Joel's House



Joel's House is a building in The Town on dlminecraft server. It houses the minecraft possessions of Joel, and serves as an important station stop on the Joel-Town Central railroad. The house is located on the south east end of main street.

Construction
Joel's House was the forth house to be constructed on dlminecraft server. The house began when Craig assisted Joel in selecting an appropriate empty plot, and then proceeded to build Joel a small simple shack made of cobblestone to keep him from dying at night. Over the course of a few days Joel added upper floors to the shack, each of which were much larger than and extended over the sides of the shack. Pillars were placed on the lower floor to reinforce the upper floors. Joel decided that he liked the lower courtyard he created by having a tiny lower floor with outdoor pillars, and built a wall of dirt to enclose it. Local red flowers were collected and placed atop the wall. Trees were planted in the courtyard. The structure was built four stories high, the first used for lounging and nothing at all, the second for food production and living space, the third as a work and storage area, and the forth as a lookout and the Hanging Gardens of Joeldom, a rooftop dirt patch containing huge Acacia trees and exotic flowers collected from faraway lands.

Initially the entire house was made from cobblestone and mostly dirt, as understanding of the production of building materials was non-existent. The second floor of the house featured a large dirt balcony in which a wheat farm was planted, this was in the days when the community farm was a tiny patch barely worth mentioning.

Eventually building material methods were learned and the dirt replaced by cobblestone and baked stone. Joel prefers the look of cobblestone and hardened stone over stone bricks, which look too "castley". Glass was made and the entire structure windowed over. Eventually the second floor farming terrace was entirely enclosed in glass and carpeted and turned into the master bedroom. Clay was shipped in from Joel's Estate to add a color dimension and installed in horizontal bands.

The design of the house embraces strong geometry, shapes within shapes, terracing, natural building materials, natural lighting, and incorporation of landscape elements, all of which are principals practiced by the late Frank Llyod Wright.

A basement was later added. Initially attempts at creating a basement were stymied by the presence of a high water table. The first "basement" became an underground pool immediately, and was then embraced as such. A waterslide (see below) was built from the pool plunging down to Y15.

The new basement was made by carefully trapping the water over to one side in a little pool. The basement was then filled with large amounts of glowstone which create a nice effect. Currently the basement is used for storage, accessing the waterslide, and chilling out.

It is interesting to note that the original structure that Craig built for Joel remains as the first floor of the house. It is essentially unchanged from its original state.

Train Station
A train station was built attached to the rear of Joel's House. The station platform can be accessed either from stairs at the grass at ground level, or from the third floor of Joel's house. The station serves as the main terminus for minecart traffic, and from the station all destinations can be reached with minimal transfers. Please read local signage for routing instructions.

Waterslide
The waterslide is a curious feature accessed from the basement of Joel's House. The original purpose of the waterslide was to divert water out of the basement area (this was before game water physics were understood). Eventually the slide was extended and repurposed as a speedier way to transport oneself directly into the mine tunnels under The Town, now referred to as the Y15 network. Much of the original Y15 network actually got its start from the tunnels carved away from the splash pool of the slide. The end of the slide also has a quick stair up back to main street.