JB School Packs - Because school shouldn't be boring!

[XiahouDun]

XiahouDun:  Thank you!  A free standing gym is a nice possibility... the only problem being that I've never been to a school that has one.  So I really don't know what kind of form it should take.

I can get you a satalite shot of one, and try to find some pictures if you'd like

[threestooges]

That's a grand entrance for the new one. It almost seems like it could support a 3rd story, but it looks great as it is. Glad to see you put a fence around the South Elementary lot (keep the kids on the playgrounf instead of the parking lot. The end result is very nice. Sorry I haven't posted here in a while, but I've been watching the development.
-Matt

[art128]

And the progress continue .... with as always, an awesome look 

[TheTeaCat]

Oh I really like the look of this one

Superb shape. Already I can see the potential this bat has.
magnificent work Jon.
(I envy your skills  )

Till the next time
regards

Derry

[Pat]

Jon very nice progress here wow!!!

[JBSimio]

XiahouDun:  I'll always welcome any pictures you want to share... just send me a PM or a link. 

Matt:  Thanks!  You have a good eye... the height for much of the center section would indeed be enough for a third story.  I had to go a bit higher than normal to accomodate the sloped roof sections on the classroom wings.  I'm still a little concerned that it might be too high to match up in the game, but we'll see when I get that far.  For now, I'm using the argument that they just left a lot of "attic space" for duct work and such!   

Arthur:  Thank you!

Derry:  Thanks!  I've almost started a theme with interesting shapes for these two packs...    At least they won't all start to look like repeats!

Pat:  Thank you!

I got another lot started and maybe finished (or nearly so)... Eisenhower Elementary was next on the list:





I still have to make a prop for the sign out front... which means that is missing at the moment.  (Brilliant deduction, wasn't it?)  I'm also still debating a chain link fence along side of the driveway and possibly closing in the playground area by continuing the wooden fencing the rest of the way around.  I'm not sure about either one just yet, so I'm certainly open to suggestions about that or anything else.

More later,
JB

[Pat]

Jon all I got to say is simply yet very good!!! 

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thanks!  Some of it may still change... but we'll see.

I figured I might as well keep this little exporting party going, so I finished up Roth Elementary as well.  Unfortunately, the lot looks very bare in this picture because aparently it was 1AM game time, when I took the shots.     You'll have to trust that there are some cars, people, and kids playing four square and tether ball.  At the same time, it is still a very simple lot... I wanted to make it as urban as possible without completely eliminating the grass.  So here's a look:





Just for the sake of comparrison... here's a look at some of the stats for each one so far:

[tabular type=1]
[row][head]Building[/head][head]Lot Size[/head][head]Plop Cost[/head][head]Student Capacity[/head][head]Coverage Radius[/head][head]Total Jobs[/head][/row]
[row][data]Eisenhower Elementary[/data][data]4 x 4[/data][data]500[/data][data]750[/data][data]576[/data][data]31[/data][/row]
[row][data]South Elementary[/data][data]4 x 4[/data][data]600[/data][data]950[/data][data]576[/data][data]39[/data][/row]
[row][data]Roth Elementary[/data][data]5 x 3[/data][data]1700[/data][data]2450[/data][data]640[/data][data]88[/data][/row]
[/tabular]

These were all done with the X-Tool (which was not the case for the first three packs, by the way)... there are a few things that seem a little out of line (like the plop cost for Roth), but most of them look to be fairly close to what I would have expected.  The good news is that even without the X-Tool, the stats of School Pack Vol. One elementaries seem to line up pretty well with these too.

That's about it for this time...
JB

[Pat]

LoL Jon not bad for being 1 am lol gezzzs...  I wonder what Roth Elementary would look like with some activity hehehe  during the day time *snickerin*  Anywho Jon I trust you and I know you make it work and make it to be damn good no matter what!!!!

[FrankU]

Looking good! All of them!

[threestooges]

Thanks Jon, I think I'm finally starting to develop my BATter's eye. Partly from my own stuggles with scale and seeing a building in game dwarfing what should be a larger structure... yeah, there a reason I'm sticking to bridges right now,heh heh. If you could pull it off, I think a row of a few smaller winodws (skylight sorts) along the 'third' floor might fill in the wall nicely.

As for Eisenhower Elementary, I would suggest carrying the wooden fence (or some form of wooden fence) around the play area to the front. Looking at the present setup I don't see a closer door than the one on the right. I think they would have a fence there to keep the wee ones out of the street. I like how you left most of the lot open though. It'll make it easier to blend with fields and such.

I like the satellite dish on Roth (teacher's breakroom?) and the whole building turned out quite well. I think you managed a building/lot that could be used both in urban, and less urban areas. I would add a few more pieces of play equipment in the back, especially considering the increased capacity.

Great work on this stuff Jon.
-Matt

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thanks for the vote of confidence!  My guess is that Roth Elementary would still look like an old brick building... but with more kids playing nearby.   

FrankU:  Thank you!

Matt:  Thanks!  I'm not sure about the idea of a third row of windows really.  My thought was that most of the ducting and such would be sandwiched in that attic type of crawl space... but that's just my imagination which is always subject to change!  I've actually made a couple changes to the Eisenhower lot already, and there may be a few more yet... so I'll update that picture next time I work on it.  I'd like to put a few more things behind Roth Elementary, but there just isn't a whole lot of room back there.  My only other choice would be to add another tile's worth of depth to the lot.  I'd rather not do that or the lot will start to feel too "open"... so I'm not sure about that one yet either.  Basically, I guess I'm saying I don't know what I'm going to do with anything just yet!    

Well... I went back to John Novak Elementary today.  I think I've basically finished most of the major modeling for this one!  I can now say that the overall lot size for this should be 9x6 or maybe 9x7... somewhere in there.  Here's a look at all four sides:









It goes without saying that I still have to add the roof junk and some other small details.  (Hmm... if it really goes without saying, then why did I just say it?)  There are also one or two minor things that I might still change, but I'm not entirely sure.  If anyone sees something that just doesn't make sense or looks like complete garbage, speak now or forever hold... um... I don't know what you should hold.  I may start trying to texture this tomorrow... but that's going to be a job and a half all by itself.  On top of the dread I feel in taking this all back apart... I should also really do the lighting first so I can keep the rotations all nice and properly lined up.  Anyway... I'm just rambling now, so I think I'll shut up and say the usual

Til next time...
JB

[XiahouDun]

I really like it The shape of the building really provides a lot of interesting lotting options.

[allan_kuan1992]

I don't get what's going on with the second floor at the central building... like... the shape of the right side is totally odd and different compared to the left side.

I'm not very sure if i like the addition (the one-floor building that is sticking out of the yellow central building)... and such a large school tells me they might need another gym as well... so I dunno... maybe replace that with a second gym? Then again it might be just my pure distaste for anything non-symmetrical

Other than that the building looks really really good   I think it could even be added to in height and be designated as a high school as well. Or even maybe some portables or an addition, considering there's a lot of play space to occupy.

In the end I don't mind if there is variety of the same building. Vancouver did something similar when it came to building our high school and the neighbouring ones as well, as they needed a lot of schools in a short time in the 1950s. Not everything is the same... as there is variety in the layout of the buildings, but some of the schools look similar exterior-wise to ours.

- Allan Kuan

[Diggis]

This is looking great Jon.   That yellow Stucco will really stand out in my cities. 

Contrary to Allan's views, I like the low building sticking out the side.  Says cafeteria to me, although that may be because I had a school with a cafe like that.   

Thats going to be a massive lot.  Could I suggest a couple of stand alone buildings be done and make it massive school?

[JBSimio]

XiahouDun:  Thanks!  Yeah... I have a feeling that lotting this one may be a bit of a challenge.   

Allan_kuan:  I completely understand what's going on with the back of the building... but that's probably because I designed it.     The picture below should help explain things a bit more (at least I hope so!).  The front of the building is intentionally very symmetrical, but then around back is where function sort of overtakes form a bit more.  I'm not sure about adding a third level... this one is already quite a bit taller than it "should be"... but I may make a second lot for high school use.  Not sure about that just yet.  Thanks for the comments!

Shaun:  Thanks!  Caffeteria is a good guess!    I may end up using some outbuildings on this one... but I'm not sure what they might be yet.  I could ressurect the maintanence garage for use off the parking area.  I also have recently noticed a number of schools with "learning gardens" where the students actually grow vegetables and all that fun stuff.  (Then again, that might be one of those California things... they seem to love their organic stuff around here!)   

I've always had a lot of comments about my arrangements of these schools.  I thought it might be interesting to show just what my mind goes through when I make some of these things... and given Allan's comments, this seemed like a good example to use.  Now, I'm not going to lie and say that I always have these things in mind... but more often than not, I at least keep a lot of these ideas in my head as I go along.  Here's a little "floor plan" view of John Novak Elementary:



Most schools are designed in a way that various areas and sections can be closed off, particularly during events when the building might be open to the public (basket ball games, commencement concerts, etc).  In this case, public areas would include the gym, auditorium (which I suppose could be a second gym if you want it to be), and the immediate surrounding areas like a set of restrooms, canteen (gotta sell popcorn and hot dogs to make money somewhere!) and connecting hallways.  They could be accessed from either the main entry or public entry (which would be closer to the parking lots).  The caffeteria could easily be included or not depending on the event in question.  Everything else could be easily closed off to limit public access.  In the same way, during the school day, all the common areas are centrally located.  This isn't always a huge issue, but in a building this size it would probably be taken into consideration just to keep the walks a little shorter.

Naturally, if you really started to pick apart all the schools I've made so far, you'll find plenty of exceptions to this... but it is a rough guide I use.  If you start to look, you'll generally find some sort of main entry near the gym.  You'll usually find a caffeteria and kitchen combination somewhere... and I usually tend to bundle the classrooms into wings or blocks.  At the same time, the game that we're all using these for presents limitations that I always have to make exceptions for.  For older buildings, there is usually a lot more conformity to the exterior look as a whole... for newer buildings, there is a bit more flexibility as the "rules" of design have changed.  So what's my point?  I don't really know...    I guess I'm just saying that I really do put a lot of thought into these and rarely just start throwing a bunch of rectangles together in the hopes that it will look like a school once I've finished.  Or maybe I'm just trying to distract you from the fact that none of these are completely finished yet!   

But they will be...
JB

[art128]

this school look really nice my friend, for sure you can see it in my MD 

[Andreas]

You made it rather easy to "read" the functionality of the building in that case, I think - when I had a closer look at it after reading Allan's posting, I guessed everything right and even took the "second gym" into consideration. Ok, my eyes are "architecturally trained", so I probably can guess more than the average Joe, but you did a nice job with defining the shapes. In RL proportions, the gym would be way too small (esp. compared to the cafeteria), but then again, Maxis did the very same after all by making the gyms just a tad larger than a regular classroom. Most schools I know from this area have a dedicated gym building which is detached from the rest of the school (both old and new ones), which is probably easier to build because of the different ceiling heights and such.

[paroch]

Whoa Jon - this latest creation is awesome.

I like your logic applied to it as well, makes sense to me at least!  I can't wait to plop this baby and build the playing fields around it (one of my favourite SC4 activities).

All the best,

Paul

[allan_kuan1992]

That's a really small gym... elementary school wise it's okay....

However, secondary schools usually have two gyms that can be converted into one large one (like my school) and possibly an additional gym in addition to the large main one.

I like how you took many different factors into consideration when building some of the larger-format schools... there is potential for making it symmetrical through a realignment the walls of the central building but that's just my opinion

- Allan Kuan