Someone spent 10 years making Melbourne in Minecraft

Arch viz has become an essential skill for architects, and there are plenty of powerful professional programs out there for the task (see our guides to the best 3D modelling software and the best rendering software). But an architecture student in Melbourne, Australia, is shunning cutting-edge 3D realism to build up the city block by block. turning a popular game into a tool for cultural documentation.

Inspired by a passion for building with Lego, Jordan Chen turned to the sandbox game Minecraft over a decade ago as a more economic option than buying physical bricks. That experiment gradually transformed into an ambitious digital art project that features much of Melbourne's most emblematic architecture, including landmarks such as Parliament Station, the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Rialto Towers, the Old Treasury Building on Spring Street and the Treasury Theatre,

Jordan has been sharing his progress on his Instagram account. Minecraft might not boast the fidelity of arch viz programs, but his creations are immediately recognisable, and they include enough detail to capture a charming recreation of Melbourne’s urban character.

He's even getting ahead of developers in the real-world city. He's created a model based on reference images for Victoria's Metro Tunnel project, which is still under construction.

Jordan says transport infrastructure is the most challenging part of his project.

In an interview with Beat Magazine, he says his formal architecture education hasn't directly influenced his Minecraft project. Instead, the platform has become an alternative source of creative validation.

“I think it’s good, because fine art school can definitely make you doubt your own creative abilities, so sharing my and other people’s work outside of the education environment can really build confidence in your own work!” he says.

“I believe the arts (performing and visual) are often used as platforms for social expression and political expression as well, if you look at history the arts is usually one of the first things that a totalitarian/dictatorship will look to purge or censor first.”

Jordan has used some assets from Minecraft city creator Alpine 1, and he made interiors with the Cocricot mod. He's planning to expand into promotional content and to create videos that showcase Melbourne landmarks, businesses and architecture students' work.