Jade Bight 9: Norden; Downtown To The "Burbs"
The Jade Bight 9
Norden: Downtown To The "Burbs"
In this installment of The Jade Bight we return to the thriving port city of Norden to pick up our exposition where we left off. This time we will examine, in some detail, the downtown financial and business sectors as well as the residential areas of the city. If I might remind the visitors to the site, I decided to make a two-part presentation because of improvements made largely upon feedback in the comments sections and messages I have received. I would like to thank everyone who offered advice and opinions, and I have included a goodly number of pictures to highlight the improvements.
NORDEN: Two Views
From the views above, you will see that the commercial districts have largely been concentrated on the northern headland, with the residential stretching to the south and southeast. All areas have adequate access to rail and highway links, with industry, commercial, and residential each occupying roughly 1/3 of the map. I should mention that Tariely's sound criticism has pointed out my gross misuse of the high-dollar real estate available along the extensive shoreline. She is quite correct. This is my second version of the downtown area -- having bulldozed it a few days ago to make all the changes you will see. But, in my "reformer's zeal", I did not look beyond my nose! I did not even consider the shoreline as the asset it truly is. Even the monuments on the headland could have been arranged differently to take advantage of the view. In future, I will ensure all that expensive beachfront property is better utilized with high-rent residential, expensive condos, and luxury office buildings. I wonder if I could hire Tariely as my City Manager?
DOWNTOWN OVERVIEW:
Most of what I call the high-rise office buildings are concentrated in the heart of the financial district, with government buildings, education, and the hospital spread around the periphery. The tallest building visible is about as high as I wish to go on medium size maps. On a large map it will be possible to build taller buildings because there will be more room to create open spaces around them. "Pencil towers" commit the cardinal sin of blotting out the surface detail you go to so much trouble to include -- and will not be found in The Jade Bight. Nice office block towers, strategically placed and artfully landscaped, will contribute detail to the city rather than subtract it.
FINANCIAL & GOVERNMENT DISTRICT:
Keeping in mind that the city was already grown up when I started receiving constructive comments and advice, I did not tamper too much with the peripheral edges where the civic structures were located. I did, however, bulldoze the heart of the district and come up with a new plan. The Telus and Tallin buildings form the focal point. I tried to arrange them along a central access and then enclosed them with a curved "ring road". This allowed room for plaza areas as well as parking (a new innovation) and green tree space. This gives it a nice open and "airy" feeling and compliments the shore side monument plaza very well. (At least I think so. lol - lol)
CASCADE CENTER:
This is a lovely little building. The trees behind it are Girafe Birches, used to cover the diagonals along the ring-road. Parking has been provided on the right side of the building and the front corner has been filled in with a "natural" look. The MMP trees there are absolutely beautiful. Apparently, my Educational Adviser has arranged some sort of training program for prospective Civil Servants without telling me. All those school buses are pulling into matt325b's Bureau of Bureaucracy.
WASHINGTON MONUMENT: 
Not too much out of the ordinary here. Note the parking for the courthouse and city hall. Based on some feedback, I have whipped up a couple of custom filler lots to provide small groups of people wandering around the grounds. If You look close -- you'll even see some pigeons. What's a monument without pigeons -- right?
FINANCIAL CENTER DETAIL:
EAST SIDE DISTRICT:
Here you have the Art Museum and the Opera House with some gardens and park lands attached.
NORDEN STOCK EXCHANGE:
They tell me there's a guy in there named Scrooge -- and he's rally making a killing!! Or -- was that Marley?
MAIN RAILWAY STATION:
This is the main passenger station with a parking deck and a nice little landscaped park. I'm still experimenting with integrating passenger rail into my cities. I've hardly ever used it before Jade Bight, and it's taking a few attempts to get the proper placement within a city. I'm also having trouble locating a suitable main station. I don't want the big stations in medium size cities, so I'm slowly searching out the smaller stations -- though a couple look pretty good. This one was well placed and immediately reduced the highway traffic dramatically.
ENTERPRISE HOUSE:
Another custom lot with parking and a natural landscape border.
WEST SIDE:
This is the west side district, with the Community College next to the Police station (keeps the little beggars in line!). Then you have the Main Library with the Cerulean Park attached, and the hospital.
LOWER FINANCIAL DISTRICT:
Here you have (left to right) the Government Social Development Building, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and the Lever House. I am especially partial to the Mandarin Oriental -- beautiful piece of work
LEVER HOUSE:
This is a particularly nice building. Note the "natural" landscape on this end, the other end has a nice park strip along the road. These details are all part of the new effort to detail and beautify the lots -- rather than plunking them down on bare corners, etc.
WEST SIDE PIER:
Keeping in mind "kschmidt's" comment that the Maxis pier was too flimsy for open water -- I plopped something a bit more substantial. One of the students attending the community college is from out of town and that's his commuter yacht. (Veddy, veddy rich, you know. lol)
RESORT HOTEL & DAMM
Ahh, yes! We have stumbled across the watering hole of the rich and influential. The resort Hotel is perched on the West Bay shore between the edge of town and the beginnings of the Hindenburgdamm. This is the mainland end of an artificial causeway to the Island of Sylt and was constructed over a 4 year period, finishing up in 1927. The original "damm" only carried a single track rail line, but we have widened the causeway to allow for a double track and road as well.
WEST SIDE MARINA:
GREAT TARIELY SALT MARSH:
Great?? Yeah -- I know. But nobody knows why it was named that way. The name has, apparently, drifted down to us from the swirling, purple haze of Antiquity. The boaters anchored on the edge of the marsh must be brave souls. The seasoned "old salts" hanging about the marina tell haunted tales of blood curdling screams and snarls that can be heard when the wind is right and the moon is full. Truth is, one "old timer" -- after a couple tots of rum -- winked and told me it was just an enraged Angora Rabbit that got lost out in the marsh many moons ago. Just remember -- "Don't go near the yellow snow" -- AND STAY OUT OF THE MARSH !!
RESIDENTIAL ANCHORAGE:
Who knows what this is all about? Might be some fine French Brandy coming ashore -- duty free! Or, perhaps, some aged Scotch whiskey!
SMALL PARK:
My first use of Tahoe plop water. It didn't work out very well. Parking didn't work at all -- area really too small -- trouble with the diagonal edges. I'm going to have to spend some time looking for and working with some sort of diagonal fillers. I never needed them when I was working with a square grid -- now they're coming back to bite me!
ALTE BIBLIOTHEK:
This my favorite library!! Debusseyman did such wonderful work.
POTSDAMMER PLATZ:
Here we have the Potsdammer Platz in the roundabout, the Farmer's Market with the Brown Tower in a park setting, and the Paris Obelisk -- all filling in odd-shaped bits of turf.
SMALL COMMERCIAL BLOCK:
Here we have a small block of commercial buildings with the Samurai Statue roundabout and a small adjoining park. Makes a nice grouping.
Here's another view. Notice how you have a walk-through between the buildings, which leads to parking in the back and more shops. The park is very nice -- light, "airy" and open -- lots of green trees for sun or shade. This is a good example of your feedback at work! This kind of thing will go a long way toward dressing up the surrounding lots and adding detail to the commercial areas. Less of the "faceless" Maxis -- more of the "cozy".
EMPERORS PLAZA:
Nice old park in a reasonably affluent neighborhood. It was built to honor the three emperors of Germany.
OLD RESIDENTIAL:
This is what the older West Side neighborhood looks like. "Heartless" had convinced me to get on with roundabouts so this neighborhood has one. He also kept on at me about using curves and getting away from "the grid". So -- when I went to build on the east side of the highway -- I put in curves. I tried to lay it out so as to utilize as much population space as possible without losing too much to road curves. I also tried to maintain the wooded look to the area. I think it achieved a suitably "jumbled" look to the buildings and broke up the grid pretty well.
NEW RESIDENTIAL: Four Views
OBLIGATORY NIGHT SHOTS: Got some good stuff here!
That concludes our extended tour of the city of Norden. I do hope you have enjoyed it.
Your comments and feedback have been a great help to me, and I hope you will continue to give me the constructive comments that will enable me to improve my game.
I would like to extend a special and public THANK YOU !!! -- to Tariely for her continuous encouragement, help, and support. I am fortunate to have such an understanding muse.
The people of The Jade Bight will be taking some time off for the holidays -- they're all well-paid so they can afford to make merry. (Including a Mr. Robert D. Cratchet & Son -- who own the property beneath the Telus and Tallin Center. (We call his son -- well -- uh -- er-- "Tiny Tim" -- for short!) They recently bought-out a coal freighting operation down by the docks -- something to do with a family history of keeping warm -- go figure!
While RD & TT are making merry -- so will I be. Some good company, good food, and good wine -- for t'is The Season.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL -- AND GOD BLESS US EVERY ONE!!
AND STAY AWAY FROM THE MARSH !!!
Next time:
The Island Of Juist
-
10
12 Comments
Recommended Comments
Sign In or register to comment...
To comment in reply, you must be a community member
Sign In
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In NowCreate an Account
Sign up to join our friendly community. It's easy!
Register a New Account