Post by Surreptitious Cardboard Box on Feb 17, 2008 13:45:47 GMT
Okay, so I lied a bit; 'Hogwarts Castle' is such an overstatement. I really feel for the Marauders; mapping out Hogwarts must have taken pretty much just as long as it did to become animagi. Basically, I spent a few hours last night and this morning drawing out half of the West Wing of the castle, or rather, just one floor of it; where the Ravenclaw Common Room and dormitories are located. It's not even the whole floor, technically, but all that's left at the other end is the rest of the dormitories, and I'm sure - if you're at all familiar with the material of the books - that you can figure out how that would continue on down the corridor. At the very end - but not accessible from the Ravenclaw House quarters - is, most likely, the staircase that leads up to the north tower, although I couldn't say for sure, of course.
The general layout of the wing was inspired by Harper Robertson's own interpretation of the floor plan, here, however there are some changes that I have made. Since the drawing up of that particular floor plan, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published, in which was provided a rather detailed description of the Ravenclaw Common Room, and its general layout. By combining these two sources, and incorporating a certain amount of artistic license, I've produced what is possibly a slightly more accurate portrayal of how the Ravenclaw House quarters are intended to appear. The main difference between my version, and the one linked to above is that I have changed the Common Room from a rectangular shape into a circle; chapter 29 of Deathly Hallows describes the room as "wide", "circular", and "very airy", and also mentions that opposite the entrance (the staircase tightly winding up the tower) to the Common Room is another door, which Harry presumed to lead to the Ravenclaw dormitories, so I also had to incorporate a change that reflected this layout. That is pretty much where the canon ends.
Harry never steps through this other door, so we don't get a description of what is beyond it. We know that he guesses that the Ravenclaw dormitories are located somewhere "above", but I have three reasons for disliking this supposition. Firstly, it is quite unsurprising for Harry to guess that the dormitories would be above the Common Room, as this is the layout he is familiar with in Gryffindor Tower. Thus, this would likely be the first conclusion he would jump to, before considering where else the dormitories may be located. Let's face it; he's trying to remove the final obstacle to defeating an evil murderer who also happens to be his mortal enemy - somehow, I don't think he's got a lot of time to spend on figuring out where the smartass boys and girls sleep.
Secondly, the Common Room is described as having a domed, painted ceiling; if the ceiling is domed, it's unlikely that there is anything else above it, as this would surely detract from the point of ever having a domed roof in the first place.
Thirdly, and this is mostly from the point of view of somebody who has to plan out the darned thing, if the dormitories are really located 'above', perhaps in additional towers, as in Gryffindor, then it would have made it so much harder to draw. I spent several hours just trying to figure out how all the dormitories in Gryffindor would fit in just one tower, so I'm speaking from experience here.
Besides, we all know how wacky the castle is. Walls are wonky, and classrooms move; I think it's fair to say that the layout of rooms could work out in a variety of ways. Besides, it seems like the entire fifth floor of the West Wing is a bit of a waste of space if the dormitories aren't located along there.
I added the balconies and the external walkway in there just for a bit of fun. Essentially, the students have to technically go out in the open to get from the Common Room to their dormitories, but my thinking behind it is that the walkway - although open - is shielded, while archways take you out to the balconies, where you can get an undisturbed view of the mountains, lake, and school grounds, depending on where you're standing (Ravenclaw really is the house with the best views). The balconies have a battlemented parapet along them, obviously, to prevent people from falling off.
The Common Room's "graceful, arched windows" look out over the balconies, as well as bring in light from outside, through the walkway, although I'm aware I drew them a bit squigey in places.
Admittedly, I mostly drew this for reference purposes to help with my fanfiction (it's so much easier to look at a map and imagine what the location of the scene looks like whilst writing, than to have to completely base it on what you remember of the films), but I also did it for fun, even though it did suck up a lot of my time. Hope you like ^^.
DISCLAIMER: Hogwarts Castle and its environs and population was created by JKRowling. The blueprint below was based on previously made interpretations (see above) and descriptions from the books written by JKR. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Blueprint of Ravenclaw House quarters
If I do any other floor plans of the school (you never know), then I'll post those here also.
The general layout of the wing was inspired by Harper Robertson's own interpretation of the floor plan, here, however there are some changes that I have made. Since the drawing up of that particular floor plan, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published, in which was provided a rather detailed description of the Ravenclaw Common Room, and its general layout. By combining these two sources, and incorporating a certain amount of artistic license, I've produced what is possibly a slightly more accurate portrayal of how the Ravenclaw House quarters are intended to appear. The main difference between my version, and the one linked to above is that I have changed the Common Room from a rectangular shape into a circle; chapter 29 of Deathly Hallows describes the room as "wide", "circular", and "very airy", and also mentions that opposite the entrance (the staircase tightly winding up the tower) to the Common Room is another door, which Harry presumed to lead to the Ravenclaw dormitories, so I also had to incorporate a change that reflected this layout. That is pretty much where the canon ends.
Harry never steps through this other door, so we don't get a description of what is beyond it. We know that he guesses that the Ravenclaw dormitories are located somewhere "above", but I have three reasons for disliking this supposition. Firstly, it is quite unsurprising for Harry to guess that the dormitories would be above the Common Room, as this is the layout he is familiar with in Gryffindor Tower. Thus, this would likely be the first conclusion he would jump to, before considering where else the dormitories may be located. Let's face it; he's trying to remove the final obstacle to defeating an evil murderer who also happens to be his mortal enemy - somehow, I don't think he's got a lot of time to spend on figuring out where the smartass boys and girls sleep.
Secondly, the Common Room is described as having a domed, painted ceiling; if the ceiling is domed, it's unlikely that there is anything else above it, as this would surely detract from the point of ever having a domed roof in the first place.
Thirdly, and this is mostly from the point of view of somebody who has to plan out the darned thing, if the dormitories are really located 'above', perhaps in additional towers, as in Gryffindor, then it would have made it so much harder to draw. I spent several hours just trying to figure out how all the dormitories in Gryffindor would fit in just one tower, so I'm speaking from experience here.
Besides, we all know how wacky the castle is. Walls are wonky, and classrooms move; I think it's fair to say that the layout of rooms could work out in a variety of ways. Besides, it seems like the entire fifth floor of the West Wing is a bit of a waste of space if the dormitories aren't located along there.
I added the balconies and the external walkway in there just for a bit of fun. Essentially, the students have to technically go out in the open to get from the Common Room to their dormitories, but my thinking behind it is that the walkway - although open - is shielded, while archways take you out to the balconies, where you can get an undisturbed view of the mountains, lake, and school grounds, depending on where you're standing (Ravenclaw really is the house with the best views). The balconies have a battlemented parapet along them, obviously, to prevent people from falling off.
The Common Room's "graceful, arched windows" look out over the balconies, as well as bring in light from outside, through the walkway, although I'm aware I drew them a bit squigey in places.
Admittedly, I mostly drew this for reference purposes to help with my fanfiction (it's so much easier to look at a map and imagine what the location of the scene looks like whilst writing, than to have to completely base it on what you remember of the films), but I also did it for fun, even though it did suck up a lot of my time. Hope you like ^^.
DISCLAIMER: Hogwarts Castle and its environs and population was created by JKRowling. The blueprint below was based on previously made interpretations (see above) and descriptions from the books written by JKR. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Blueprint of Ravenclaw House quarters
If I do any other floor plans of the school (you never know), then I'll post those here also.