For Matt Holmes, Minecraft is more than a game he played on his iPod Touch — it’s the foundation of his entire design philosophy.
What began as a middle school curiosity about multiplayer treehouses evolved into a passion for creating realistic, sustainable cities inside the game’s blocky world.
Holmes is a 2023 graduate of Carleton University’s architectural conservation and sustainability engineering program, and he currently works as an airport planner in Vancouver. With the help of his own experience and content he learned at Carleton, his YouTube channel, Alpine1 Builds, inspires thousands of subscribers to think critically about urban design through Minecraft.
The Charlatan sat down with Holmes to talk about how Minecraft shaped his engineering journey, the challenges of translating real worlds into a game and how Holmes teaches others to build smarter cities — in online and offline worlds.
Matt Holmes (MH): I’m juggling many projects, sometimes struggling to finish them all. My main focus is an online course called City Design 101, which helps people design virtual cities in Minecraft or elsewhere. It’s based on my experience visiting real cities and exploring on Google Maps. I want to put all my city knowledge in one place so people don’t have to search through my videos.
I’m also working on small Minecraft builds, like a hotel. It’s original. Recently, I biked around downtown Vancouver, filming six buildings with interesting curves and details. I took videos and notes while also talking to my camera about what I liked and didn’t. After biking back, I built most of a hotel in Minecraft. That’s the direction I’m slowly inching towards: finding interesting buildings in Vancouver or when I travel.
TC: Walk me through your creative process.
MH: I’ve been trying to nail down my creative process for about 10 years, and I still haven’t gotten it perfectly. I try to document my process as it evolves. Usually I’m inspired by real-life buildings, then I’ll appreciate aspects from each of them. I very rarely recreate real-life buildings, but I will take elements.
For example, there’s one interesting skyscraper in downtown Vancouver called Alberni by Kengo Kuma. It has this huge curve for the bottom two-thirds of it, and then it goes flat on the top. In Minecraft, I took the hotel’s two-thirds of a curve and compressed it.
A lot of the time, my work is based on iterations. I’ll design a curve in Minecraft, then flip it around, turn it upside down, change the materials and maybe wrap it around an existing shape.
MH: I started playing Minecraft in middle school on an iPod Touch. Little did I know it would spark my interest in architecture and engineering. That led me to study architectural engineering at Carleton. By third year, I had a solid understanding of building structures: where beams and columns go, how staircases and elevators connect and elements like solar shading.
I decided then, since I’m already playing Minecraft, why don’t I apply those skills there? On the multiplayer server I play on — Cubed, which I joined around 2014 — people often asked me questions about architecture and engineering. Instead of typing it out every time, I made videos to explain things in detail with visuals. That helped people understand and sharing videos became easier.
TC: What motivated you to create courses like City Design 101 and Architectural Engineering 101 as a next step from YouTube?
MH: It felt natural. I knew how to make videos from beginning to end, so building a course was manageable. City Design 101 is about my general approach to designing virtual cities — from vision to execution to teamwork.
The other key elements are maintaining motivation and avoiding burnout during big projects. It’s a work in progress and can evolve. Architectural Engineering 101 is a one-hour masterclass about what architectural engineering actually is, based on my degree and experience. It’s for people considering this field who want an honest look at what the degree involves and career possibilities, coming from someone who just graduated.
MH: Definitely, at least at the educational level. It’s harder to break in on a professional level. I work in airport planning and don’t see much use for Minecraft there, but for learning and experimentation, it has great potential. It definitely helps me visualize in 3D a lot better than if I hadn’t played Minecraft.
One of my recent videos was a 3D preliminary design of my team’s mixed-use multi-family Net Zero building project. Minecraft helped turn 2D ideas like stairs, elevators and mechanical systems into 3D. With complex shapes and systems, Minecraft is unexpectedly good. For fine mechanical or electrical details, we used professional tools.
TC: What’s a common misconception you try to correct in your tutorials and courses?
MH: Many first-time builders think it’s easier than it is. You see cool builds and believe you can do that, but when you try, it’s different.
Stay confident but humble, and be open to others’ feedback.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured image provided by Matt Holmes.
