Sorry, guys, I got tied up with school and other projects, and didn't have time to work on this for a while, but I'm back at it tonight.  Got a few minor things done in the past hour:

I just added some more details to the mesh.  I beveled out some stones along the cornice part of the dome; there's also a pendant now inserted into the top of the dome, under the scroll (this is separate geometry).  I also modeled in two buttress blocks in front of the bench area where the bird baths will eventually sit; I inset some areas around the base, mostly for visual affect, nothing structural.  Then I also inset two deep bays in the facade of the base on either side, as you can see in the screencap, where I'll also add vase-like geometry, or possibly small columns for even more detail.

Hope you guys like it so far.  I'm continuing on now with the birdbaths, which I think will add a striking visual impact to the structure overall.  Well, at least I hope they will.

I'm doing really well so far on my originally projected polygon budget of 50k.  So far, I'm now at just 8430 total polygons.  This model will not be all quads; obviously I had no choice but to add some tris here to get the shapes I needed, but the ratio is still heavily in favor of quad topology.  I have exactly 8268 (98%) quads, and only 162 (2%) triangles here so far.  No NGONS, of course.  I'd rather poke out my eyes with jagged shards of glass than to leave even one ngon in a finished mesh.

Anyway, the polycount will get exponentially larger, especially once I add some chamfering to the outer edges, and continue with more geometry additions, but I think keeping this under 50k shouldn't be an issue at all, and should allow for a very manageable, yet detailed piece in the end.

______________________________________

My Store
My Free Models
My Video Tutorials
My CG Animations
Instagram: @luxxeon3d
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luxxeon