simmars-forum-threads Final Building Style: Utilitarian

[GouRou 2]

Here they are, our so far pretty comprehensive list of definitive sketches that define our goals for the 4 building styles. why 4? because use one for each tile set, if you dont like it, you can simply turn it off. the black and white are by Dearnen, the color one is by Emma LB

Dome

Marsform

Slim & Glassy

Utilitarian

[GouRou 2]

any further sketches, and JUST sketches, please post here, I will be cleaning up the other threads, probably moving/removing a few of the redundant ones.

[WoodenTaco 3]

What about things like civic buildings? Is there a plan for their style?

[GouRou 2]

a civic building is a type, not a style. we arent really going to say what a building can and cant look like for a particular building, we're just trying to give general outlines of the themes we are trying to aim for. many buildings wont even fit a style, a lot will be turned into rewards and landmarks because of it. Much of the design of a building will be up to whoever builds it, so long as it's general building architecture fits within 1 of the 4 styles then it wont really matter what design they use.

[Sk8zim17 43]

These look simply FANTASTIC! I love all of the designs, and they will go so great with the theme of the game. Congratulations to Dearnen and EmmaB for some great sketches. I will be happy to take part in making some of these (I am part of the buildings team).

 

I especially like the design for the second in the Slim and Glassy style, but I may attempt to model the third one in that group.

[Mayor_of_Trafalgar 0]

WOW, those are very beautiful and unique, some of them remind me of Anotonio Guadi, who is one of the coolest architects in the world! do you know when the building will be able to download on SimTropolis?

[GouRou 2]

please dont make buildings OF the sketches, make buildings from the style of the sketches. there is no way we could ever have enough sketches for every single building we need to make.

[Sk8zim17 43]

True... but i think we may need a little bit more to get a better idea of what we're trying to build. I'm ok with marsform, i get that area fine, but maybe we can work on the other ones a bit. I'll try my best to make one though! It definately helped give me inspiration. I'm glad i haven't started any of those yet.

 

Anyway, if you don't want us to do those buildings, who will?

[Dearnen 11]

I'd like to see some of my sketches come to life. 

 

But, there's no way I could ever sketch up enough buildings for everything in the game.  I've got a life, so I won't do it.   I've enjoyed sketching the buildings, though, and I do see there may be more need for sketches to better flesh out the styles.  Meanwhile, I also have textures to make.

 

Dearnen the Busy

[GouRou 2]

they arent mine, the black and whites are from dearnen, and the color one is from emma lb

[Dolfan348488 0]

oops.......wow.......i feel so smart all of a sudden.........  Sorry about that, its called lack of attention on my part.

[TheeLord 42]

yeaaa

[cammo2003 20]

Nice sketches Dearnen and Emma LB.

I'd just like to offer a personal opinion: the dome and utilitarian styles, to me, would probably be the best choices to replace the older styles in sc4, as they would probably be closest to what we'd be using for initial settlement (particularly the utilitarian style).

I also think the marsform style won't be happening for a long time (yes, they'd probably be possible, but I don't think we're going to have too many buildings that wacked-out (even in fifty years time).

Of course, that was probably a useless opinion, as you'd most likely rename the sets anyway, but yeh...

I guess I'll make this post useful by encouraging any other people who can sketch buildings to share their work here. Personally I would but the style of buildings I come up with, though a little unusual, don't quite fit in with the Mars idea.

Oh and Dolfan, don't worry, you're not the only one who can't draw people. My people suck too.  Even my stick figures.

Keep the good work coming people!

[Wraith101 0]

How are the different types of buildings going to be portrayed? By this I mean $,$$ and $$$ buildings? I think it is inportant to define this otherwise, people wont be able to easily tell rich areas from poor etc.

[kruegersc4 0]

I think that the buildings should look more high tech. Some of them look like they're built out of sand, which would never work in real life. I like the more high tech NASA look, rather than a I-bought-most-of-my-house-off-ebay look.

[Skedar25 3]

These are sketches/pictures of buildings from a game called Morrowind. I think some of these architectural elements could  work, but I'm sure they could go with the marsform though. Anyways, here they are:

 

 

 

Ain't a sketch...but yeah....

 

 

Good for a R$ stage 1

[hobostank 8]

Okay these building styles look like they came out of Jak3 there a lttle to Scifi how about a very hightech and civilized look and if this is a game have conections to our lovely planet earth and gain of knowledge over time i would like to see some fueds with surrounding cities like wars or stuff like that.And that would be cool reply please MI6 Ash

[monkeylover2004 0]

I like the Slim and glassy style, it looks very upper-class compared to the others.

[AndisArt 2,068]

This is a request to the building and design team for an update on the topic.

What's the status of your work?
Do you still need sketches and ideas for buildiungs?
Are you still intending to use all the 4 building styles shown above?

My thoughts about the shown different styles:
If we speak of a Mars in the year 2050 then the Utilitrian style looks the most realistic. Humans just arrived on Mars and the style bridges to earth style, it looks functional and technical.
The Glassy style looks like more far in the future. The building architecture is kinda fancy. If you think of a new colony that has to deal with a whole new setting then functional design and architecture is the most realistic. The Glassy style works fine for a later time of the colony, when things have settled in for generations, big productions are no problem anymore and so there is room to be a bit more fancy about everything.
Same for the Mars Form style. It doesn't fit in the picture of a new colony, settled from earth in 2050. They look very organic and have a lot of round shapes. A technical and functional building style is more realistic a colonies first years/decades, they most likely have to deal with how to get resources for building, how to construct parts and everything. Must be very basic in the beginning. However the style would work great for alien colonies or a later state of the human Mars colony.

My thoughts lead me to the question if there may/should  only be on time, 2050. Has there be a decision about this?

Suggestion:
It would be helpful to have transparency about what the teams are working on and on what is decided by them.
For instance it would be very helpful for people who want to contribute sketches or BATs to be able to get a clear picture of what the design team has in mind, what they voted internally for, what the want, what the DON'T want etc. Maybe a whole overview thread should be created (well, or the existing one be updated) that clarifies those kinda questions by the members of the team. You know, questions like Air on Mars, yes or no? Flying cars, yes or no? Only 2050 or other times too?. I know there are discussions about all that in the forums and I did read a lot of threads but I don't have time to read every single one to find out what has been decided by the teams. So if you could give an overview in one thread, that would greatly give clarity and help people to get an idea of what you are heading to with the project and I suppose would help to get a professional result in the end.

[fartboy 17]

By 2050 people living on mars could very well have the slim and glassy style. Mar's lower gravity could make construction easier and allow for large amounts of colonists to live closely together instead of spread out over a large area. It would make communication easier and save land for scientific research.

[AndisArt 2,068]

As the building team leader I would like to give an update and refinement of the Utilitarian buidling set, the set we are working on only at this time.

(Refinement by outdoorsman03)

 

Utilitarian

This style is defined by its simple and minimalistic building approach. The buildings should be angular with few to no curves, especially on the lower wealth buildings. They should have a stocky feel to them and they should look like they are built to last. The window openings should be small, especially on lower wealth buildings.

-Low wealth building will be made up of primarily metal and concrete. The buildings will have very few window openings and the openings will be small. They should have external utilities such as pipes, tanks, and antennas.

-Med wealth will be similar except Martian brick will start being used. The windows will be slightly larger and the utilities will be less noticeable.

 

-High wealth buildings will more decorative elements such as arches, decorative glass, etc. Most of the utilities are concealed.

 

Here some pics of BATs fitting in the category.  

 

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/5296/hrblocker31oc.jpg align=baseline>

 

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/3171/com111108hq.jpg align=baseline>

 

http://img113.exs.cx/img113/2830/HDIsmall.jpg align=baseline>

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/modtop.JPG align=baseline>

 

(buildings by outdoorsman03)

 

http://img42.exs.cx/img42/9320/littlehouse22ke.jpg align=baseline>

 

http://img17.exs.cx/img17/4824/marsbuilding9zk.jpg align=baseline>

 

[RPGHOTGUY 0]

I MUST HAVE THESE BATS!!! PLZ I NEED THEM SOOO MUCH!!! PLZ PLZ PLZ

I assume you didn't get my hint earlier. Typing the entire post in CAPS is rude and generally not allowed.

[+Guest]

@RPGHOTGUY

Look here
Modding Files > MODS > SimMars Beta 1 Mod
it's the second of the top

direkt Link

[Thouwhitewonder 0]

your using the elderscrolls three morrowind buildings for models?

[gripp 0]

i like that!
but when i think Mars, i'm thinking NASA looking crap--ya know $50,000 toilet seats and whatnot...

 

i think these designs would be great for a Middle Earth type sim

[SYM Productions 7]

hey, i might have some ideas on the style of building u might want to look at:u know star wars, the moisture farms on tatooine, the small domes coming out of the ground?

[mightygoose 92]

i love utilitarian

[Dune 0]

Hmm....

I like utilitarian! It looks more err...possible to achieve in the future

(I'd post my sketches too but I don't have a scanner and I sketch very badly with a mouse)

[spoh 0]

Hey guys, Im relatively new to the site, but I am an architect (in the real world) as well as a space enthusiast. Mars architecture (Marchitecture) is a very sensitive and ultra functional architecture. Whether its 2050 or 2010, the landscape of Mars is baren and hostile to human presence. Any hope of creating an architecture that at all resembles that of Earth during any period is absurd. Terraforming a planet to create an environment where Earth like buildings could/would take seed would happen many centuries after the effort began. Architecture for Mars must serve one purpose above all others first and thats safety. The planet is not our home. In order to do anything, we must create an architecture that is affordable to build, safe to humans at all times, and it will probably use a great deal of Martian resources in construction.

Just like the early Western settlers, we must first live off the land. The buildings we have today use steel mills, concrete factories, glass blowers, electrical technicians, mechanical engineers, brick layers, and hundreds of others. THe infrastructure that is financially sustainable will likely not exist on Mars for a very long time after human settlement, therefore missions of construction in such a harsh climate will likely utilize robotic workforces, vernacular materials, of course be sealed environments, and will likely exist on a broader, longer scale because surface area and land usage on a planet with no seas is the last thing any settlement would have to worry about. The architecture, being ultra functional, ultra-safe, and ultra-financial will probably be a system made of easily repeatable modules, able to be constructed from one phase to another onsite, and will likely be broadly laid out, low to the ground because as height increases, so does the surface area most affected by harmful elements on the planet. Protecting against those elements send construction costs skyrocketing. Places need to be easily accessible and phycologically appealing. Tall structures require a higher order of engineering knowledge and considering the vast unknowns that could exist below the Martian surface, this is not the likely type of architecture to take hold. Comfortable, home-like structures that create a sense of safety, whether false or true, are crucial to the stability of a society because phycology governs the overall success of the colony more so than any tangible product can ever do.

I can envision a central bubble or block structure that is a constantly growing entity and can eventually become a city center lateron. Remember, economic forces, political forces, environmental forces, and social forces all govern architecture in CRUCIAL ways. Mars people many hundreds of years might demand an architecture much different from that of Earth. Who is to know, but if any of you would like me to post some sketches of some visions, Id be happy to.

-K.

[AndisArt 2,068]

@spoh: Thank you for putting in these thoughts and ideas! Great! I totally agree with the necessity of the buildings to be functional, safe and financial. That is why we only work on the Utilitarian style. The others do not make so much sense for SimMars. However a little bit of space needs to be left open within the definiton for the Utilitarian style. One example is that we have to create visual differences between $ and $$$. Probably not everything will be 110% realistic, you know? Also the setting of SimMars in not really early-colony but medium advanced. There is no completed but an already ongoing terraforming process (NOT making plants possible yet, if anyone wonders :-) Please post your ideas and sketches! Thanks alot :-)