A Temple in the Trees

You may remember Josh “Donut” Fernandez from the incredible Hydro build we covered a while back. His latest effort, Sequoia is smaller scale, but still manages to demonstrate a lot of imaginative flair.

A small strip of land depicts a row of pines, craggy rocks rising behind, and a cluster of buildings nestled in the centre. But each bit is a little unusual - the trees defy their evergreen status to appear in red and blue hues; the rocks are strange, almost crystalline protrusions, like rounded stalagmites (apparently inspired by watching The BFG); while the buildings are ornate cylindrical things, with segmented roofs linked by bunting - a design which is uniquely Donut’s.

“I did not rely on real world buildings as I usually do,” says Donut. “The design instead came from concept art, and some sketching I've done while bored to death in class.”

While I can’t endorse neglecting your education, I have to admit that the results here are pretty compelling. But this idea didn’t come to Donut fully formed: “After I made the terrain, my mind went completely blank as to what I should plop onto it,” he says. “I had some ideas in mind, in hindsight, all inferior to what the end result was. I was planning to do a futuristic, more scientific kind of approach, but decided to stick with a more original concept.”

The addition of the trees “sealed the theme” of a woodland temple. They contrast with the colour tones and physical height of the structures - but at the same time feel like part of the same design; the rising layers of branches matching the segmentation of the buildings.

“The whole build took a little more than 10 days to create,” says Donut. “This number would probably have been a little smaller if I had been more motivated, as I did not expect this build to do as well as it did.”

Don’t underestimate yourself, dude!

You can have a look at some more of Donut's past creations here or follow him on Twitter here.