Birdhall

From Minecart Rapid Transit Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Birdhall
Streetmap birdhall.png
Orthographic view of Birdhall (Dec 2023).
Flag of Birdhall.png
Birdhall's flag.
Officials
MayorRobang592
Deputy MayorHightech_TR
Town recognition
RankGovernor
Date foundedOctober 5, 2014
Geography
WorldNew World
Ward(s)Ward 6
RegionGamma
Post code(s) BH6 
City hall coordinates-4618 ~ 7544
Transit
MRT M27  Birdhall
Local transitBirdhall Metro
Lore
Population10

Birdhall is a moderately large city served by  M27  Birdhall station. It was founded by Robang592 on 4 October 2014, the day of the switch to the Gamma server. It located in the Grand Mesa within Ward 6, bounded on the south by the city of Haskaa and Deimos Lake.

Name and Flag

Birdhall is named after a town in the game Transport Tycoon Mobile, located in a desert. The name was also heavily linked to Robang's love for avian organisms[1]. As the town hall was built, a very last-minute flag design was drawn up by Robang, being a 3×3 block of stained terracotta. The base of the flag is a dark green, liking to Birdhall's greenery. At the centre of the flag lies an orange block, representing the mesa. Surrounding this orange block on the left and right sides, are two black blocks, representing the roads, and in extent, the city landscape of Birdhall. The black blocks being placed in between the green and orange represent the city being integrated naturally into the mesa biome and alongside nature. Conveniently, the square design also resembled the head of a bird, which is the city's namesake. The flag has since been extended to a 5×3 block to fit in with the usual flag standards.

History

Planning the City

Birdhall was planned to be built in one of two places, at  M27  as it is now or  C104 , where it would've been in a large spruce Taiga biome. The final decision came down to the intriguing idea of building a city restricted by the geology around it:  M27 's exits were unique at the time, in being connected only to the plateau and not the ground level. That meant if a city were to be established there, it would start from on top of the plateau. This sparked ideas of building a city that completely stayed on top of the plateau, allowing it to grow and adapt to its surroundings in a unique way, instead of mass-flattening an area, for example. It also helped that the plateaus were intrinsically flat pieces of land that required little terraforming to build on. Thus, the decision was made to start Birdhall at  M27 .

To keep a natural aesthetic, the city would restrain from using anything apart from terracotta (at the time, "hardened clay".) The initial inspiration for Birdhall came in the form of mud huts and related clay structures. You can see the original building designs in the Birdtown District -- a block of terracotta with coloured dividers between floors. Originally, they would have been coloured according to the estates they were in, but this was scrapped because the buildings in an immediate area would be coloured the same, and the city would look rather dull from the ground.

In contrast to Robang's previous town, Chack City, Birdhall had a more structured plan for its growth. There were set plots of 12×12 blocks for each building, laid out with different coloured borders (as detailed below in Built Infrastructure). The scale of Birdhall was to stick closely to Minecraft's 1 block = 1 metre rule, as per Chack City. Most roads were kept to 3 blocks wide, with this number growing up to 5 or 6 should the road be more high-density. While all of Birdhall's roads were to have two 3 block-length lanes initially, this would have made them too big in comparison to the plots.

There was also some emphasis on creating a green environment within the rather bleak-looking mesa biome. Green spaces were allocated for from the start but only later on did they became one of the main focii of the city.

Oct to Dec 2014

The building of the city started on the day the Gamma server opened, 4 October 2014, the town hall being the first building built. By the end of the first day, five buildings were already completed. 10 days later, on 16 October, the town reached ten buildings, bringing it into [Councillor] rank. The metro was built on this day, starting with Birdhall station, located opposite the town hall.

On 26 October, Three Deputy Mayors were assigned, being Martii_Scots01, autobus22 and jamess2912. It is unknown why Robang chose three people to deputy a town with only ten buildings.

On 31 October, Birdhall reached its twentieth building, and the next day the town was brought into the [Mayor] rank. At this point, the city began expanding northwest from the MRT station, towards another large globule[2] of plateau. Expanding to this new globule prompted Robang to zone the first three estates on 6 November -- the Town Hall estate, Robin estate and Downtown. Robin was meant to be a residential quarter and featured a relatively tall apartment building, though it never housed any real residents. The Town Hall estate centralised around the MRT station up to North Cliff Park, and Downtown started past a road called ChackBird Link.

On 21 November, Kottlewing was inexplicably added to the list of deputies. Though, on 7 December, Kottlewing was finally set as the only deputy after he found out only one deputy was allowed per city.

2015

On 5 November 2014, a landmark was erected in the still developing Downtown as it was required for the promotion to [Senator] rank at the time. It was known as the Downtown Ring(s), and simply consisted of a 10-ish-block pole surrounded by a set of coloured rings, all surrounded by a small roundabout. Although some additional landscaping was done surrounding the Downtown Ring, the landmark did not really qualify as one, which prompted Robang to change it. On February 8 2015, the landmark was redeveloped into a taller tower known as the Green Spire, which still stands today. This tower is a much taller and more elaborate wooden structure, featuring a various decks to view the city from. Honestly, it wasn't much better.[3] Luckily for Robang, the requirement later shifted to the [Governor] rank, and so the Green Spire was ultimately left as-is.

Eventually, during the 2015 May GSM on 2 May, the city was promoted to [Senator] rank, after 6 months of [Mayor] rank, with a total of 36 buildings.

Birdhall's expansion continued further north, where a continuation of the Downtown district called the Centric district would have been developed. The district would completely develop the northern point of the mesa plateau, bringing Birdhall's expansion in that direction to a close. However, in August 2015, these plans were halted due to another player's plans to build north of Birdhall. As a result, an extension to the northwest was made instead, called Spurnton, in October that year. To this day, the Centric District remains unfinished, despite the disputed territory still being unclaimed land.

Around this time, Birdhall started to focus more heavily on its landscaping and greenery. This was mainly prompted by the very unsightly set of roads around Birdhall Bank that make very unnatural vertical drops. In trying to stick to the goal of a natural-looking cityscape, Birdhall started to incorporate additional terraforming especially around its newer areas, adding more gradual slopes and greenery. Though unfortunately, as the offending road was already finished with a light rail running through it, it could not be modified anymore. In future expansions, more gradually downsloping roads and paths were built if the city were to grow down from the plateaus.

Back then, there were already plans to expand Birdhall beyond the plateau. This included creating an SMP with neighboring Haskaa, or making use of the Bryce Mesa pillars to the east. In the end, the decision was made to expand downward to the desert southeast of Birdhall, now being developed as the Sandstred district.

In December, plans to extend Birdhall southward were finally realised when the Southhall Districts were established. A reinstated metro line was made to run through the new estate. Following the shift towards greenery, the new estate was planned to be a clean and green estate. It featured remote streetlights and a large amount of replanted trees, among other strategies (see Greenery).

On 19 December, jamess2912 was re-appointed as deputy when Kottlewing left the server for a short while. A new landmark, the Birdhall Amphitheatre, was also built on this date, in the new extended Southern district.

On 22 December, Birdhall finally(!) got its MRT station renamed.

2016 to Present

On 21 January 2016, Birdhall was featured in the January edition of The Snapshot, being credited on how it how naturally was built together with its surroundings, though it lacked housing and a true "population".

On 3 March, Birdhall reached its fiftieth building, with the completion of the Birdhall Dam, built by PWR Corp. It reached its sixtieth building on 8 May 2016, qualifying itself for [Governor] rank. That June, the Birdhall Port was completed, introducing the possibility of sea-faring transport to the city, though it would be restricted to Deimos Lake.

On 27 June, Birdhall was promoted to [Governor] rank, with 64 buildings, after more than a year of [Senator] rank.

After this, Birdhall's progress gradually slowed down due to Robang's school life at the time. Being on less often, the town's building count remained below 70 for over a year, although the IntraRail station at the Birdhall Transit Hub was built in November, being the first ever third-party line to open fully in the hub. Additionally, a new metro line, the first phase of the Wrenough Line, was built across the second half of 2016. The town hall was also rebuilt into a new, more taller city hall in December that year.

In April 2017, progress was made on the extension of Birdhall even further south to the Sandstred estate. This estate would break the rule of the city being confined to the plateaus above, bringing the city down to the desert floor.

From 2017, Birdhall largely remained untouched. Development largely stays focused on the Sandstred area, as it is the final frontier for Birdhall's growth in area.

In late 2022, Birdhall's deputy switched once again to Hightech_TR.

Built Infrastructure

Birdhall consists of buildings of various sizes and designs. Initially, Birdhall would've only had structures made entirely from terracotta, as seen in the Birdtown District. This was forgone for the sake of variety. Birdhall's proportions stay true to Minecraft's 1 block = 1 metre rule, and rarely do buildings grow larger than 30×30 or so blocks. The city's design philosophy follows accordingly, sticking to adapting a modern aesthetic to Minecraft's minimalistic blocky style, while having the city look natural and adapt well to its surrounding geography.

So far Birdhall has more than 75 buildings[4], including 9 houses. Birdhall is also host to 15 franchises.

Marked plots may be found in developing areas in the city.
Plots in green can be claimed by players to build on for housing with prior permission.
Plots in blue cannot be built on by other players at all.
Plots in orange can be claimed by players to build commercial establishments with prior permission.
In Birdtown, the buildings in yellow are for services, like libraries and offices. Plots may be coloured yellow in this fashion too. All of these can be combined.

Roads

Birdhall uses left-hand driving. Its roads are paved with black terracota, carried over from Birdhall's initial clay-centric design. Pedestrian crossings are standardised to use cyan terracotta, and road dividers use white terracotta. In newer estates, white concrete is used for dividers instead, as well as yellow terracotta for yellow boxes (absent in old Birdhall). Various designs of streetlamps, roadsigns and the like are found throughout Birdhall, but they usually are consistent within an estate.

Road nomenclature in Birdhall is similar to that used in Singapore. Most roads are single-lane and 3 blocks wide, with 1 or 2 block sidewalks. 4-wide or 5-wide roads can be found in denser areas such as Downtown and Southhall, where the roads can also be split into two lanes. As of yet, there aren't any roads with more than two lanes in Birdhall due to space limitations.

There is only one highway in Birdhall, called the Southern Highway, which connects Birdtown with the Southern district. The highway is a 5-wide single carriageway road with two lanes that may go in either direction. On a related note, there are no road safety organisations within Birdhall or the MRT Server.

Greenery

Greenery throughout Birdhall. Click for details (dated 2016).

Birdhall has many green spaces which freshen the arid mesa air in the region. Parks are spread throughout the city, and are run by the Birdhall Parks Authority. It was introduced to implement initiatives to preserve the greenery and environmentally-friendly mindsets of members of the Birdhall community. Below is a gallery of images of various green spaces in Birdhall.

Birsdah Park's platformed gardens.

Integrating Greenery in a Dense City

To integrate greenery into the city, plots of land are specifically planned to be reserved as natural spaces. These plots of land are spread evenly throughout Birdhall and are natural havens for flora and fauna to thrive. The parks in these plots usually consist of paths going through a lush forest or beside waterbodies. They serve as recreational spaces for the residents of Birdhall. A special park was built in the downtown estate of Birdhall. Named Birsdah Park (a play on Masdar City), it consists of a 100% sustainable building[5], a greenhouse and of course, a park. The park is unique since it was the first to use platformed gardens in Birdhall.

The community centre in the Downtown estate of Birdhall, with green elements.

Sometimes, a dense district can't have any large spaces of greenery. In this case, greenery is integrated into buildings instead. Green elements, such as plants, trees and water, are placed in high-rise towers in various districts. A good example of this is the Downtown Community Centre. It has various elements of plants and water in it.

The shady roads of Southhall.

Roadside trees provide shade for pedestrians and vehicles. In newer estates, savanna or large oak trees are planted[6] which give more shade than regular oaks.

Birdhall Dam in 2016, pictured from the south.

Birdhall Dam

In January 2016, the company PWR Corp. commissioned a hydroelectric dam to be built in Birdhall, that provides real power to the district to further emphasise the idea of the Southern District being eco-friendly. The dam was built on the south end of the gorge between Birdtown and Southhall. On the north end, a natural-looking wall was created, creating a barrier for the reservoir to function. This wall slopes downwards into the centre, creating a waterfall which acts as a spillover for the dam, as well as a beautiful aesthetic for the area, complementing the Bryce Mesa valley to which the waterfall feeds into. The water source for the reservoir is provided by a small aquifer to the east of the gorge spilling over into the reservoir through a small waterfall. It has a bowed design, similar to the Hoover Dam in the USA.

Urban farming in Newbin.

Urban Farming

To promote an environmentally-friendly mindset in Birdhall, the Birdhall Parks authority introduced urban farming in the new residential estate of Newbin. It includes a set of farmland plots and a community farmer's market. The idea here is that residents can claim their own set of farmland on a first-come-first-serve basis, and then plant their crops in it. The community market provides seeds and crops free of charge to let users plant. It also contains a market where users can sell their earnings by using the [Buy] sign. It instils the idea of being environmentally friendly as well as a strong work ethic into the residents of Newbin.

Birdhall Promenade

The Birdhall Promenade is a large linear park connecting various smaller parks around the Southern area of Birdhall. It offers scenic pedestrian pathways along the Birdhall Reservoir and the southern coastline. The Southhall section of waterfront contains seven zones, each colour-coded with a colour that is definitely not a reference to another game that has specific colours that represent values[7]. They are the Newbin, Cliffside, Portside, East Waterfront, Amphitheatre, Wrenough and West Waterfront zones. Each of these zones features a small sculpted pelican statue, signifying a unique value or moral.

The West Waterfront and East Waterfront zones feature pedestrian malls with shophouses lining the promenade.

East from Newbin, the Birdhall Promenade merges with various parks along the coast of Sandstred, such as Plaza Park and the Sandstred Boardwalk, ending at the southern edge of Birdhall at Sandstred Beach.

Simplified map of the Birdhall Promenade. The gallery below shows screenshots taken at the points marked 1 through 8 on this map. The bird icon represents the location of a pelican sculpture.

Districts

The estates of Birdhall.

Birdhall can be split into several districts or estates. Each district features differences in land usage and building style.

Birdtown

The area surrounding  M27  station. It is a conglomerate of an older "Central/Town Hall" district which encompassed the MRT station up to North Cliff Park, and a residential "Robin" district which covered the city toward the Southern Forest. During the zoning of the extension to the south, the Robin district was relocated to the extension as the "New Robin district", and Birdtown was created. The name comes from the city's status as a "town" during the time when the district was built.

Downtown

Downtown Birdhall,back when it was in early development.
The Downtown Ring, which was the original landmark in Birdhall, was a pole with some colourful rings around it.
A redevelopment of the Downtown Ring, The Green Spire is a tall, wooden tower, with leaves and glass on the side.

The third largest district of Birdhall. True to its name, it is the original high-density part of Birdhall. Buildings were built to a larger plot size here as opposed to in Birdtown. It also has Birdhall's past landmark, The Green Spire.

Centric District

A continuation of the downtown estate. While it had been planned to be a denser version of Downtown, it had stopped expanding north due to another player claiming the sought land. Today, the Birdhall Transit Hub, a shopping centre, and the Centric Village remain here.

Spurnton

Created as a result of the halting of the Centric district. It covers a small spur off the north mesa plateau, which is where the name comes from. It was Birdhall's first experiment in creating a clean-and-green estate. Lamps in the district are powered by solar energy, and plants are planted around the district. The design philosophy of the district was a precursor to Southhall and Sandstred.

Sandstred

The largest district. It encompasses the red sand desert to the southeast of Birdhall. Similar to the Southhall districts, it focuses on being green and modern. It contains a small light rail system and a beachfront.

Southhall

The term Southhall is used to refer to all the following mentioned districts, located on the south side of Birdhall. It is a portmanteau of "South" and "Birdhall". When the New Robin District was not in the plans yet, this term was used instead to refer to the entire district.

Southern District[8]

The second largest district, it is an extension of Birdhall to the south. It contains the southern forest, another downtown, and the Southern Highway. It is a clean and green, eco-friendly district. It contains the Birdhall Amphitheatre.

New Robin

Located to the southeast of the Southern district. It contains a residential area and a small industrial area, including Birdhall Port.

Transit

Rail

The main access route to Birdhall is by rail.

Rail Services
Previous station Next station
 M26  Foobar
towards Central City—Southeast Station via Evella
 M27  Birdhall  M28  Haskaa
towards Tembok
Heampstead Kings Cross Railway Terminal
towards Heampstead
IntraRail Whiteliner
Birdhall Transit Hub
Whiteley Olympia-Cacturne Boulevards
towards Zaquar
Terminus IntraRail Empire Express
Birdhall Transit Hub
Deadbush Centro
towards Deadbush
Terminus IntraRail Wizard Service
Birdhall Transit Hub
Waverly
towards Espil
Terminus IntraRail Rooster Shuttle
Birdhall Transit Hub
Haskaa
towards Haskaa

MRT

The MRT Mesa Line station  M27  Birdhall stops here.

Metro

(Main article: Birdhall Metro)

Birdhall also has a metro system, which has six mass rail lines and two light rail lines.

A map of the metro.

Third-Party Rail

Third-party rail services are available at the Birdhall Transit Hub. It is located on the northwestern tip of Birdhall and is connected via the Metro's  Centric Line ,  DTLR Q Line ,  Downtown Line  and  District Line . The intercity services available at the hub are listed below.

Birdhall Transit Hub Intercity Services
Bay Number(s) Platform(s) Transit Company and Line(s) Status
Bay 1 and 2
Platform 7
Platform 8
Great Central
To Whiteley, Heampstead and Sealane
.
TBD
Bay 3A/B
Platform 1
Platform 2
Platform 3
Platform 4/5
Platform 6
IntraRail
IR 1 small ow.pngZaquar - Tanzanite Station (via Whiteley)
IR 1 small ow.pngHeampstead - Kings Cross Railway Terminal (via Totsworth)
IR 36 small ow.pngDeadbush Centro
IR 16 small ow.pngEspil - Sanders Station (via Waverly)
IR 24 small ow.pngHaskaa
Service Good.png Good service
Bay 4
Platform 9
Platform 10
Four Seasons Railways
TBD
TBD
TBD
Bay 5 - - -
Bay 6
Platform 11
Platform 12
BluRail
TBD
TBD
Service Construction.png Under construction
Bay 7 - - -
Bay 8 - - -

Outside of the Transit Hub, RaiLinQ once had planned for 2 stations outside the Transit Hub at Birdhall Port and Birdhall Central.

Local Bus Service

There is a small bus route in Birdhall, consisting of 6 stations. While a second route was planned for a while, it was deemed unnecessary as the metro already serves all of the areas it served sufficiently.
Bus 1
B1 : North Cliff Park
B2 : Birdhall Station
B3 : Cinema
B4 : Downtown Ring
B5 : Birdhall Transit Hub
B6 : Centric Link

Sea

Birdhall Port serves as the link for Birdhall to the sea. It is located at the southern tip of Birdhall and connected to Deimos Lake, allowing access to cities connected via the Estival Sea. It has 14 small docks for small ships and boats.

Birdhall Port Services
Dock no. Service provider Destination(s)
1 Chalxior Boatways Callisto Line
to Heampstead (MiniMesa No.1)
2
3 Chalxior Boatways Io Line
to Marsius (MiniMesa No.1)
4 Chalxior Boatways Not in service
5 Chalxior Boatways to New Rosemont (MiniMesa No.1)
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Road

There are currently no finished highways connected to Birdhall. In future it will be served by exit 7 of the A746 through Southern Forest Road.

Landmark

The Birdhall Amphitheatre's stage area.
The Birdhall Amphitheatre viewed from the metro station nearby.

Originally, the promotion to [Senator] rank required a landmark, but this was moved to the [Governor] rank. The original requirements lead to the creation of the first landmark in the city. Known as the Downtown Ring, it was a simple collection of rings around a pole surrounded by a roundabout located at an eponymous metro station in Downtown Birdhall.

Due to its small size and lack of purpose, it was unlikely that this would be considered for promotion, so eventually it was demolished and redeveloped. This lead to the creation of the Green Spire. It is a tall, wooden tower that reaches up to 113 on the Y axis at the highest point that players are supposed to walk on. There are 3 observation decks, each at different heights. Inside the 5x5 tower, there is a spiral staircase leading to the decks. Despite the redevelopment, the Green Spire lacks any sort of purpose other than sightseeing.

When Birdhall expanded south, a new landmark was planned to be built. This was the Birdhall Amphitheatre. It is located in the Southern district and connected to  S3  Plateau Street station on Birdhall Metro's  Southhall Line . It is a multi-purpose area that can be used for performances, sports and more. At the time, it was one of the largest buildings by area in the city.

References

  1. Robang, 592. (2014). I like birds. Self.
  2. This is definitely not an actual term people use.
  3. Objective fact.
  4. There has been no official count since promotion to Governor.
  5. It's a ploy.
  6. through force-spawning a large tree by bone-mealing an oak sapling bound on all four sides by solid blocks.
  7. The seven colours are of the seven SOULs in the video game Undertale.
  8. This district and "Southhall" may be used interchangeably on signage.