Modern style
Minimalist villas, apartment buildings and mansions made of concrete, quartz and glass.
What is the modern style?
Modern architecture in Minecraft means clean lines, big glass walls and geometric forms. Instead of ornaments and detail, you get simplicity and space. Instead of wood, you use concrete, quartz and glass. It's a style that looks impressive from far away and elegant up close, but it takes more planning than the medieval style.
The main challenge is proportion. In the modern style every block is on display, because there are no ornaments to draw the eye away. A crooked wall, a badly placed window, a ceiling that's too low: in a modern build, all of it stands out immediately. But once you get the geometry right, the result is spectacular.
The best biome to build in is plains, and if you want a beach villa, an ocean with a sandy shore. Many builders put modern houses on cliffs above the sea, which gives an amazing view.
Block palette
Core blocks
- White Concrete - the main wall material
- Gray Concrete - accents and darker areas
- Block of Quartz - elegant walls and pillars
- Glass Panes - big floor-to-ceiling windows
- Quartz Slabs - floors, windowsills and details
Supporting blocks
- Black Concrete - contrast and window frames
- Dark Oak Planks - warmth in the interior
- Sea Lanterns - built-in lighting
- Green blocks (Moss Block, Leaves) - rooftop gardens
- Light Blue Stained Glass - pools and water accents
- Block of Iron - industrial accents
How to build it, step by step
Plan the geometry with rectangles
Modern buildings are rectangular boxes that intersect. Start by drawing a plan: a main volume of 15x10 blocks with an 8x6 extension set at a different angle. Give each floor 5-6 blocks of height. Every section can have a different size and height, which creates a dynamic silhouette.
Clean walls of concrete and quartz
Use white concrete for the main walls, and gray concrete or another dark block for the window frames and accents. In the modern style, less is more: a uniform material is a strength, not a weakness. Don't mix too many textures on one wall.
Floor-to-ceiling windows
Use glass panes across entire walls. The best effect comes from a black frame (black concrete or gray stained glass panes) around the glazing. Corner windows (with no post in the corner) look especially modern: use glass panes that meet at the corner.
A flat or green roof
Build a flat roof from slabs. You can add a rooftop pool, a garden with grass and flowers, or a terrace with furniture. Put a glass pane railing along the edge. Some builders give the roof a slight slope (slabs stepping in one direction), and that looks great too.
Surroundings and landscaping
Put a pool of turquoise water in front of the villa. Lay paths of smooth stone or quartz slabs. Add low stone walls and a few ornamental trees (bamboo or small oaks). A modern build needs space around it: don't build over every block of land.
Types of modern builds
Cliffside villa
A house built on the edge of a cliff with a panoramic view of the ocean. Glass walls facing the sea and a pool right at the edge. One of the most spectacular projects you can build.
Apartment building
A tall build with identical floors. Balconies with glass railings and a lobby on the ground floor. It looks good in a group with other skyscrapers.
Courtyard house
A U-shaped or L-shaped building that wraps around an inner courtyard with a pool and plants. A private space sheltered from the wind.
Glass office tower
A skyscraper with a fully glazed facade. A steel or concrete frame shows through the glass. A high-ceilinged lobby on the ground floor.
Inspiration from real architecture
- Bauhaus and Le Corbusier - the beginnings of modern architecture. "A house is a machine for living in": minimalism and function without decoration.
- Farnsworth House (Mies van der Rohe) - a glass house in the woods. One of the most recreated buildings in Minecraft.
- Fallingwater (Frank Lloyd Wright) - a house over a waterfall, with rectangular terraces jutting out over the stream.
- Modern buildings in Poland - Varso Tower (310 m, the tallest building in the EU), Daniel Libeskind's Złota 44, and Bałtyk in Poznań by MVRDV. Look for more inspiration in our guide to Polish landmarks.
- Tadao Ando - Japanese minimalism: concrete, water and light. Perfect proportions and quiet spaces.
Fun facts
- Modern is the second most popular building style in Minecraft, after medieval. On Planet Minecraft it has more downloads than any other style except medieval.
- Greenfield, the largest city in Minecraft (a Guinness World Record), is built mostly in the modern style: 38 square kilometers and more than 8,000 buildings.
- Quartz has to be mined in the Nether, which makes the modern style more expensive than the medieval one in survival. Many players replace it with white concrete (sand + gravel + white dye).
- In Minecraft, glass panes won't join at a corner without a post, which is one of the biggest frustrations for modern builders. There are mods (Connected Textures) that fix this.
- Keralis (YouTube, 1.4M subscribers) is known mainly for his modern builds and regularly makes tutorials for houses in this style.
