the area you spawn in, which seems to be a residential zone or apartment complex of some kind

theres a kind of like, pond area nearby? maybe it's meant to be a park of sorts??

theres a hallway between the residential zone and what i'm tentatively calling the "lobby" that has this, like, waiting room or sitting area kind of place

the "lobby" doesn't actually have an entrance (the proper entrance to the city is at the very top, whereas this place is at the very bottom), but it does have what looks to me like a reception area

i guess it could be a lobby to the residential zone? apartment complex??

backing up to the other side of the apartments, the stairs near the pond area lead up to a big open-air library

going straight through the library there's a staircase on the other side leading back down, to this four-way intersection

taking a left at the intersection leads to this complex i'm calling the green area

the ground floor of the green area has a little room for growing mushrooms, and a couple little plots of land with trees growing on them

these are cleverly built with green wool instead of grass, for that extra artificial feel

the multi-tiered structure in the middle of the green area houses three different levels for growing the only three plants it was possible to grow back in early minecraft. the tiers are connected by a ladder at the front and by a series of access halls at the back

i'm not sure how to explain why but i'm really charmed by the back access halls. they're weirdly labyrinthine and easy to get lost in for such an apparently compact structure

going back to the intersection and taking a right, we have... i'm not sure what this space is exactly, but i'll call it the "venue area" because it seems like a place where you could host parties or other social events maybe

the ground floor has what looks like a bar and a bookstore, and what i guess is supposed to be an art gallery or art installation of some kind

some of the "art" in here is housed in a kind of recessed sort of display that creates a neat optical effect which doesn't really come across in screenshots

back outside and across this glowing pathway to the stairs at the far end, you have this multi-tiered structure that overlooks the whole area

i guess these spaces could actually be like, cafes or something?? bars maybe???

the floors are all made of glass and it's a really strange vibe

back to the intersection and going straight ahead, there's the central area. this is the only part of the city exposed to the open sky, and i happened to catch this area while it was raining which i thought looked neat with the shaders i was using

the covered area to the right actually leads back to the lobby and the residential area, and going to the left and under the stairs brings you to an entrance to the back access halls of the green area

taking the stairs up is how you get to the actual entrance to the city at the surface of the water, by way of a path through the final sector of the city, which i'll call the amenities area

i'm referring to it as a single sector, but fully half of my screenshots are of this area. it's very dense and has a lot of interesting things in it

up the stairs and to the first tier, you have this.... i'm not sure what this place is actually?? like a lounge or maybe a restaurant?? it has a raised area that looks like a stage, so maybe it's meant to be a venue of some kind actually

the second tier has two main features-- an infirmary and a lecture hall

also some nice views

the verticality of the lecture hall actually causes it to span both the second and third tier, so you can move between those tiers by way of the back exit to the lecture hall in addition to going back to the stairs you came from

the third tier even has this weird kinda balcony area which overlooks the lecture hall for some reason?? idk man it's weird but it looks neat i guess

the rest of the third tier is a lobby and reception/front desk kinda room. given how it's connected to the lecture hall, i think this might be intended to be part of a "school" or something??

a catwalk off to the side of the third tier which leads to a sort of "observation deck" where you can get a bird's eye view of the venue area, the green area, and the glass roof of the library

this is an area i only found while making this post

anyways, you pass through the reception area to find the stairs to the 4th tier, where you find yourself at an intersection between two split halves of this tier.

to the right, you have a... garden? i guess maybe this is a zen garden?? and a conference room

whoops forgot one

and to the left you have... i can only assume this is meant to be another art gallery but i really dont know

and past the gallery, you have a front desk with what i guess is a back-office records room, and an exit leading to a place where you can see the source of the water feature that spirals around the exterior of each level of the amenities area

here's a better view of that actually. all the tiers except the first tier have an exterior exit that lets you visit the little areas with the cacti and the waterfalls

and finally, up the stairs to the 5th tier, which isn't really a proper tier at all, just kind of a landing area on the way to the surface with some glass hallways that serve as a kind of observation deck

and then, the rest of the way up the stairs to, finally, the surface

and the best aerial view of the entire structure i was able to get

back when i first downloaded this map, i remember that minecraft did not properly handle rendering water against glass, so this had the effect of causing all the exterior windows to look like they had water flowing downwards over them

but even in modern times, underwater scenery through glass has never looked great in minecraft, and i installed these shaders in part with the hopes that that specific aspect would look cooler

unfortunately it didn't quite have that effect, due to a mix of factors, including the fact that the shaders don't properly render the sky through 2 or more transparent layers, the system resource demand forcing me to keep the render distance low, and the fact that the underwater scenery in this build was never very impressive to begin with

mainly because back then the tools to make good-looking underwater scenery in minecraft just didn't exist yet

no kelp or seagrass, no coral, no waterlogged blocks or anything like that

but i AM really happy with how the shaders created these kind of watery god rays effect over a lot of the interior scenery, where the light passed through the water. i found myself adjusting the time of day a lot while exploring to maximize the presence of that effect because i'm really fond of it

The lighting effects are really pretty!