The Forbidden City’s virtual debut – An Interesting Game for Architects

Minecraft, a popular game amongst youngsters and architects alike, is a video game that allows the user to build structures and cities virtually. A 22-year-old aspiring architect, Su Yijun from Zhuhai, China has gone a step ahead and expressed his love for the game by making a detailed replica of Beijing’s Forbidden City covering a site of 100 million blocks. The game allows for the person to challenge their creative and virtual abilities and that is what Yijun did when he joined the group of volunteers who were aspiring to accomplish the same in 2013. After Yijun joined the group a year later, they decided to start again from scratch. He became the project’s chief organizer and went on to research traditional Chinese architecture so they could perfectly replicate the palace’s nearly 1,000 buildings. Researching the structure, decor, materials, and architectural history, even visiting the real-life site to learn details he couldn’t find elsewhere, cemented the foundation.  The real obstacle, Yijun added, was getting all the information he needed, and visiting the Forbidden City didn’t solve the problem. “Many areas are not open to the public,” he lamented. “And because of the exhibits, the interior decorations in the Palace Museum were not the same as how they originally appeared” (As told to Sixth Tone). Yijun has started to upload some of the videos on Bilibili, one of China’s most popular video-sharing websites, to share what he has learned with more people. “Through this, I hope to impart some knowledge about architectural aesthetics and share my thoughts on architectural design,” he adds.