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Has The Sims increased your interest in arcitecture?

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  • SimburianSimburian Posts: 6,906 Member
    edited September 2020
    I wanted to be an architect but couldn't do the maths required. I loved building from The Sims onwards and am a fan of "Homes under the Hammer" on BBC TV. That follows the sale of houses at auction, their buyers and what they do to improve the houses they've bought. Then estate agents come in to tell them whether they have added to the value or not. Every type of house and even land. I like designing and rebuilding lots and houses in the same way in Sims 4.

    Those apartments in City Living also get remade. I found, when doing that, that sneakily selling all the furniture, removing all walls and moving out was a good way of increasing my absconding tenant's bank balance too.

    Two places where I used to live are now made conservation areas and nobody is allowed to change anything without permission from the Council so I must have had good taste then!
  • x4m1r4x4m1r4 Posts: 3,901 Member
    Yes and No.

    I'm very interested with the architectural aspects in the Sims, because IRL, I'm always fascinated by different type of architectural style & of course the history behind all those great buildings. However, for my own gameplay, I rather build something that is not constraint on a specific style. I like to create something new, different, or even quirky.
    OID:- x4m1r4
  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,284 Member
    @Simburian Those types of neighborhoods here in the U.S.A. are often called Historical. We have a very sad history of knocking buildings of seemingly no significance down. A neighborhood I lived in in California (the very first house hubby and I owned), was the very first organized neighborhood in that city. There was a group trying to have it designated Historical, so that those who owned a house among the 900 houses, had to get approval before they changed so much as the color of the house! I said, no thanks. But the people who owned the house behind us had sadly remuddled that place. The architecture was confused, to say the least. They put a roof line on the room addition that clearly belonged on the beach front further west of us. (I came from the beach communities, you see.) It warred in ascetics with the original roof line. I hated it, but could see it all too clearly from my backyard. Oi! What can we do? But I hated the notion that somebody else had to be asked first before I made any outside changes to the home we just purchased. I may as well have been back in the apartment where, of course, since we rented had no say …
    You can download (free) all three volumes of my Night Whispers Star Trek Fanfiction here: http://galacticgal.deviantart.com/gallery/ You'll need to have a pdf reader. New websites: http://www.trekkiefanfiction.com/st-tos.php
    http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
  • KathykinsKathykins Posts: 1,881 Member
    @Kathykins wrote: »
    Wonderful houses, @king_of_simcity7 ! Getting really inspired here :) I kept getting lost when I did a search for them (to get more detailed pictures, maybe even floorplans! :O ) and found more and more builds I want to do :D

    I have always been keenly interested in the building part of Sims, ever since my first, feeble attempts at building in TS1 (2001).

    I love looking for floor plans :smile:

    Love those too :) Realtor (?) sites are some of my favourites! I always end up spending a lot of time there, and saving a bunch of images and floorplans. Its always fun, and some times frustrating, but challenging to transfer what I see on the sites to the game.

    Oh and I ALSO look at houses when driving/walking by, like others here do :D I tend to forget, though, so that's why I like those websites better, I can keep the pictures for referance.
  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    @Kathykins wrote: »
    @Kathykins wrote: »
    Wonderful houses, @king_of_simcity7 ! Getting really inspired here :) I kept getting lost when I did a search for them (to get more detailed pictures, maybe even floorplans! :O ) and found more and more builds I want to do :D

    I have always been keenly interested in the building part of Sims, ever since my first, feeble attempts at building in TS1 (2001).

    I love looking for floor plans :smile:

    Love those too :) Realtor (?) sites are some of my favourites! I always end up spending a lot of time there, and saving a bunch of images and floorplans. Its always fun, and some times frustrating, but challenging to transfer what I see on the sites to the game.

    Oh and I ALSO look at houses when driving/walking by, like others here do :D I tend to forget, though, so that's why I like those websites better, I can keep the pictures for referance.

    I use a site called Rightmove. It is mostly houses from the UK but I have seen some houses for sell on there for other countries.

    House sales going back to 1995 are included and you can see how houses prices have gone up (especially in London) and sometimes pictures might be a bit dated (old style TVs and furnishings from the 2000s)

    Here are two random London streets:

    Khyber Road SW11 2PZ

    https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/sw11/khyber-road.html

    Number 7

    https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=26859721&sale=78262707&country=england

    31545_bat100040_IMG_00_0000_max_656x437.jpg

    31545_bat100040_FLP_00_0000.jpg

    31545_bat100040_IMG_01_0000_max_656x437.jpg

    Beck Road E8 4RE

    https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/e8/beck-road.html

    Number 29

    This was brought for £78,000 in 1995, £912,000 in 2014 and this year it went for £1,097,500. :no_mouth:

    https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=74889463&sale=11374138&country=england

    22268_HAC140588_IMG_15_0000_max_656x437.jpg

    22268_HAC140588_FLP_01_0000.jpg

    22268_HAC140588_IMG_13_0000_max_656x437.jpg

    Simbourne
    screenshot_original.jpg
  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,284 Member
    That first picture reminds me of the "house" the Beatles lived in, (each having their own door) in the movie "Help".
    You can download (free) all three volumes of my Night Whispers Star Trek Fanfiction here: http://galacticgal.deviantart.com/gallery/ You'll need to have a pdf reader. New websites: http://www.trekkiefanfiction.com/st-tos.php
    http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    That first picture reminds me of the "house" the Beatles lived in, (each having their own door) in the movie "Help".

    I believe that is this street:

    Ailsa Avenue, St. Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW1

    https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/tw1/ailsa-avenue.html

    84809_28663943_IMG_01_0000_max_656x437.jpg

    The two old ladies thought that despite their wealth they still lived in ordinary houses yet the joke in the film is that it has been converted into a mansion

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx_7xjpySK0
    Simbourne
    screenshot_original.jpg
  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,284 Member
    I do admit it's been an number of years since I watched Help. (I don't have a lot of time during the days to just view a movie, but that's my personal choice.) Back when it was first released here in the U.S.A., I waited in the very first long line I'd ever seen for a movie. Ever. It was wrapped around the outside of the theater. Not too many years later, that became a norm. :open_mouth: I used to have it on VHS, but I don't believe I've got it on DVD. :'( Hm, darn, now I have a hankering to see it again!
    You can download (free) all three volumes of my Night Whispers Star Trek Fanfiction here: http://galacticgal.deviantart.com/gallery/ You'll need to have a pdf reader. New websites: http://www.trekkiefanfiction.com/st-tos.php
    http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    I do admit it's been an number of years since I watched Help. (I don't have a lot of time during the days to just view a movie, but that's my personal choice.) Back when it was first released here in the U.S.A., I waited in the very first long line I'd ever seen for a movie. Ever. It was wrapped around the outside of the theater. Not too many years later, that became a norm. :open_mouth: I used to have it on VHS, but I don't believe I've got it on DVD. :'( Hm, darn, now I have a hankering to see it again!

    I have never seen the full movie myself but I know that Beatlemania was huge in the USA at the time with a huge following. I have also been to two of the houses they grew up in in Liverpool
    Simbourne
    screenshot_original.jpg
  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,284 Member
    I had the great good pleasure of seeing Beatlemania at the Shubert Theatre in Century City, L.A.! My first baby was only three weeks old. I had prepared myself (I was breast-feeding) but despite pads, I was horrified at the intermission to realize I had sprung a leak! But the show was fantastic. For one who was never able to see the Beatles perform live, I felt as if I'd just been to one of their concerts. Many years later I got the opportunity to see Sir Paul McCartney live. He came despite the rioting and sang his new song, Peace In the Neighborhood. I told my husband, I can die now. I've seen my all-time favorite in person. :)
    You can download (free) all three volumes of my Night Whispers Star Trek Fanfiction here: http://galacticgal.deviantart.com/gallery/ You'll need to have a pdf reader. New websites: http://www.trekkiefanfiction.com/st-tos.php
    http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
  • SimburianSimburian Posts: 6,906 Member
    edited September 2020
    @Simburian Those types of neighborhoods here in the U.S.A. are often called Historical. We have a very sad history of knocking buildings of seemingly no significance down. A neighborhood I lived in in California (the very first house hubby and I owned), was the very first organized neighborhood in that city. There was a group trying to have it designated Historical, so that those who owned a house among the 900 houses, had to get approval before they changed so much as the color of the house! I said, no thanks. But the people who owned the house behind us had sadly remuddled that place. The architecture was confused, to say the least. They put a roof line on the room addition that clearly belonged on the beach front further west of us. (I came from the beach communities, you see.) It warred in ascetics with the original roof line. I hated it, but could see it all too clearly from my backyard. Oi! What can we do? But I hated the notion that somebody else had to be asked first before I made any outside changes to the home we just purchased. I may as well have been back in the apartment where, of course, since we rented had no say …

    My conservation area house first then after that, a flat weren't all that old but excellent example of a builder's work. One 1930's and one 1920's These days you can't even put up a satellite dish without permission or change the windows, doors, fences & gates etc. My sister and her husband, luckily being on the end of terrace on the first estate managed to get new windows, a garage and bedroom over it just before the rules came in! The second estate was in mock Tudor style and got ridiculed for it in an historical guide to the area at the time. Times changed all that though. Both properties were in Greater London and now worth about half a million pounds each. Unfortunately we sold before the steep rise in prices!

    I seem to be going back in time as my present flat is in a road built in 1908, still in a city conservation area to a great extent (frontages need permission) and I'm not selling this one. :) It's the first time I had dogs as there is a huge park just over the road. Dog heaven.
  • Bettyboop55Bettyboop55 Posts: 2,646 Member
    Always loved looking at building design and have been a member of the National Trust for years. I am lucky to live in a seaside town in the West Country so have plenty to inspire me from early Georgian to mid 20th post WW2. Other places close by such as Georgian Bath and the Cotswolds provide even more ideas for builds. My first love though remains Classical architecture and I have visited both Athens and Pompeii. Although I still can’t tell the difference between Ionic, Doric and Corinthian columns without reference to text books :D

    One of the things I would like to see more of is appropriate windows and curved walls. I know it is possible because of the sports centre in Hidden Springs. I would also love better brick textures. There is so much difference between Tudor brickwork and modern builds. It really irks me I can’t get this without using cc.
    I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
    Wherever I am friends call me Betty

    Sim enim est vita
  • SimsILikeSimsSimsILikeSims Posts: 1,634 Member
    edited October 2020
    Yes, it has increased my interest in architecture, though I have always been interested in it to a certain extent. When as a child we went on road trips, my mom always pointed out differences in different architectural styles. We also visited a lot of scenic gardens. Since we didn't have mobile phones when I was a child or young teen, and they were unaffordable and clunky when I was an older teen, I did lots of people watching and examining details of things around me. Boredom was commonplace, and something we "needed to get used to" rather than something to be avoided at all costs. Thus, I found things like reading instruction manuals, thesaurus, even dictionaries a fun thing to do on occasion when there really was nothing else to do.

    However, now that I am middle-aged and married, when I talk about Sims architecture, my husband gets annoyed because it does not take into consideration things like electric wiring, plumbing, and whether a build violates the laws of physics or not. (True story, many of us old Simmers used to/still do take joy in building a ground level floor, building an upper story and putting the floor on the second story, putting stairs in, then removing all the walls of the ground level floor.
    I have been playing The Sims since 2001, when Livin Large came out. My avatar deliberately looks like Chris Roomies from TS1.
  • MsKatieRoseMsKatieRose Posts: 672 Member
    edited October 2020
    @Kathykins wrote: »
    @Kathykins wrote: »
    Wonderful houses, @king_of_simcity7 ! Getting really inspired here :) I kept getting lost when I did a search for them (to get more detailed pictures, maybe even floorplans! :O ) and found more and more builds I want to do :D

    I have always been keenly interested in the building part of Sims, ever since my first, feeble attempts at building in TS1 (2001).

    I love looking for floor plans :smile:

    Love those too :) Realtor (?) sites are some of my favourites! I always end up spending a lot of time there, and saving a bunch of images and floorplans. Its always fun, and some times frustrating, but challenging to transfer what I see on the sites to the game.

    Oh and I ALSO look at houses when driving/walking by, like others here do :D I tend to forget, though, so that's why I like those websites better, I can keep the pictures for referance.

    I use a site called Rightmove. It is mostly houses from the UK but I have seen some houses for sell on there for other countries.

    Lol, the last is over priced if you consider it doesn't even have a master suite. Must be the area and bones of the place.
    Always be your unapologetically and authentic self
  • SimsILikeSimsSimsILikeSims Posts: 1,634 Member
    @Kathykins wrote: »
    @Kathykins wrote: »
    Wonderful houses, @king_of_simcity7 ! Getting really inspired here :) I kept getting lost when I did a search for them (to get more detailed pictures, maybe even floorplans! :O ) and found more and more builds I want to do :D

    I have always been keenly interested in the building part of Sims, ever since my first, feeble attempts at building in TS1 (2001).

    I love looking for floor plans :smile:

    Love those too :) Realtor (?) sites are some of my favourites! I always end up spending a lot of time there, and saving a bunch of images and floorplans. Its always fun, and some times frustrating, but challenging to transfer what I see on the sites to the game.

    Oh and I ALSO look at houses when driving/walking by, like others here do :D I tend to forget, though, so that's why I like those websites better, I can keep the pictures for referance.

    I use a site called Rightmove. It is mostly houses from the UK but I have seen some houses for sell on there for other countries.

    Lol, the last is over priced if you consider it doesn't even have a master suite. Must be the area and bones of the place.

    A LOT of real estate is based on land values, not just the building. In the Pacific Northwest (West Coast, USA), land values have gone sky-high in the last 10 years. Plus there is certain other location factors too: access to shopping, highways, estimated commute distance and length, whether there is noise pollution, and the kind of views the property has. Beachfront property, for instance, has always been more expensive.

    A lot also depends on the condition of the building. If the building has not been maintained properly, whether it be the interior or exterior, and is not renovated before it is sold, the seller will almost always take a loss, unless they are selling to someone who wants to say, tear the whole thing down and build an apartment complex, condos, hotels, large parking garages, and the like. Curbside appeal also makes a big difference.

    I have been playing The Sims since 2001, when Livin Large came out. My avatar deliberately looks like Chris Roomies from TS1.
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