The University of Clayhurst

[LE0]

Is the university slope-conforming?

[Scarton]

Can you post a pic of the other dorm you finished please? Also, how is the Swan Centre for Business Studies coming along?

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thanks!  I guess you're right... we don't need any censorship here...

XiahouDun:  Iowa, huh?  I should have known my cousin was up to something!    Thank you!

Citycapitalizer:  Thank you!  As for your second post... the finished dorms can all be seen on pages one or two.  The Swan Centre for Business Studies hasn't been started yet, so I guess it's not really coming along much at all. 

Matt:  Thanks!  Someone else talked about following the "curve" of the buildings on the BSC board as well.  I doubt I'll be doing that because at ground level, the angles don't really apply.  The picture below should explain a little better.

Arthur:  Thank you!  I'm glad you like them.

Le0:  Slope conforming?  Yes and no, I guess.  The path and driveway lots most certainly are slope conforming.  The building lots really are not.  They are slope tolerant to an extent (they won't completely flatten the ground you plop them on) but they don't include any custom foundations, so any slopes need to be quite minor or it starts to get ugly fast.

Back to the shape of the courtyard for a second.  Here's a picture looking straight down at the area between all three towers:



As the red line I added shows, when you take the main entry for each tower into account, the building's footprint at ground level is much more square in comparrison to the tops of each tower.  While I could still make the courtyard follow those angles (which would certainly add some interest), I would end up with one of two problems.  First the courtyard would end up far too close to each "front door" of the towers... or second the courtyard would be significantly smaller.  I'm not a big fan of either result, so unless there are other ideas, I'll probably stick to what I've got.

In the meantime, I had a pretty busy weekend and didn't get very far with this.  I did manage to do a test render just to check the underground portions.  The good news is that with a little extra LOD work I am able to hide the underground portions without really changing anything I've done so far.  The bad news is that I have some pretty strange shadow issues going on at the moment:



Obviously, there shouldn't be any shadow to the left side of those images... but there is something there.  Not sure what it is... but we'll figure that out eventually.

More next time,
JB

[Pat]

But Jon you said I could say anything I wanted too!!! lol



OK honestly I do have to say the sunken plaza is just stunning work!!! I cant wait to see it finished off!!!!

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thanks!  I haven't been very inspired for the sunken plaza recently... so I'll come back to it at some point later.

In the meantime, I did a very simple building to serve as the Campus Security... aka police station.  I'll be the first to admit that this isn't anything all that exciting, but I really didn't think something like this should be all that fancy anyway.  The lotting will definitely add some more interest... it should end up being 2x2 and fully functional.



That's about all for the moment...
JB

[threestooges]

That looks great Jon, and reminds me a fair bit of a few public safety buildings I've seen, so great work on that. Looking forward to seeing what the lotting brings.
-Matt

[Pat]

Jon no problem there at all about the lack of intrest in the sunken plaza... The Campus Safty Building is looking real nice and defintly would fit for any campus!!!

[JBSimio]

Matt:  Thanks!  I'll probably not get to the lotting on that one until next week sometime.

Pat:  Thank you!

Just a sneak preview of the third and final classroom building for EP1.  This will ultimately be the Swan Centre for Business Studies:



Not a whole lot to say at this point yet.  The lower level is actually a partial "basement" level as you'll see later... but it does explain the height of the staircase to the first floor.  I might get another update on this one later tonight, but first I have to run some errands before the trip to LA tomorrow morning.  I'll probably take this one along on the laptop in case inspiration continues to strike. 

More to come...
JB

[Diggis]

Looks good Jon.  The campus security building needs a chubby guy in a little golf cart with a donut

[threestooges]

Coming to LA are you? If you will happen to be around Disneyland, I live near there. I like the new design you have here. It looks a bit different in style from the other buildings. Sort of a bit more contemporary, almost 80s office park (and I mean that in a good way). Then again, that's just the impression I get here without textures. Looking forward to more.
-Matt

[Pat]

Interesting walls there Jon lol!!!

BTW Matt didn't someone make a song like that coming to LA??

[Sciurus]

Very beautiful

Guillaume

[JBSimio]

Shaun:  Thanks!  Hmmm... it might be fun to model a golf cart cop car and get it turned into automata...

Matt:  Thank you!  This one definitely has more of that office park feel, which I thought was a fitting design for a business school.  I'm hoping that some of the more contemporary dorms and the DeBussy School will help it to blend in better.  I had a great time as usual down in the southern half of the state, but we never really got over by Disneyland this time.  (We were in Garden Grove a couple times, but never with a lot of extra time to spare)

Pat:  Thank you!

Guillaume:  Thanks!

I'm back home again after a very nice week away.  I managed to get a bit further with this one while I was gone... mostly still sizing things up and getting the general layout arranged.  Here's a look:





There are a couple things I'm not sure about just yet.  The staircase on the side seemed like a good idea at the time and was a perfect fit for later foot paths... but as the building progressed there weren't any more good places to repeat the feature.  Now it just seems to stick out by itself, which I feel looks a little stupid.  So that may or may not stay (probably not, to be honest).  I'm also still trying to sort out the size of the courtyard in the middle of the two wings there.  It strikes me as a bit small right now, but the only way to change that will be if I make the final lot size a touch larger.  It stands at 5x5 in these pictures, but 5x6 is still a very good possibility.  I know some of this is hard to see without the floors or roof on the building, but any thoughts are always most welcome!

JB

[Pat]

Jon I think its looking fine there the stair case... But what I am wondering about is the section that has a big gap??

[XiahouDun]

I'm giddy to see the final product, and inspired to work on a university of my own :lmao: Or some kind of expansion if I thought I could ever do your work justice

[Jack_wilds]

Hello JBsimio, Jack wilds here...

Hows life at your end?  its been rather quit here of late... reckon its the spring weather that's keeping you busy...

This is a really good project, its progressing with a number of surprises.  I wish that I had the SC4 disc so thhis project could also be a part of one on of my cities.

A couple of thoughts on the end stairs...
having the door/entry/stairs does make sense on that end of the building however placing a patio that wraps that end of the wing and tie into a courtyard between the wings -which means an elevated type of court yard affording another entry in to the opposite wing,
or...
just keep the patio feature to the one wing with a tree or two a couple of picnic tables and a thematic feature.

Well enough for now, trust that RL is treating well...

Jack

[benvoliothefirst]

Count me among those who are VERY excited to see this set take shape. You are the master of education!

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thank you!  I think the gap will make a little more sense now that I've closed things up. 

XiahouDun:  Thanks so much!

Jack:  RL got a little hectic here (as I'm sure a lot of people guessed... )  I've changed the building around quite a bit, but I think a couple of your ideas may have made it into the new layout.  Thanks!

Benvoliothefirst:  Thank you!

Well... I obviously got a bit sidetracked over the last month or so.  I finally had the urge and enough time to pick this up again and ended up changing quite a few things about the building.  Here's the latest:





I think this layout will work a bit better than what I started with.  I still need to add the skylights and model the sunken courtyard here, but that should be the last of the major pieces.  Everything else will be smaller details after that.  Still a fair bit to go, but it's coming along... 

JB

[Jack_wilds]

Hello JB, Jack wilds here...

Glad to hear from you, knowing that all is well in RL for the most part.  

Like the building a lot better, taking the court yard down and sending the 'balcony-walk' around the perimeter ties it together better, it looks better defined, appears deeper...  it reminds me of a science Bldg. at a UW-campus. 

Then setting the entries back give it some architectural appeal in spite of those lean budget years, -thats how it appears plain, conservative utility with a little flair -something needed to fit the bill but not too fancy... at least they kept the gardens in the budget.  Perhaps the campus has a horticultural-agriculture-landscape program that maitains all these gardens...    imaginings gone amuck... 

Sunken courtyards seem to be a common thing thru-out the Clayhurst campus... could a bloomin' cherry tree be placed in this court yard's center...

Peace and health from the northwoods

Jack 

[Pat]

Jon again another master piece from you is truly taking place!!! BTW I did finally cough up 32 bucks and donated but waiting is killing me for the Clayhurst lol