Mind-Blowing Builds

A huge castle on wheels! A troupe of adventurers beset by monsters! An overgrown cathedral in the middle of the ocean!

Wait, why would you build a cathedral somewhere as impractical as the middle of the ocean?

Quiet, you - it looks great!

And cities – lots of them, in all shapes and sizes. Big and small, futuristic and old-timey, fantastical and realistic. I’d wager there’s something for everyone in the beautifully diverse gallery of Pixelbiester, a commercial German group of artistically-minded builders.

“The original thought was simply artistic expression through Minecraft as part of a community,” explains Ilja, founder of Pixelbiester. “When we founded the group, we weren’t guided by commercial intentions at all. It was our aim to extend and support the building scene in Germany, and I think we succeeded.”

Looking at their latest project, Valley of Science (pictured above), you’d be forgiven for thinking this was one of those massive team efforts. A fleet of sleek spaceships, eye-popping explosions, a giant glowy sphere, and facilities so intricate that you can get lost by just looking at them.

But this is actually the creation of just three builders, LeKawa, Viernas and FranjoSchnabel. “The builders felt it was important to distinguish Valley of Science from previous sci-fi projects by using innovative forms and colors,” Ilja tells me. “They frequently made drawings to come up with ideas, especially for the spaceships. Of course, this took a lot of time.”

But it’s not all sci-fi/realistic dragons - Pixelbiester also use their craft to deal with real-world issues. My personal favorite is their Climate Change Project (pictured above), which not only raises awareness of an urgent problem, but also happens to be a real looker. It’s a dense, sprawling microcosm of jungles, meadows and deserts, luxury residences, industrial areas and earthquake-torn cities. Look closely, and you may spot a monkey and even a few cows tucked away in the background.

“We thought that, if we tackle a project of this scale, we might as well throw a light on an issue that’s important to us and use our reach on YouTube in a meaningful way. It was important to us not to appear preachy or holier-than-thou, but instead to provide food for thought that might encourage people to engage with the issue of climate change and to talk about it with others. We wanted to show that the game can be used to educate children and teenagers.”