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WHO IS THIS "ARTHUR DECO" AND WHAT THE HELL DOES HE HAVE TO DO WITH BIOSHOCK ???


"Decodence" a definition... ( Found on a 'Diesel Punk' website )


Artdecoelemets




SpaDecoration


"Art Deco" ( A term not used until 1960s - named after the 1925 Paris Exhibition - Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes ). It has been commented that "Defining Art Deco, It's like trying to nail down a bubble" ( It is a VERY broad classification ).

Time of Art Deco was called "the Jazz age" ( as named by the guy who wrote Gatsby, Fitzgerald )

'Moderne' style of architecture ( compared to the 'Beaux Arts' and 'Art Nouveau' styles used before it )

Other Names/Variations :

  • Streamline Moderne
  • Moderne
  • Modernism
  • 'Skyscraper'
  • Art Moderne
  • Neo-Gothic
  • Zigzag Moderne
  • Ziggurat Moderne
  • Jazz Age ( F. Scott Fitzgerald 'coined the term' )
  • Pueblo Deco ( in Southwest US using Indian styles )
  • Machine Age
  • Functionalism ( the more bland stuff )
  • Cubist
  • Expressionist
  • Speed and the Industrial Revolution
  • Egyptian Deco ( Egyptian theme re-energized by King Tut Discovery, 1922 "Egypto-Deco" )
  • "Delayed Deco" for various buildings that were 'delayed' from being built by WW2
  • Industrial Deco - factories made of reinforced concrete, concrete slabs being integral
  • Industrial Arts 'style'
  • Art Deco is classified to include elements of Italian Futurism, Russian Constructivism, Brutalism, the Bauhaus and De Stijl design schools
  • "Exoticism"
  • "Eclecticism"
  • "Jazz Moderne"
  • Dragon Deco
  • Depression Deco/Depression Moderne

( Other variations like Egyptian Revival, Egypto-Deco, Miami-Deco, Nuevo-Deco, Aztec-Deco, Spanish-Mission-Deco, Native American themes, Maori (in New Zealand) )

Other styles like "Bauhaus" ( functional and less decorative ) have similar attributes and are often lumped in with 'Art Deco')

The "Arts and Crafts" movement was a precursor ( 'it' offering simplification of earlier ornate styling )

Frank Lloyd Wright's work was ahead of its time and have many Art Deco type elements

Proto Deco - First Art Deco building in NYC 1923 was a Telephone Company building

Some contemporary architects after the Post-Modern designs started to proliferate referred to late Art Deco as "Retardataire" ( a work of art or architecture executed in an earlier or outdated style. )

'Taisho Chic' Japanese application Art Deco-like

Versus "Modernism" which disposed of ornamentation, and the design was pure functional form ( did not always stick to that absolute )

Various 'modernist' architects, who often were radical socialists designed Housing Projects in the 1920s ( Where the individual dwelling units/apartments were the closest things I've seen to being prison cells. )



The Art Deco style employs "the plastic arts" - those that are shaped/molded

  • Hard edged, low relief decoration
  • Chrome/Stainless steel(shiny metal including brass)
  • Curves in building walls/features
  • Buildings with corner (wrap) windows
  • Corner Wrap Windows
  • "Rule of Three's" (3 elements repeated)
  • Metalic Accents
  • Tubular Elements
  • Streamlined - Evoking the speed and glamour of the new shipping lines, airlines and trains.
  • Speed Lines (usually a set of 3)
  • Concrete Slab construction (reinforced concrete), and Free Formed concrete
  • Stepped/setbacks (building profiles)
  • Inset Entryways
  • Abstracted Decoration
  • Bas-relief Sculpture (often cast)
  • Towers on buildings
  • Repeated pre-manufactured Tiling/Surfacings of Terra Cotta and metal decorations
  • Terra Cotta 'cladding' (as decoration) wires imbedded in the ceramic used to tie to the building surface ( decades later caused problems because of corrosion of that fastening ) - along with mortar insetting
  • Casement Windows ( not much use in Rapture )
  • Porthole Windows
  • Indirect Lighting was another 'Art Deco' feature
  • Neon (tube lights) important to Art Deco style (it started in 1925 signs)
  • Glass Plate/tile wall surfaces ( Vitrolite & Vitrolux ) - 'Structrual Glass'
  • Colored Glass
  • Polychromy
  • Metal Tubing instead of wood on furniture/decorations
  • 'Stripped' Columns ( vertical 'columns', up the side of a building plain, usually square, no plinth or capital
  • Art Deco building "Piers" instead of Columns (terminology)
  • Cast 'Stone' ( greatly lowers expenses, though is generally limited to 'low relief' )
  • Terrazzo : a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder
  • Glass Brick
  • Fluting ( ie- vertical striations )
  • Stepped Patterns
  • Metal Fin Ceilings
  • New materials : Aluminum, Plastics, Rayon
  • Construction with with 1:2:3 ratios
  • Murals and Geometric Figures
  • Low Relief Sculpture (often cast)
  • Sun Ray Motif
  • Frozen Fountain Motif
  • 'Dime Store Deco" cheap decorated items, mass produced for mass consumer markets
  • Art Deco Houses - many by famous architects being too complex for ordinary people to afford, while others much more modest/simpler ( mass production techniques used )

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See Also Diesel Punk Crafts

See Also Art Deco Era Slang

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What went before :

  • Ecole Des Beaux Arts
  • Historicism
  • Art Nouveau


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Art Deco It Is  :

1920s and 1930s were Ryan's formative years, so that's why (in story) he picked that style for his City ( Art Deco started in 1925, and was built in the US through the 1940s ).

'Nostalgia' as an element for a 'game', the selection of this style made it easy to copy ( no artistic/imaginative abilities required ... ) The simplified decorations are also easier on the Rendering capabilities of computers.

The Great metropolis of NYC ( which Rapture's Skyline is a poor rendition of ) is iconic and built of many buildings of this style ( later glass wall buildings pretty much postdated Rapture's building period ).


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Art Deco Lives On :

Just like the maker of the original BioShock games, all the existing REAL Art Deco styling and objects are available ( google it on the internet ... ) to be mimicked/borrowed/copied with significantly less imagination required to invent something new (and good). Replicating such things still requires artistic and technical skill and some creative application. It does drastically simplify the work needed to create things for the game, producing recognizable items with predefined guidelines and ideas.

Old Rapture lives on in New Rapture and the Art Deco still shines thru in the ruin and chaos.


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ArtDecoDecorationz

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ArtDecoDecor11

Art Deco in Bioshock :

1920s and 30s style ( and into the 40s even ) with ALOT of architectural examples available. Handy for a game to pick a style/theme that they didn't have to use much imagination to create - just duplicate/cut-n-paste ( similar with Props/NPCs clothing/music/etc ... ). Just Google 'Art Deco' and you can get all the ideas you need for the City and have it be recognizable ( similar for other styles as Rapture was all Art Deco ). USA PWA - Public Works Administration government projects during the 1930s Depression.


Typical Art Deco Attributes :

  • Simplifying form, streamlining
  • Highlight lines, cubes and planes, curves
  • Facade, towers, stepped elements
  • Finials and parapets, moldings and friezes
  • Symbols and imagery
  • Geometric/Parallels ( versus Art Nouveau curves )


Rapturebuilding



Streamline Style

Lots of examples on the image search http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=streamline+style linky


Inspiration - Pictures

One thing about a 'Retro' Theme for a Game - They don't have to actually create/think up many original ideas ...







NeonEffects2
Rapture has its ART DECO Neon ...





Not sure why this would be on a weather site but ....

http://www.weather.com/travel/modern-ruins-abandoned-detroit-photos-20130715


Ryans Nightmare or Elizabeths Future ?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2921349/posts

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2191552/Stunning-1950-images-effects-atomic-bomb-attack-New-York-City.html?ito=feeds-newsxml


Tech stuff

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraftwerk_Heimbach



http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009...etro-tech.html

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012...hip-house.html


Art Deco

http://artdecoarchitecture.deviantart.com/gallery/

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Art+Deco+Buildings

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel...Deco-BR-1.html


Replica models

http://www.replicabuildings.com/prodimages/cincinnati-union-terminal-building-replica.jpg

http://www.replicabuildings.com/Building-Replicas.html


Real 1905 era city (SF before the quake)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2_4pnmcE5E&feature=player_embedded#t=2s


A good site for all kinds of ideas

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Zeerust


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That thing in Disneyland

http://p8.storage.canalblog.com/88/00/671517/47251268.jpg

http://jmag77.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/12/16/hollywood_tower_hotel_fabuleux.jpg

real thing :

http://www.fivestaralliance.com/files/fivestaralliance.com/nodes/2008/17816/1202_ext_fsa-g.jpg


Steampunk goodies ( Rapture would be Dieselpunk - ish ... )

http://www.steampunkworkshop.com/lcd.shtml


Skyline Rapture was made to resemble ( outside ocean views anyway ) despite the interiors largely being shopping mall sprawls.

http://mdphd.med.nyu.edu/files/directions/images/aerial.jpg


http://www.artfire.com/uploads/product/6/756/85756/3785756/3785756/large/antique_1927_manhattan_island_new_york_usa_black_and_white_aerial_view_rotogravure_a4946972.jpg



Good thing Jack didn't get the Full treatment ... http://lostro.deviantart.com/art/Delta-Unmasked-203190550

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Streamlined

Another real world Streamlining example - the AE Traincars, and the ridiculous in-game Trolley Cars seen were far too Ornate.


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Machine Age :

The period between WWI and WWII ( when Art Deco became famous ) was called the Machine Age. During this “Machine Age” there were many significant technological advancements, which resulted in mass production of a variety of technological devices and products for most of society. The economy got better during the “Machine Age”, increasing significantly due to the industry of technology. Art Deco designs played a significant part in this economy and society. Much of Ryan's Industrial empire was build during that period.


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"Streamlining" of various machines was part of Art Deco.

Those 'Speed Lines' were even put on buildings.

Indirect Lighting (interiors assists Game Engine Lighting effects)

Towers on Mayan (combs) temples/pyramids have similar reasons as the towers on Art Deco buildings - To look taller/more-impressive - a decoration ( Mayans would have lit up THEIR buildings if they had had. Electricity ... They probably DID - with torches and bonfires ).

Art Deco was known for its 'glued on' pre-manufactured details ( 'Terra Cotta' ceramic put ontop of brick or concrete ). Terra Cotta could have enamel coating for Bright Colors.


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Art Deco Put on Mass Produced Consumer Goods


ArtDecoOven


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Things that are NOT 'Art Deco'

NOT ART DECO - Expressionism/Expressionistic - avant-garde style before the First World War

The term "Art Deco" wasn't even coined until the 1960s, and what the term refers to encompasses a broad range of attributed characteristics, some which existed before the 1925 Exposition which that name signifies.


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Its a 'Gyp' !!  :

WE Need more Egyptian themed stuff ( was popular in the 1920s - Ryan's formative years, and used in some Art Deco ) ... More Egyptian 'mythology' names for stuff ( following the mythic theme ).


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How Things Work Out :

That many of the famous Art Deco Architects 1920s-40s were Socialists who mostly built Houses and Buildings for Rich people. Some who designed public urban housing ( for cities/towns ) produced things resembling prison cell blocks ( inexpensive slab cement building methods came in big around that time ).


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LA Noire Has About a Magnitude More Art Deco :

That games setting being a recreation of Los Angeles in the late 40s.

That game has open outdoor movement which allowing seeing the Landmark Buildings, when we (in BioShock) have only a few limited (much reused) Rapture cityscape views out windows to see.

LA Noire is more limited on the interiors, but better proportioned, when BioShock's interiors are widened out due to movement limitations and to facilitate gun-battles.


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Term "Art Deco"

From "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes", a 1925 exposition in Paris, France.

The Germans were not invited to it.

The President of the United States didn't think America had anything to Exhibit but sent many experts to observe.


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ArtDecoLivingroom
If we had seen Ryan's Apartment, Would it have looked like THIS ?



The Art Deco in (Rapture) Game was Pretty Mediocre/Spotty  :

Setting aside the Asset rendering limitations for a 'Game' targeting middle range of Player Computers and Consoles ... ( There was extra wide spacings for 'combat' and alot of missing furniture to make maneuvering easier ).

Maybe Rapture reflects additional later post-30/post-WW2 period style changes ( not everything HAS to be Art Deco ), though the City's theme was 1920s-30s which were Ryan's formative years ( and 1920s Art Deco was pre-socialist-FDR-isms ).

Rich people ( ie- The "Olympus Heights Crowd" ) could/would have had better Art Deco ( ceilings, etc ... even if all their furniture was stolen/burned for heat by BS1 times ) - the MMORPG won't be an as limited rendered environment as a game released in 2007 ( game graphics are always tailored to some median graphics capabilities of the Player demographics ).

Asset/render running budget of the MMORPG games may still preclude extravagant detailing, but many real uses of Art Deco employed repeated textures of stenciled patterns, common duplication of decorative prefab sections. Frequently accessed places like the Player's own residence, and business, and 'bank' and probably the City Hall ( where more than a little of the Player's time is spent ) can be 'enhanced'. Some tricks can be employed to delay full viewing, until the full asset detail can be loaded into memory.

The amount of quality Art Deco Assets initially probably will be a problem ( eventually solved by Player Creators over time ).


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Smallfitsinside


What is this ??? An Art Deco mini-skyscraper for Cats ??? Actually it is a celphone tower (transponder set) located ontop an OLD Art Deco building ( keeping to the building's motif ).


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Smallfitsinside


Very simple decorative motif for a sign ( I keep talking about Player Created Assets ), and the lettering shape would probably be the most difficult part to get right. There probably would be at least one provided custom Art Deco font ( Heh !!! Yet another Asset type for Players to create and add to the game ... )

With so much of Rapture being Concrete, something of this sort probably would be used for mundane signage ( default street and building names ).


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NeonJazzedItUp
Neon Was An ART DECO Thing ...



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ScreenShot22
Other Games Used Art Deco - A Fallout DLC



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End of : *** Art Deco ***

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Now for an Advertisement from Ryan Industries ...









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Spoiler Warning !

This WIKI contains plot details about the BioShock games.

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Fantasy ? ? ? I Andrew Ryan Reject This !!!

Is not the Player due a proper Sci-Fi game paid for by the $60 Sweat of their Brow ??? The Game Companies say " NOOOOOOOOO ! The players will eat whatever rubbish we set before them !! "

"SO I left the Parasites and created "BioShock: Rapture Reborn" , a MMORPG place where the Player will FEEL they are in a real 'World Under the Sea', and the Players IMAGINATION will Pull The Great Chain !!! ..... "

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WARNING - This Website is *** NOT SAFE FOR WORK ***

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BEWARE "NSFF" - 'NOT SAFE FOR FANBOIS'

*** Warning - Fanboi Head Explosion Zone ***


Contrary Opinions are Being Offered HERE !!!!





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WHY DO I BOTHER ?

Because I WANT computer games to be better than what we typically get from the Game Industry, and perhaps by pointing out ClapTrap like BioShock Infinite, strong criticisms being voiced might serve to SHAME the makers of such substandard games, and MIGHT cause them to DO BETTER in Future.

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I wont hold my breath that this will happen though.




Note - This Wiki is for people who have the ability to NOT lose attention for content posted in MORE than 144 Characters of TEXT


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WARNING - YES, This whole Wiki is a 'Thought Experiment', and YOU are the Test Subjects !!!!!

( So are YOU Alive or Dead as per this whole Concept ??? )


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*WARNING* - This MMORPG contains blood and gore, intense violence, mild sexual themes, strong language and use of alcohol and tobacco.


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*WARNING* - Fanbois May Find The Content of This Wiki Confusing and Distressingly Contradictory to Their Narrow Miniscule Mindsets. Some Head Explosions May Result


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*** Fanboi Spoilage Alert ***  :

The contents of this Wiki may Collapse the Fanboi's vision of the BioShock games from being "The most greatest awesomeness thing evah !!", into just one of the many average games ... ( Your reason for existing may decline severely and/or your entire viewpoint of the universe may be utterly crushed. )

You have been warned.


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MANY Images on the Rapture Reborn Wiki are taken from the BioShock video game series or from websites created and owned by 2K Games, the Copyright of which is held by Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. All Trademarks and Registered Trademarks present in those images are proprietary to Take-Two Interactive and its subsidiaries. The use of such Images to illustrate articles concerning the subject of the images in question is believed to qualify as fair use under United States Copyright Law, as such display does not significantly impede the right of the copyright holder to sell the Copyrighted material and is not being used to generate profit in this context.

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Final Disclaimer : I am aware that various Fanbois think any kind of negative or different comments about BioShock makes me a "Poo Poo Head" ( in their minds ), and they feel fully justified in their 'Being So Offended' by my contrary ideas, and for their fervent wish to Silence anyone talking/thinking expressing such things ...

But I don't give a Rodents Rectum about such small-mindedness and slavish infantile infatuation with a game ( or its writers ), Nor for those who merely complain-whine out of their own Attention Whoring mental issues.

"GLORY TO THOSE WHO THINK FOR THEMSELVES" - Democritus



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