#alien architecture

As trying to do research on potential ideas for another project of mine where the sophonts are not completely shaped nor share the same needs and wants of habitation like humans i've realized a severe lack in content about it aside from AI slop which is barely considered content at all

so as my duty as a writer and annoyed person on the internet,

i present my non-professional, unconfirmed engineer and architecture prowess and skill to Architecture design work for beings that simply do not value or need the same solutions human architecture doesn't fulfill.

So to start off i'm gonna do something to clarify and give an arbitrary metric of measurement

AIND (Alien Index)

_ 1 AIND | Fully Human / Guy with tattoos (Self explanatory) | _ 2 AIND | Human BUT (human shape but altered in some shape or form, no extra limbs aside from at most a tail, still fits the featherless biped with 2 arms body plan) | _ 3 AIND | Partially Human (Uses human designs, culture, morals and sometimes mythos, quite adjacent but limbs can be repositioned, extras added, sometimes more insect based, sometimes more avian based, varies heavily but ultimately has human traits.) | _ 4 AIND | only in mind does the humanity show (biologically Not human in any shape or form, however mirrors a bit of cultural, mental and moral actions. often times includes parallels to human tech progression as well as straight up parallels to human technology simply adapted to their biology.) | _ 5 AIND | completely inhuman (operates within completely non-human morals, habitation, biology, the only similarity is operating under the same rules of reality.) | _ 6+ AIND | incomprehensible (operates under completely different rules of reality)

I'll try to cover something for things below 4 AIND as a person who has been human for a majority of their life sometimes less depending who you ask, i unfortunately do not know how to think in a way untouched by human bias.

to categorize more so to ensure we are on the same page and some references on media:

most TV show/movie & game sophonts are within the 1-2 AIND range think startrek, avatar, the lot

Starwars is one of the big ones to have a few sophonts in the 3 AIND range

the classic grey aliens are firmly within 2 AIND

most Speculative evolution projects (that dont include humans as their center) firmly stay within the 4 AIND range

I know i've seen some people who have pulled off 5 AIND but i cant recall the name exactly.

The Utility Room easily features 6+ AIND

thank you for reading my arbitrary measuring system, time to get into the actual architecture parts:

1 AIND Architecture is simply human but scifi/fantasy, it requires no specialized work to avoid challenge inherent to a being which doesnt have the same body plan as a human, the choice design work for most tv shows/movies with aliens, due to the limits of having human actors.

2 AIND Architecture is just human architecture requirements but brought to extremes like taller doorways or shorter doorways for access but inherently is still using designs of human architecture, potentially just located in like trees or something. if not on an exceptional extreme tall side, they probably can still navigate human architecture with a little trouble, functionally just would require making a house just overall taller or shorter.

3 AIND Architecture gets a little more unique as i count this as where much more unique body plans start occuring but still reminisce of human, functionally architecture will be designed for simply different needs and creatures might have difficulty navigating human architecture. an Example could be a creature which adapted to climb on walls and ceilings as simply as simply as walking on the ground, lacking needs to design stairs and ladders, if done underground they'd likely sprawl out in all directions or a blind creature housing requiring unique shapes and textures within the walls and floor to dictate where everything is based on the reflection of sounds from different textures and materials, likely would have Horrendous color choices. all housing lacking lighting and windows due to the lack of a need for them. maybe even Mermaid type beings, using underwater caves with air pockets as their homes, maybe being more amphibious requiring their entire house to have atleast a "waist high" amount of water for comfort. all technically able to navigate human architecture but wouldn't be able to reasonably live or want to live in it.

4 AIND Architecture is designed moreso for creatures which dont follow the same body plan in any shape or form. either fundamentally incapable of using human architecture or would be VERY difficult to navigate. @entelodante actually has quite a good reference of the concepts in function, big bulky stone architecture that sprawls outwards instead of upwards to deal with the large and heavy Styraphants, including Stop-overs as a big part of Styraphant architecture due to being a migratory species.

they require different design work to fit their body plan and habits as a migratory being which is PERFECT example of what 4 AIND is all about. Different Bodyplan, Different Habits, Different Priorities in Housing, checks all my boxes.

close-ups!