Maxis References

[Odainsaker 2,134]

From Huston's :?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>

Maxis's Aquilina Building from SimCity 3000 has been spotted as a residential apartment block drawing by Italian Futurist Antonio Sant'Elia:
 

(From petahhhhhh and Huston)
 

(Sant'Elia, La Città Nuova)

The black & white drawing comes from a groundbreaking series visualizations of a future modern architecture and urbanism published in 1914 as Sant'Elia's La Città Nuova, "The New City," where architecture, transportation, infrastructure, and industry are all tightly interwoven in a monumental environment.  It was then the cutting-edge of Modernism, and predates Brutalism by 50 years.  Italian Fascists and socialist revolutionaries loved the seemingly progressive image of a Brave New World rationally and technologically unbound from the shackles of the traditional past.  Of course, once they came to power, much of this style was rejected in favor of statist, totalitarian classicism.  Sant'Elia didn't live long enough to see the fruits of his ideas of Futurism, or any of his buildings built, for he patriotically enlisted when Italy joined World War I and was killed in battle on the Austrian front.

 

I admit, I like Sant'Elia's work, likely because his B&W hard line drawings evoke the contemporary style of influential Viennese architect Otto Wagner, one of my drawing heroes.  How cool is Otto Wagner?...check his Austro-Hungarian Millennium Falcon, designed almost a century before "Star Wars."  If Maxis can swipe from Sant'Elia, I have no doubt George Lucas can swipe from Otto Wagner and the Vienna Secession.
 
Sant'Elia's building was never built and was presented only as a part of a proposed urban visualization and later manifesto rather than an actual building design.  Like Eliel Saarinen's unbuilt Tribune Tower, this is a Maxis reference pulled from a drawing of an imagined proposal rather than a photobook of an actual built structure.  Amusingly, Maxis's artists chose to make their building a commercial office:  Sant'Elia's own drawings look like integrated power plants or factories, and his central urban rail station with integrated airport is easily and widely mistaken for a hydro dam, but from his text we learn that this building is actually meant to be block in a residential apartment streetscape with ground level commercial space, and is perhaps one of many interconnected blocks.  I can't claim to read pre-WWI Italian, but I think the signage at the top of the building next to the wireless telegraph antenna in the drawing simply says "Illuminated Advertisement" (goes here).
 
I will also admit, I actually did not like the Aquilina Building in SimCity 3000.  Maybe it was the greenish color, the ugly anti-urban lot, or the resemblance to today's Chinese fad architecture.  B&W drawings of early Modernist architecture are often assumed to be white concrete, and so it may indeed have been the green combined with the rather flat, cartoon shadowing.  Be sure, I never recognized that it was actually based on familiar Sant'Elia's drawings, which architecture and art history students have seen countless of times and have had burned into their memories.

 

We can thank Huston for his wonderful SimCity 4 BAT recreations of SimCity 3000 buildings and his work on the Aquilina Building for creating a sculptural model whose striking elevator shaft that made the relationship to Sant'Elia unmistakably clear.  

[mrsmartman 200]

This thread is cool!

[Odainsaker 2,134]

I thought I had long ago mentioned this next one here already, but I do not see it anywhere, so...
 
SimCity 4 State Fair reward:


 
Hall of State (formerly State of Texas Building), Fair Park, Dallas, Texas:
 

[by Lee Ann Torrans)
 

(By Mary Ann Sullivan at Bluffton College)

The centerpiece of 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition world's fair honoring the 100th anniversary of Texas's independence from Mexico.  An ensemble of over 50 Beaux-Arts and Art Deco pavilions, the largest such single project collection in the U.S., was planned out by influential Beaux-Arts architect Paul Cret on the grounds of the former State Fair of Texas.  Wiki tells us that at its opening, architect Donald Barthelme's State of Texas Building was "the most expensive per unit area of any structure built in Texas," and that the pouring of money and jobs into the vast fairground construction site is largely credited with sparing Dallas the worst effects of the Great Depression.  6.3 million visitors attended, as did President Roosevelt, and singing cowboys Gene Autry and Roy Rogers filmed "The Big Show" at the centennial. Hall of State is arguably the most prominent Art Deco building in Texas today.






[by Rogers-O'Brien Construction, U.S.A.)

Albert Speer would be so proud, even if many of the imported artists and sculptors were French.  Maxis, however, opted for a far more rural State Fair without the heroic axial esplanade, reflecting pools, and saluting Greek statuary of the actual 1936 exposition.  Maxis's entry gateway topped by a cowboy in 10-gallon hat as well as the giant inflatable cow remind us that we have gone from the Zeppelinfeld back to Texas.
 
I visited Fair Park in 1992 for the "Catherine the Great:  Treasures of Imperial Russia" exhibition loaned by St. Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum.  Perhaps the park was being rehabilitated that fall, as the pools and fountains were drained and the limestone monuments were in sad disrepair.  More shocking were the surrounding neighborhoods of South Dallas at the time, which had dilapidated into blighted urban ghettos.  It made for a surreal contrast:  Gilded rococo coaches and glittering imperial crowns inside the park surrounded by burned out, gangland 'hoods on the outside populated with forlorn mobs huddling around burning dumpsters.  I remember wondering what the post-Soviet Russians accompanying their museum treasures thought of it all.  I admit, I was imprinted with a rather unhappy image of Dallas, however, I'm glad I visited then, as that priceless Russian exhibit won't be coming back to the U.S. or anywhere else anytime soon.

[KonstantinII 1,106]

 

 

Can I have an image of the walls with the horses on either side? That is a really good and interesting texture.

[Odainsaker 2,134]

I like those flanking sculptures too.  Laure de Margerie's French Sculpture Census tell us those two fountain pylons flanking the reflecting pool have bas-reliefs by French artist Pierre Bourdelle depicting Pegasus on one side and a Siren on the other.  The site mentions these are colored cement bas-reliefs done in cameo-relief fashion where the applied upper colored layer has to be cut out to reveal the under layer before the concrete dries.

 

(By Jim Parsons and David Bush, Fair Park Deco)

(By Jim Parsons and David Bush, Fair Park Deco)

 

(By DavidKozlowski on Flickr)

(By David Kozlowski on Flickr)

The flanking horses seem to have been incorporated into the City of Dallas's Fair Park logo:

 

I wonder what they might have done with this Tex-Mex-Babylonian Fair Park sculpture:

[Shy Dude 149]

Good find with the little sate fair building. It seems so obvious now.

 

Anyways here is a find I've held back on for a while:

The fictional Maxis DLC, Sobchak Lanes

Is based on Hollywood Star Lanes

 

Not an exact replica, but I never really thought about this but after I did it was clear that it is based off Hollywood Star Lanes (in spirit at least). It is named after the character Walter Sobchak from the movie The Big Lebowski in which this bowling alley was used as a filming location. I imagine some other people instantly got this years ago though, but it needed to go in the thread anyways.

[SimCoug 5,972]

I though I had long ago mentioned this next one here already, but I do not see it anywhere, so...

*snip*

 

Nice find - I always thought that building looked out of place in that lot... now I see why.  Seems like a re-lot is in order here 

 

 

Good find with the little sate fair building. It seems so obvious now.

 

Anyways here is a find I've held back on for a while:

The fictional Maxis DLC, Sobchak Lanes...

*snip*

 

Oh cool, yeah I can definitely see the inspiration.  I always liked the sign on that building 

The Dude abides...

 

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Don't know if we had this already :/

 

 

 

Union Trust Building in NYC

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I think it might have been, but a lot of our older links/images are broken anyway. 

 

A fun fact about that building (aside from it having render errors all over, like many maxis buildings) is that the building is backwards on the maxis lots. The front of the building is facing the back of the lot.

[TekindusT 3,809]

A fun fact about that building (aside from it having render errors all over, like many maxis buildings) is that the building is backwards on the maxis lots. The front of the building is facing the back of the lot.

 

Some buildings in SC3K had this issue (I remember the Federal Building, for example), I found that SO annoying! 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

I also think that by omitting the chimneys, the decorated cornices and intricately detailed dormers, they somehow lost the character of the building. In game, it looks rather plain jane and utilitarian, which contrasts with the arches. Pity!

[nofunk 1,933]

A fun fact about that building (aside from it having render errors all over, like many maxis buildings) is that the building is backwards on the maxis lots. The front of the building is facing the back of the lot.

 

Sometimes I feel like nearly all Maxis buildings are situated incorrectly on their lots! How many cornices and front entrances face parking lots in the game, while their plain sides front the street?! 

[Shy Dude 149]

The majority of the default Maxis lots are pretty terrible; old buildings fronted by parking lots as if your city was some sort of large-scale postmodern tourist attraction.

[Nevermore2797 112]

I think Simon Manor is based on Eastwood Excelsior from Quezon City, Metro Manila, The Philippines.

 

Eastwood Excelsior (I think it's the Grand Eastwood Palazzo???? ----- just look to the right of that building with a green pyramid roof)

 

Simon Manor (SimCity 4)

[T Wrecks 10,209]

TBH, I don't think so. Apart from the two towers with different heights, I don't see much similarity. Simon Manor has some typical Art Deco elements such as the cascade of setbacks near the top, and these are totally lacking from the building in your picture. Besides, it's highly unlikely that Maxis developers will have come across this building. As Jason has been able to show, they have probably bought some books on architecture and taken their references from these. For the Chi and NY tilesets, they will have relied on American inspirations because they were easiest to come by and most familiar. I don't think they will have spent a long time poring over pictures of cities anywhere in the world to get some inspiration when they had their books and their real-life inspirations right in front of them.

 

@ShyDude: I totally agree. Corner lots with the building facing the wrong way are another problem. It's amazing that there has never been a project to re-lot all Maxis stuff. Granted, you'd lose the modularity in the process. A suburban office lot that works for Hou and Euro tilesets might look stupid for a Chi-themed building, so you'd end up with a "one lot for each tileset" policy probably. Lots of work.

[Nevermore2797 112]

TBH, I don't think so. Apart from the two towers with different heights, I don't see much similarity. Simon Manor has some typical Art Deco elements such as the cascade of setbacks near the top, and these are totally lacking from the building in your picture. Besides, it's highly unlikely that Maxis developers will have come across this building. As Jason has been able to show, they have probably bought some books on architecture and taken their references from these. For the Chi and NY tilesets, they will have relied on American inspirations because they were easiest to come by and most familiar. I don't think they will have spent a long time poring over pictures of cities anywhere in the world to get some inspiration when they had their books and their real-life inspirations right in front of them.

 

@ShyDude: I totally agree. Corner lots with the building facing the wrong way are another problem. It's amazing that there has never been a project to re-lot all Maxis stuff. Granted, you'd lose the modularity in the process. A suburban office lot that works for Hou and Euro tilesets might look stupid for a Chi-themed building, so you'd end up with a "one lot for each tileset" policy probably. Lots of work.

 

They look very familiar and with various differences that I forgot to post like the big tower is "fatter" than Simon Manor's big tower. Also, it looks "flipped" and has no things you've said. In other words, I'll agree with you too because you have a point, and I have to agree at my OWN point too. It's because they both use Art Deco stuff, so the building reminded me of this.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Yeah, I agree, I don't think that's the building. Maxis bases their buildings off real buildings, and while their versions are not the same as the real versions, the differences are differences that make the building faster to make, or to fit the game's needs better. So a building might have some sections crudely done, to save time, but it will still be a crude version of the real building, the design itself won't really change. These buildings are extremely different. http://eastwood-properties.com/index.php?p=51

 

I also have a feeling that this building was built after the game was made. (it's sad to think that the game is so old that this is now something to consider)

[Shy Dude 149]

@T Wrecks: Yeah, I attempted to relot the buildings, got a couple lots in and realized it was way too much work. And you have to keep reloading the lot editor because it doesn't update it's lot list; really annoying. Quite a lot of the buildings are scaled wrong/ugly/have rendering problems anyways.

 

@Nevermore2797: Simon Manor is most definitely some Art Deco era apartment building - probably from New York City since it has New York style setbacks and some Beaux Arts style to it.

 

Well ain't that convenient, I found the real building by looking up those random terms I was talking about in Google,

it is 895 Park Avenue, built in 1930.

Maxis made the setbacks start at different heights which I always thought made no sense.

[Nevermore2797 112]

Thanks..... it just familiarize me.

[Odainsaker 2,134]

Yorozuya Gin-chan!  Odain ja nai, Katsura da!

 

I spent a lot of time wondering if maybe Farley Audio was perhaps a variant of the similarly red-roofed Mutual Savings Bank Building in San Francisco, but, no, we can all see that it is definitely a stripped down Union Trust Building from New York.  Oddly enough, though the historicist decorations are different, the buildings do have so much else in common that they could be step-brothers, or at least perhaps came out of related firms' pattern books.
 

 

By chance, I saw this shot of Chicago's old Northwest Tower, aka the "Coyote Building":


(By Benjamin Cohen on Flickr)

Could that actually be SimCity 3000's antiquated Triangle Tower?


 
I would not normally think so from the typical view of the sharply angled corner spire of the Northwest Tower, and I have seen that view many times without thinking of it as any Maxis building in SimCity.  Meanwhile, Maxis's Triangle Terrace, with its peculiarly squared-off tower, just never seemed quite right in how it was shaped.  However, like many of their SC3000 buildings, they may have just taken a single side façade, and inventively ran with that, especially as they were trying to force-fit a triangular building onto a square lot without any of the benefits or constraints that actually come with angled building sites.

 

Unlike the Triangle Terrace, which looks like it was the sooty scene of a high-rise, garment factory fire, the 1929 Chicago building has been getting a much needed cleaning and restoration as it is converted into a boutique hotel.

[Shy Dude 149]

@Odainsaker: The Union Trust Building is done in the Romanesque revival style while Mutual Savings Bank Building is done in an Baroque revival style. There actually seem to be quite a handful of skinny Baroque revival buildings like that in the US.

 

The Triangle Building is most definitely the Northwest Tower. I will never understand why city building games that force you to work in a grid have the audacity to add non-square buildings in their games. That's just mean.

[Nevermore2797 112]

@T Wrecks: Yeah, I attempted to relot the buildings, got a couple lots in and realized it was way too much work. And you have to keep reloading the lot editor because it doesn't update it's lot list; really annoying. Quite a lot of the buildings are scaled wrong/ugly/have rendering problems anyways.

 

@Nevermore2797: Simon Manor is most definitely some Art Deco era apartment building - probably from New York City since it has New York style setbacks and some Beaux Arts style to it.

 

Well ain't that convenient, I found the real building by looking up those random terms I was talking about in Google,

it is 895 Park Avenue, built in 1930.

Maxis made the setbacks start at different heights which I always thought made no sense.

 

I've been humiliated..... *facepalms*

[9gruntsand1hammer 3,195]

I saw a drawing in the diagrams section on Skyscraperpage of Jackson Tower in St. Paul and it reminded me of a building in Sim City 2000.

 

Sorry this picture is so small, it's the only one I could find. It's the building on the top right.

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

 

Just found this when doing nothing at all. No idea what it's called, but it's in Los Angeles and it looks just like a C§§ theater in the NY tileset.

[Shy Dude 149]

Yeah, it's the May Co. Department Store, it's called the Dennis Department Store in the game.

 

That's weird, I could have sworn it was one of the early ones identified in this thread but I can't find the post.

[IDS2 3,346]

I saw a drawing in the diagrams section on Skyscraperpage of Jackson Tower in St. Paul and it reminded me of a building in Sim City 2000.

 

Sorry this picture is so small, it's the only one I could find. It's the building on the top right.

 

You know, it's interesting that you mention that! I actually live about midway between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, but I'll admit this one still took me by surprise. I just now remembered that the particular tileset you have pictured (in my game it's just called "tileset1," so I don't know what it's really called) has a couple of Minneapolis buildings within it. I haven't played SC2K in a couple of years, but I just had a huge flashback to my childhood when I realized that both 225 South Sixth (Capella Tower) and the Wells Fargo Tower, both in Minneapolis, were part of this tileset. Look no further than the image you posted - the building in the foreground appears to be a SCURK derivative of 225 South Sixth. I'd open up my game and try to get a closer screenshot of this one along with the Wells Fargo Tower, but unfortunately I left my game at home. 

 

I'm not entirely convinced that the other building in the image is the Jackson Tower, but I'll admit there are many similarities between the two. It's possible that it's just harder for me to tell because the shape of 225 South Sixth is so distinctive and easy to recognize even in pixel art format, while the Jackson Tower is a much more generic pomo residential tower. It may be just a coincidence, but I won't rule it out until I can dig up my game and look it at up close.

[jdenm8 362]

Thought I'd check back in here and update the Wiki again.

 

All the ones from the 6th of Oct are spot-on I think.

 

Civic Theatre looks plenty close enough for me.

 

The Gayoso Hotel one is interesting, that's actually at the back of the building. Looks like a later extension actually, it's more elaborate than the equivalent structures at the front. The residence floors look exactly right. It's like as if Maxis took the front, stuck it on the back and copied the the bay windows from the front to the side.

 

I'm not happy with the others in that post though. Kanarowski and Co's second floor is pretty distinctive since it's a plant floor. Makes me think the real building would have one there too. The ground floor is pretty close, but the real building may have a similar one.

 

Weber Designs is close, but the center of the fascia... They would have done that for a reason.

 

Dunno about Cahalane. The structure is right, but the exterior is completely different. I don't think it's it.

 

I think the tower from the St Paul City Hall is right but the base might be an original work. They've separated tower and base before.

 

McCormack Place is spot on I think, as is Vernon Manor. The verandas are even in exactly the same places.

 

The two in the 6th of Dec post look right.

 

State Fair was a good spot, Maxis played it fast and loose with that one. A shame, the real thing looks pretty incredible.

 

Sobchak looks right, though from what I can see only the Signage is really close. The entrance in particular looks completely different, it has to be based off a different building.

 

Farly Audio looks right, I'm pretty sure it's been mentioned before. Shame they got rid of most of the details.

 

Simon Manor is 895 Park Avenue through and through. I recall there being a version in Tycoon City: New York and I think the devs did a similar thing with their recreation.

 

May Co looks spot on. I find it funny that Maxis named it 'Simcys' in the Exemplar and what was left of the May Company ended up as part of Macy's in 2005.

 

I've added (or are adding) passages for all these to the Wiki at SC4D. Spurred me into making a few more articles for buildings I never got around to.

 

Also, thought I might add that most of the 'Rendering Glitches' are actually bugs in the models, the DLC Landmarks are rife with them. Usually a column of models is too narrow or has incorrect UV Mapping. The renders themselves line up fine so I'm surprised that nobody's made a pack that fixes these yet.

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

I don't know if this building was already discovered here, but I was just looking for nice art deco buildings and I just found this one that is very similar to one I hate with all my heart because it wants to grow in every corner in my cities

Shell Building, San Francisco

 

The Hate Building

 

 

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

I don't know if this building was already discovered here, but I was just looking for nice art deco buildings and I just found this one that is very similar to one I hate with all my heart because it wants to grow in every corner in my cities

Shell Building, San Francisco

<snip>

The Hate Building

<snip>

THat one was covered a long time ago, but raising awareness is probably a good idea anyways.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Also known as 100 Bush Street, San Fransisco.