The University of Clayhurst

[JBSimio]

Jack:  Thanks!  So many ideas... I won't comment on all of them right this minute, but I have started a list of yours and all the other ideas and suggestions that have appeared here along with a reminder to myself of the ideas I've had.  You'd be amazed how many of them I forget!    I'll probably post a copy of it here sometime soon, just to see what we've got.

Matt:  Thank you!  It's always nice to hear your thoughts as well, my friend.  I agree that the paths are probably wrapped up for now, with the possible exception of a couple more "formal" quad suggestions (formal garden, fountain, etc) that I have.  Walls are in the same boat, I feel.  There was a time when I really wanted a complete matching set, but as you said, there are already so many out there it seems like overkill now.

Zach:  Thanks!  I'll definitely keep a good variety with the classroom buildings.  Yes, EP1 certainly has a much more modern flavor to the architecture, but don't let that fool you.  There will be other historic buildings in the future... like the field house, for example. 

While there haven't been enough votes to give me a concrete idea of what should come next, I'm leaning towards EP2 being a collection of mainly support buildings and/or rewards (holding off on more classrooms for the moment).  There are several reasons for this.  First off, these are the easiest things to mod... not nearly as much to figure out and "program" into the lots.  Secondly, I agree that it would be nice to have a bunch of those little "extras" to really tie things together.  Thirdly, most of them will probably be a bit smaller and therefor quicker to "build."  Fourthly... um... I don't know.  Nevermind.

All that being said, I started tinkering a little yesterday.  This probably won't surprise anyone, but despite my just saying that I would hold off on the classrooms for a minute, that's exactly what this is.  I've had this idea floating around in my head for a LONG time now and I just really felt like seeing how it might work out.  University Hospital/Medical School anyone?



There's a long ways to go... but I like how it's coming along so far.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!
JB

[jdenm8]

Looks good so far. 

[sumatra82]

I'm loving the medical school. Nice blend of modern architecture into the mix
Like many schools that have the med school component, they're constantly adding on/expanding with new programs like cancer research, nursing school, etc.. perhaps in a future pack an expansion of the medical school such as biomed, life sciences, dental, etc?

I absolutely love the UofC set, I use it often in my cities. Great work! 

[ScottFTL]

EP1 is looking fantastic!  I really like the campus shuttle concept.  It will add a lot of flexibility and realism to the game.  If possible, I'd love to see the functional and non-functional versions in separate files to make it easy for users to customize.  In a situation where there are functional and eye candy versions of lots, I'll usually pick one and delete the others to keep my menu clutter to a minimum.

I love the medical school.  This will make a fantastic large hospital, plus there will be university versions of many civic buildings now.  It should be possible to build an entire university city soon!

I think your ideas about EP2 are great.  The athletic buildings will be wonderful, and the entrances and other decorative lots would be welcome additions.  I'd also like to suggest an Arts School for the future.  You could make a functional version that provides benefits similar to the Main Library or Opera House.

It's great to have you back.  Merry Christmas to you, JB!

[figui]

everything's looking wonderful.
loving the idea of functional buildings.

i'd also suggest a set of walls/fences with the entrances and decorative lots.. 

merry Christmas 

mauricio.

[Sciurus]

Wonderful BAT, I hope (like the rest) it'll be released soon

Guillaume

[peter007]

Looks like a very promising BAT. Very good 

[Zacharuno]

I like it except the ambulance entrance. The base seems just a little too small, with the hole for the entrance. Other wise, it, looks, AMAZING.

[BigSlark]

Jon,

The University Hospital is looking great, but it seems a bit small to me for some reason. I'm sure that LSU-New Orleans, Tulane University, and Emory University are all larger than this structure, I'm not even going to discuss my local University of Mississippi Medical Center (it employees ~20,000 people).

Merry Christmas!

Cheers,
Kevin

[Aaron Graham]

Looking great.

[Ramona Brie]

I like! Can't wait to expand my university with EP1...

BTW your extra path lots are going to be helpful for the things BSC Parks can't do...and so are the driveways.

[JBSimio]

Jdenm:  Thank you!

Sumatra:  Thanks!  Yours and a few other comments got me thinking about the whole "medical school" concept a little bit more.  I'll explain shortly.

Scott:  Thanks!  The packaging for EP1 will be similar to the packaging of the Starter Pack.  The functional vs eye candy shuttles will certainly be in different files.  In fact, they'll actually show up in different menus.  The functional versions will be in the schools menu and won't even be available if you have other university trigger buildings plopped.  The eye candy versions will be in the landmarks menu grouped with the other driveway lots.

Mauricio:  Thank you!  I'm including a list of "confirmed" ideas in this post.

Guillame:  Thanks!

Peter:  Thank you!

Zach:  Thanks!  The ambulance entrance will stay in some form or another, but nearly all of this building can be considered a "rough sketch" at this point.  I just wanted to get a general feel of how a few ideas I had would work.  Many things will still change.

Kevin:  Thank you!  I agree that by most real standards, this would be just a little baby hospital... but we are talking about SC4 here.    Right now, this would fit on a 5x5 lot.  I think the final building will be a little larger... maybe in the 6x6 range.  But, even then, it doesn't speak to the fact that most university medical centers that I've seen (and you've described) are large sprawling complexes.  More on that in a moment.

Aaron Graham:  Thanks!

Tracker:  Thanks!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas.  I spent the day with my parents at my sister's house.  6 year old nephew and I had lots of fun... although my sister may not have appreciated every moment.    Needless to say, I don't have any new pictures or anything to show yet.  In the meantime, I thought I'd put a list down of all the suggestions and ideas I've recieved that I can say have "made the cut" so far.  These are the things I definitely plan on doing for future packs.  I don't know yet which ones will be in which packs, but they are all things I plan on doing eventually.

Functional Classroom Buildings

• Medical School
• School of Performing Arts
• School of Agriculture/Forestry
• Planetarium
• Language Building*
• Culinary School*
• Phsyics/Sciences Building*

*These buildings may or may not have a specific purpose in game trems.  They might just function as additional "general education" buildings.

Athletic Facilities

• Field House
• Outdoor Football Stadium
• Indoor Arena

Alumni Rewards (for lack of a better category)

• Bell Tower / Clock Tower
• President's House
• Alumni Center

Support Buildings

• Campus Book Store
• Alternate Student Union
• Larger Maintainence Building
• Alternate Libraries (one modern feel, possibly one specific Law Library, etc)

Campus Asthetics

• Main Entry Signs (multiple choices)
• Additional "Formal" Quad Lots (garden, fountain, etc)
• Overpasses (pedestrian bridges for over main roads and/or campus driveways)
• Outdoor Gathering Lots (special lots for ie student demonstrations, holiday lots, whatever else seems like a good idea)

Finally, as I looked at the new hospital and read comments, I started thinking a little bit more about the plan for a medical school.  I think one building by itself would, in fact, wind up looking too small.  Originally, I thought I would make one building, and have it function as both university and working hospital and call it a day.  Now I have a new plan for your consideration.  Perhaps I'll make a medical school first... which will still function as a clinic, but with much lower capacity for patients.  (More school than clinic... a few people might come to take advantage of cheap care, but it wouldn't be like a main hospital open to the public.)  Once the medical school is in place, you could then have the option to "expand" your medical campus with the larger hospital, which would be a completely separate lot.  I could even make the buildings in such a way that they could appear connected when plopped correctly (perhaps even a connecting "bridge" option?) but they would still be distinct buildings with different abilities in the game.  There may be one downside to this from a technical standpoint, but I'm not sure.  I know that elementary schools plopped next door to each other don't generally play well together.  (One usually gets ignored while all students go to the other)  I'd need to make sure that the same issue does not exist with medical facilities.  Other than that... what think you?

JB

[jackfrost]

I think all of the ideas you mentioned sound superb. I am most looking foward to seeing how the sporting venues develope, espessially the Football stadium.

[Jack_wilds]

that's quit the list...  so which way will you go in the game play 

I like the university hospital concept, particularly the tower...

however I'm not too clear about your design intent so my thoughts are without your picture in mind... the bed tower will need elevator/stair towers on the ends and/or center, the tower lends to central aisle design sensibilities with the bed service rooms on the outside facing walls,

also the 'drive-thru, driveway' lends to design thought of a dramatic public entry multi-story atrium and the emergency/trauma area would be on one of the ends or on a wing, and the classrooms would be in the pedestal part on one end or the either with a semi dedicated student/university entry... the medical center could be civic and 'educational' or educational and 'civic' 

I like the design sense that is leaning towards post-modern concepts

how would pedestrian underpasses work  would it be a larger or smaller footprint versus an over pass 

Glad you had a good Christmas with family,

Jack

[simdad1957]

JBS:

I am really excited to see you back working at the SimCity salt mines! 

re: the University Hospital concept, I'm a physician and the medical school I was in was located on the university campus but was separate from the teaching hospitals. These were all off campus (but nearby). At present in the game, if I build a campus with an (imaginary) medical school, I just place a functioning hospital adjacent to the medical school or across the street.

I don't think it's a good idea (or realistic) to make a combined medical school/hospital. The teaching of the basics of medicine and the art of learning the practice of medicine are two entirely different things.

As that great Canadian physician (and the founder of modern medical education at John Hopkins Hospital) once stated: "To study medicine without books is to sail an uncharted sea, but to study medicine from books alone is to never go to sea at all......."

[Zacharuno]

Hey Jon!

I wasn't meaning to suggest that you get rid of the ambulance entrance. I just wasn't feeling it where it was. But I'm sure whatever you decide will be great. My school is in the process of building a new hospital to compliment the existing one and the educational buildings. Here's a link to the new building. Here's a picture of some of the rest of the complex.

I'd also like to suggest that some of the already made academic buildings have expansions. Several buildings on my campus have been expanded since they were first built. I think some expansions would add more variety to the campus.

One more think, What do you think about an engineering college, either one building or perhaps an entire complex of buildings? Just a thought. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on the next pack.

Zach

[Sciurus]

Glad you spent a good Christmas! I hope you had a lot of presents!

Well, the idea of the school-hospital might be nice (it reminds me the "CHU" in France (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire; Universitary hospital center), which are bigger than public hospitals, and they works as you described), if the next-door plopable works... It should more practical to plop them where you want and in the order you want, instead of having a big lot... where the own solution to have a personnal lot is to relot it.

And as I said, if I can help, you know where contacting me

Guillaume

[Badsim]

Well , I don't know if I'll dare one day to get involved in an american city building (I feel so uncultivated about them  ) , but that's a thread I love to visit .

Such long running project and such high quality of BATs & Lots is rather rare , to say the least (I know , as LotEditor , how more complicated it is than it looks to create a modular set ). It commands admiration & respect ... Thank you to show us so closely your colossal work .



Cédric.

[CabraBuitre]

CabraBuitre:  Thank you!  Those ponds are still the same ones I showed a while back... these pictures just don't have all the trees and props included which makes the paths and such easier to see.  Hope that wasn't deceiving.

Not at all... maybe I just liked 'em better this time, I dunno!

In the meantime... I was looking back over things and decided to dust off the Clayhurst Field House.  When last we saw this, the back was barely a glimmer and not even worth looking at.  That is no longer the case.  Here's the latest:



The large central opening will be a garage door type opening... probably with a nice C or UofC logo painted on.  The largest step left will be the roof trim and hiding the wierdness of those false fronts.  Beyond that, we're down to the little details before textures.

Looks good!

[PrestonCo]

Love this project...thank you for doing what you do!