external affairs housed there?
And of course that leads to thinking about Madam Secretary but in the Federation. And really its then that productivity goes out the window.

However, we're cooking on the city front. Praise be to the Blender OSM addon.

 

[Mage]

This is so cool!!

 

[NervousEnergy]

Genuinely really cool. I love it.

 

[Tenacity]

The president office in TUC was a redress of ten forward, there were two shallow steps up to the raised area where the desk is.

If you want to go there.

 

[Serin117]

The president office in TUC was a redress of ten forward, there were two shallow steps up to the raised area where the desk is.

If you want to go there.

Modelling the office more on what my brain cooked up whilst reading the novelverse. So Bacco and then zh'Tarash.
Probably more the latter, since her bondmate is an artist, and I'm so into the idea of her hanging one of her works on a wall.

 

[Serin117]

Started noodling with buildings used in that shot from DS9. Going to be an interesting challenge to make them fit in.
Also decided to include a rough monument to a character from a thing I've been writing that's set in the period after the Atomic Horror but before people had really begun considering that United Earth was a feasible idea. She's a bit of a reference to a thing, but I'll leave that to you lot to work out.

 

[Nyotarules]

I imagine the Federation headquarters taking up most of downtown Paris. The place would have to be huge to represent hundreds of worlds plus their colonies

 

[Serin117]

I imagine the Federation headquarters taking up most of downtown Paris. The place would have to be huge to represent hundreds of worlds plus their colonies

Transporters, man. Transporters!
The need for centralisation in a world with teleportation is kinda diminished.
That said I think there would defs be more than one UFP govt building housing various departments in the city.

 

[Terranimperial]

This is really good stuff. The attention paid to the detail in the offices is amazing. Do plan on adding the monorail that goes through the Eiffel tower or any other futuristic elements that we see in Paris like here?

 

[Serin117]

This is really good stuff. The attention paid to the detail in the offices is amazing. Do plan on adding the monorail that goes through the Eiffel tower or any other futuristic elements that we see in Paris like here?

Monorail nope, other stuff very probably. One or two ultra-modern bridges, towers etc. Stuff that might've been destroyed in the Horror then reimagined.
The cafe that Picard is sitting at is defs in there though, tucked behind the Palais in some trees. Gonna put some detail into it, though it will be different to whats seen in the show.

 

[Admiral Archer]

Have they ever mentioned what happened to Notre Dame de Paris by the 23rd/24th century? That is my favorite Parisian landmark, and I don't seem to see it on any of the 3d models so far...

 

[Serin117]

Have they ever mentioned what happened to Notre Dame de Paris by the 23rd/24th century? That is my favorite Parisian landmark, and I don't seem to see it on any of the 3d models so far...

According to memory beta its still there. Only its just out of the range of the block I decided to model.
Maybe I'll include it later, but tbh its a pain in the arse, having to go back and start the city from scratch basically to get certain features.

More! Bought The Grove for tree generation, and oh boy is it a system killer. I seriously doubt I'll be able to fully populate the city with foliage.

 

[Admiral Archer]

According to memory beta its still there. Only its just out of the range of the block I decided to model.
Maybe I'll include it later, but tbh its a pain in the arse, having to go back and start the city from scratch basically to get certain features.

More! Bought The Grove for tree generation, and oh boy is it a system killer. I seriously doubt I'll be able to fully populate the city with foliage.

I understand! I've worked on plenty of things where I wished I could have included certain things, but it would have required me to start completely over, which is a real hassle. I like that you have at least given it thought, however. That shows your commitment to the project!

 

[Serin117]

I understand! I've worked on plenty of things where I wished I could have included certain things, but it would have required me to start completely over, which is a real hassle. I like that you have at least given it thought, however. That shows your commitment to the project!

Like I've actually done it a few times. Requires re-importing the OSM and rotating it to match with the riverfront in front of the Palais being the x axis then just deleting all the stuff I don't want. The worst part is that Notre Dame de Paris is just barely out of range. I might end up doing it.

 

[Cyfa]

I like this just as it is now - Its like a great big futuristic circuit board!

 

[Serin117]

Ok. Did it.
Was a pain, but for some reason the latest pull from OSM has more detail, so I guess I'll be going in a updating a lot of what I already have on the east side of the city.
One can now see the Notre Dame de Paris(ok, just its steeple) and the Pierre and Marie Curie University from the Presidents office.