When an Architect Plays Minecraft

My wife finds it ironic that one of my hobbies (aside from my drawing hobby, which I call Art Deco GeoMetrica) is playing a game that involves… designing buildings. Yes, I am talking about Minecraft, the blocky game that has entered the cultural mainstream this year with its own movie and a seemingly endless pile of LEGO sets.

I started playing Minecraft in 2013 just before they released the Horse Update, which had an official update number of 1.6 (that is, the 6th major update at the time) and, as of the year 2025, the current minor update (or Drop) is called the Copper Age, with an official update number of 1.21.10. This means that in the 12 years I have been playing the game, 15 updates have happened to the game! I suppose I am mentioning this backstory since I realized recently that Minecraft has been my constant companion in my architecture work life. It’s an outlet that provides an expanse on which I can design without the constraints of physical laws and material requirements.

My specific architectural specialty of healthcare facilities also creates a sort of paradox in my designs. The work I do in architecture has a more objective and scientific tilt to it than say, designing a restaurant or a house. Building regulations, specific needs of healthcare departments, infection control, and all sorts of other considerations are part of my design process.

But in Minecraft? The only consideration is what you want to build in your Minecraft world. The design limit is your imagination, as they say a lot. Lots of other creatives involved in designing physical spaces are also attracted to Minecraft due to this limitless design potential. (As an aside: personally, I only play in Survival Mode. I find it more satisfying to build and design a structure using the materials I found in my adventuring. But I do appreciate many builds that others have made through the game’s Creative Mode.)

Building for the character

Unlike in the real world, there is a distinctly streamlined set of needs for your character in the Minecraft world. Steve (or Alex), as the character is named, needs to have the following considerations to survive:

• A shelter (or base) that is well-lighted and secured from enemy mobs (especially during the night). A base serves as the place to put your bed to sleep in (and set your “spawn point” or where you restart in the world in case the character dies); and

• Storage facilities for food, blocks, useful mobs (such as animals), and equipment to supply your character with construction materials, health restoration, and the means to modify the landscape.

As you can see, there is no need for toilet facilities, a kitchen (you can have a room like this in Minecraft but since cooking only involves putting raw food materials into a furnace or smoker, it is an optional room, or more likely just a part of the storage spaces) nor any sort of engineering systems in your shelter (redstone is the closest you get to an electrical/mechanical utility system, but it is not a basic need for the design of the shelter). So, when you design a living space in Minecraft, it has a “barebones” feel to it compared to the real world needs of an end-user.

There is also the aspect of the dimensions of Minecraft: each block is a cube that has a dimension of 1x1x1 m (with some exceptions, like half size blocks like slabs and walls) so an odd “whole number” anthropometric size sensibility emerges in Minecraft. For example, a Door in Minecraft has a height of 2 meters (or two blocks) and a width of 1 meter, the exact height of the character you use in Minecraft to navigate the world.

Some players also build shelters that only have a ceiling height of two blocks, since this is a building technique to prevent certain mobs from entering your shelter (yes, I mean the Enderman), but I personally don’t mind such entities going into my shelter, so I often use a three-block high ceiling for general room heights.

Some thoughts

As I write about this, I realize that being an architect has its downsides, too, when I play Minecraft: I say that the game is a canvas on which I can create anything, and yet... I still think like an architect. What I mean by that is my builds are often constrained by design habits that make perfect sense in real life, like putting columns and beams. But in Minecraft, such elements of construction are just aesthetic elements in the build. My instincts as an architect make the structures I design in the Minecraft world not as… fantastical as others would make them.

When I see what other minecrafters build in their worlds, I am fascinated by how people who are not constrained by design teachings or work experience can create wonderful and unique structures that, frankly, will not be possible in real life. But due to the canvas that is Minecraft, their creative ideas can be done. Such works should be encouraged and celebrated, since Minecraft has allowed people all over the world to have a way to express their design visions.

On a side note, my favorite Minecraft seed is this one I found on the Internet: 465739527203. This spawns you in one of the largest stony peak biomes I have seen so far. I like stony peaks because I enjoy the view from the top of the mountain. I like watching the clouds move under me, and I like to have a high viewing angle from which I can admire the build. There is also more iron in this biome, so strategically, it is a plus to be well-equipped from the start. (Just a warning, it is difficult to find food initially in a place like this—but I think that it adds more fun to the game!)

"When I see what other minecrafters build in their worlds, I am fascinated by how people who are not constrained by design teachings or work experience can create wonderful and unique structures that, frankly, will not be possible in real life. But due to the canvas that is Minecraft, their creative ideas can be done. Such works should be encouraged and celebrated, since Minecraft has allowed people all over the world to have a way to express their design visions."