Tour: Brighton Academy for the Gifted
So I spent most of the time I set aside to play on Saturday building more crap in the college for Manhattenton, instead of actually playing Skeeter in college. Oops. Well, I have a few more YA "dormies" so more than just the dormmates show up in community lots, and I built at least one building that's just "deco"--a classroom building. I'm sure I'll add a few more here and there. It's interesting to watch things come together. I suddenly realize how sparse my other custom hoods have been, and how much was added to the Maxis hoods, even if none of the characters were that appealing.
(I have about half the actual update done, so I'd expect that Tuesday sometime.)
For now, let's walk through the college. :D
I chose an interesting terrain...I wanted something islandy, but that fit with the theme I had going landscape-wise. I figured it'd be fitting to make the only institute of higher learning on its own little separate island. There are a couple islets with usable space in this terrain, too!
At the bottom, you can see the pier which is basically a color-swapped version of Piltner Pier in Manhattenton (creatively named "Brighton Pier") and at the very top left the "Lookout Point" building with a view of everywhere. At the right, on top of the ridge, if you can squint, you'll see a plumbbob. That's Skeeter and Chessidy's dorm. As I fill up main campus with some more buildings, it won't seem so silly to have a building that far up the road. As it is, I think it's closer to main campus than my first dorm building in college was.
Decent shot of the pier and main campus, though I think it was before I built one of the buildings. Gives a better impression of how far away that dorm is, too. Also, I like how I caught the geese in formation right there. :P
Up in the lagoon, half-hidden by the rocks, is the club that Skeeter visited with her balding dormie boytoy in the last update. It's called Da Funk, and we'll take a closer look at it later.
In the foreground, we have the main area of campus. On the right, the crosslike area? That's the main square. Brighton Square. At least I didn't call it a quad. :P The blank lot across the street will be the student union, as soon as I decide how I want it to look. Next to the future student union, we've got Brighton Library. The U-shaped building along the curve in the road there is currently dubbed the Campus Shopping Strip. It's got a convenience store, the school bookstore, and a small restaurant with an outdoor patio. It's also got a cut-through sidewalk behind the building that the students can use to get to that last building, with the greenhouse. It's Kielin Science Building. It's basically framed-out, but unfinished on the inside, decorated on the outside.
Every college campus needs a fancy sitting area with a fountain (Pitt had at LEAST two that I know of), and a giant lawn area for students to sit under trees and eat/study, and also watch guys play tackle football/ultimate frisbee/etc,etc on.
I decided, since it was supposed to be a fountain pool, that I would use pool water. I think it came out nice. I'll hopefully send one of the girls there at one point to see the full effect with all the fountains. I love the tire swing, too, even though it's not the sort of thing that would probably last long on a campus in real life.
Neat view of the main part of campus, if you ignore that blank patch on the right that should be the student union.
View from the tire swing. Well, right now you can see Da Funk from here, but soon enough, there should be the union, a few classroom buildings, and some more student housing in the way. At the very least.
Exterior shot of the library.
There's the "cut-through" area behind the shopping strip that leads to the science building.
Right now, you can see Skeeter's dorm from here!
The entrance area. Has some areas for posting. I think it's good for a library to have a lobby, since you should be quiet on the inside.
Here's the checkout/returns desk, right of the entrance. You can see the stairs and the popular fiction section.
Immediately when you walk in, there's an area with tables for group projects, studying, or just students who like to spread out a bit. The checkout counter would be directly on the right of where you're standing.
Left: stairs. Middle: popular fiction. Right: Coffee shop. (Hey, Pitt's main library added a freaking Starbucks my Sophomore year.)
Isn't it cozy?
Upstairs...directly in front of you are some comfy chairs and tables for when you're in it for the long haul.
Left, and all the way behind the stairs? The stacks. (Also, how lucky was it that those plasticbox book recolors got uploaded, downloaded, and into my game right before I decide to build a library?) Further left, at what would be the front of the building on the second floor, we have a small computer lab.
I am undecided whether or not I will be building a stand-alone computer lab, but I haven't been in a college library that didn't have a smallish student lab in it somewhere.
The view is a little distracting, but all the large trees ensure the students probably won't be seeing too much action outside these windows.
Shopping strip. Roof on the top-middle is the library, to orient you. There are two entrances on this street. First on the left is the small restaurant. Second entrance is the bookstore. Third entrance is on the right side of the street, about next door to the library.
Like so. You'd see this if you walked out of the library and looked to your right. This is the convenience store.
It's...a convenience store. I forgot to put my fountain drink dispenser in, though, so that'll be added next time I remember. XP
The bookstore, it's not particularly interesting. The cologne display is really only there to justify having a cash register.
All colleges have a bookstore, so even if this is mostly show, I don't care.
I like the restaurant a lot, though we'll see how I like it in action.
Hostess area. (Dining to the left, as seen in the last shot.)
Kitchen front, potties to the left, patio to the right.
Cute patio with an ESCAPE HATCH to the outside.
I don't know why I'm obsessed with the sidewalk I added, except that it seems really likely it would exist if this were a real college campus.
And if you cut through there, you'd end up on the far right of this picture, and at the Kielin Science building.
These trees only exist because I don't know if the imposters show orchard trees, and I kinda wanted something in the greenhouse.
If I ever need a set for an academic building, I've got at least one. It's all plain sheetrock walls and linoleum floors, and of course I have yet to stick in ceilings. :P
Here's Da Funk! Upper left corner? The library, to keep you oriented.
Now here's one problem you'll notice with building on a flooded lot a lot of times. It will decide that the terrain is sand on the lot--and on the rest of the hood view. So everything looks sandy everywhere.
Changed the lighting to nighttime, because that's what this place is intended for. DJ booth, dance sphere, photobooth.
Rather large bar. Hey, how else would you really want to unwind after exams?
Outside deck over the water, complete with patio grill for when the munchies strike! (There's also an outdoor chess table, sorta behind where we're "standing" right now.)
It's almost too pretty to be a club.
Top-down view! We're visiting Lookout Point next, right on the lower left corner. It'll be our last lot, that leaves only one more I haven't toured, and it'll be in the next update. I forgot to get some shots of the park next to the dorm, but they visited it, no worries. :D
It's kind of an awkward building, but it was the first thing I actually built on campus. And it's a decent generic community lot.
I like the ground floor centerpiece. :D
2 stories up...
3 stories up...
And here's the fourth story and the top! I was kind of disappointed to find out that even with extra-large view on, the lower campus buildings weren't displayed from up here. Ah well, at least it proves the view is possible from up here!
So...worth the time spent building? y/n? I still feel kinda lazy because I hardly put up any deco in the buildings, but I can always add odds and ends, it's much harder to get motivated to build, so when I want to do it, I try to get it all out. It'll really look nice if I ever get the place mostly filled up. I'm glad I have an in-story excuse of everything getting settled to be slow to finish all this stuff.
(I have about half the actual update done, so I'd expect that Tuesday sometime.)
For now, let's walk through the college. :D
I chose an interesting terrain...I wanted something islandy, but that fit with the theme I had going landscape-wise. I figured it'd be fitting to make the only institute of higher learning on its own little separate island. There are a couple islets with usable space in this terrain, too!
At the bottom, you can see the pier which is basically a color-swapped version of Piltner Pier in Manhattenton (creatively named "Brighton Pier") and at the very top left the "Lookout Point" building with a view of everywhere. At the right, on top of the ridge, if you can squint, you'll see a plumbbob. That's Skeeter and Chessidy's dorm. As I fill up main campus with some more buildings, it won't seem so silly to have a building that far up the road. As it is, I think it's closer to main campus than my first dorm building in college was.
Decent shot of the pier and main campus, though I think it was before I built one of the buildings. Gives a better impression of how far away that dorm is, too. Also, I like how I caught the geese in formation right there. :P
Up in the lagoon, half-hidden by the rocks, is the club that Skeeter visited with her balding dormie boytoy in the last update. It's called Da Funk, and we'll take a closer look at it later.
In the foreground, we have the main area of campus. On the right, the crosslike area? That's the main square. Brighton Square. At least I didn't call it a quad. :P The blank lot across the street will be the student union, as soon as I decide how I want it to look. Next to the future student union, we've got Brighton Library. The U-shaped building along the curve in the road there is currently dubbed the Campus Shopping Strip. It's got a convenience store, the school bookstore, and a small restaurant with an outdoor patio. It's also got a cut-through sidewalk behind the building that the students can use to get to that last building, with the greenhouse. It's Kielin Science Building. It's basically framed-out, but unfinished on the inside, decorated on the outside.
Every college campus needs a fancy sitting area with a fountain (Pitt had at LEAST two that I know of), and a giant lawn area for students to sit under trees and eat/study, and also watch guys play tackle football/ultimate frisbee/etc,etc on.
I decided, since it was supposed to be a fountain pool, that I would use pool water. I think it came out nice. I'll hopefully send one of the girls there at one point to see the full effect with all the fountains. I love the tire swing, too, even though it's not the sort of thing that would probably last long on a campus in real life.
Neat view of the main part of campus, if you ignore that blank patch on the right that should be the student union.
View from the tire swing. Well, right now you can see Da Funk from here, but soon enough, there should be the union, a few classroom buildings, and some more student housing in the way. At the very least.
Exterior shot of the library.
There's the "cut-through" area behind the shopping strip that leads to the science building.
Right now, you can see Skeeter's dorm from here!
The entrance area. Has some areas for posting. I think it's good for a library to have a lobby, since you should be quiet on the inside.
Here's the checkout/returns desk, right of the entrance. You can see the stairs and the popular fiction section.
Immediately when you walk in, there's an area with tables for group projects, studying, or just students who like to spread out a bit. The checkout counter would be directly on the right of where you're standing.
Left: stairs. Middle: popular fiction. Right: Coffee shop. (Hey, Pitt's main library added a freaking Starbucks my Sophomore year.)
Isn't it cozy?
Upstairs...directly in front of you are some comfy chairs and tables for when you're in it for the long haul.
Left, and all the way behind the stairs? The stacks. (Also, how lucky was it that those plasticbox book recolors got uploaded, downloaded, and into my game right before I decide to build a library?) Further left, at what would be the front of the building on the second floor, we have a small computer lab.
I am undecided whether or not I will be building a stand-alone computer lab, but I haven't been in a college library that didn't have a smallish student lab in it somewhere.
The view is a little distracting, but all the large trees ensure the students probably won't be seeing too much action outside these windows.
Shopping strip. Roof on the top-middle is the library, to orient you. There are two entrances on this street. First on the left is the small restaurant. Second entrance is the bookstore. Third entrance is on the right side of the street, about next door to the library.
Like so. You'd see this if you walked out of the library and looked to your right. This is the convenience store.
It's...a convenience store. I forgot to put my fountain drink dispenser in, though, so that'll be added next time I remember. XP
The bookstore, it's not particularly interesting. The cologne display is really only there to justify having a cash register.
All colleges have a bookstore, so even if this is mostly show, I don't care.
I like the restaurant a lot, though we'll see how I like it in action.
Hostess area. (Dining to the left, as seen in the last shot.)
Kitchen front, potties to the left, patio to the right.
Cute patio with an ESCAPE HATCH to the outside.
I don't know why I'm obsessed with the sidewalk I added, except that it seems really likely it would exist if this were a real college campus.
And if you cut through there, you'd end up on the far right of this picture, and at the Kielin Science building.
These trees only exist because I don't know if the imposters show orchard trees, and I kinda wanted something in the greenhouse.
If I ever need a set for an academic building, I've got at least one. It's all plain sheetrock walls and linoleum floors, and of course I have yet to stick in ceilings. :P
Here's Da Funk! Upper left corner? The library, to keep you oriented.
Now here's one problem you'll notice with building on a flooded lot a lot of times. It will decide that the terrain is sand on the lot--and on the rest of the hood view. So everything looks sandy everywhere.
Changed the lighting to nighttime, because that's what this place is intended for. DJ booth, dance sphere, photobooth.
Rather large bar. Hey, how else would you really want to unwind after exams?
Outside deck over the water, complete with patio grill for when the munchies strike! (There's also an outdoor chess table, sorta behind where we're "standing" right now.)
It's almost too pretty to be a club.
Top-down view! We're visiting Lookout Point next, right on the lower left corner. It'll be our last lot, that leaves only one more I haven't toured, and it'll be in the next update. I forgot to get some shots of the park next to the dorm, but they visited it, no worries. :D
It's kind of an awkward building, but it was the first thing I actually built on campus. And it's a decent generic community lot.
I like the ground floor centerpiece. :D
2 stories up...
3 stories up...
And here's the fourth story and the top! I was kind of disappointed to find out that even with extra-large view on, the lower campus buildings weren't displayed from up here. Ah well, at least it proves the view is possible from up here!
So...worth the time spent building? y/n? I still feel kinda lazy because I hardly put up any deco in the buildings, but I can always add odds and ends, it's much harder to get motivated to build, so when I want to do it, I try to get it all out. It'll really look nice if I ever get the place mostly filled up. I'm glad I have an in-story excuse of everything getting settled to be slow to finish all this stuff.