Innovative modern architecture

[animats]

We have an interesting opportunity in Second Life. Not only can we build architectural models, we can live in them. So we can see what will work.

This would be a nice challenge for architecture students. Design a house, put it in SL, rent it out, and get user feedback.

We need new, liveable modern architecture. Midcentury modern has been done to death. That was tried for Horizons, but the houses were mostly cute exteriors with useless interior space.

Here are some recent designs to look at. These are all real-world houses.

Mostly straight lines, so the triangle count is manageable. It's all about materials and lighting, which can be done well in SL. This would work in a neighborhood.

This style could be used for a smaller house. The combination of glass, stone, and water features works well and is not difficult to do in SL. Although, if too small, it will have a McMansion look.

 

You need an isolated coastal location for this. But it's not a difficult house to build in SL.

This is a render, not a real house. You can see the RL problems. The outer edge is useless; you'd fall off. At high tide, you'll need a boat to get to the stairs. This is cool but useless architecture.

 

[ChinRey]

34 minutes ago, animats said:

We have an interesting opportunity in Second Life. Not only can we build architectural models, we can live in them. So we can see what will work.

It's a great idea in principle and it's one that was proposed right at the start of Second Life. It was also one of LL's main selling points for Sansar.

However, to get an impression how an SL house will work in RL, we need:

• Realistic scale  and proportions both of the environment and the avatar
• 1st person POW
• Realistic walking speed (for security reasons most people won't move around in their RL house at a brisk jogging pace but that's wat we do in SL)

Ideally we want VR headsets too of course but that's not actually essential. The factors above are though and they would require a paradigm shift in how Second Life - and even virtual reality in general - is perceived.

[Thecla]

There is a very similar house as that last one for sale in SL...I think it's from Meshworx, I forget.

I do know RW architects that use SL to show plans and landscaping to clients, but they are usually sitting next to them as learning the SL interface just to take a few quick tours through a plan is a bit of an inverted lift.

I'm not sure what the current state of the "AutoCAD to SL mesh" process is, but again, the issue with architecture students is that you're asking them to learn SL and a whole bunch of technical stuff in order to even rez a model in SL. That could be a whole course in and of itself, lol.

Along with the RL revolution of pure design architectural style and theory are the advances in fabrication...such as 3D printed houses, which in turn make possible structures that would have been prohibitively expensive to build. For much of the last century, architectural designs have been constrained by engineering and materials...building materials are mass produced to build the most common forms, which in turn hinders the evolution of cost-effective "departures" from common forms. In short, a square house is much cheaper to build than a round one.

[ChinRey]

4 hours ago, Thecla said:

In short, a square house is much cheaper to build than a round one.

Say that to an iron age European. Houses here used to be well rounded but then the Romans came along with their little boxes and suddenly it was hip to be square.

[Tyiler Scarborough]

Im working on a hyper Modern skybox right now... Im a high school dropout so i have no formal education but it's fun to let your imagination go wild =D  i I have a friend who is a professional Architect in SL and he looks at my builds and is like... "yeah im glad this isn't in real life... it would kill someone xDDDD" #Sam P...

[animats]

That's not bad. After you texture it, please post again.

[Leora Greenwood]

On 6/14/2023 at 8:52 AM, Thecla said:

There is a very similar house as that last one for sale in SL...I think it's from Meshworx, I forget.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MESHWORXBOXCantella-Build/21814859  this one, I think.

[ChinRey]

On 6/14/2023 at 2:52 PM, Thecla said:

There is a very similar house as that last one for sale in SL...I think it's from Meshworx, I forget.

Similar? More like identical I think.

Anyway both Animats' picture and the one on MP shows the house in the wrong settings. The original Vandamm House (from the 1959 Hitchcock movie North by Northwest) was on a hilltop:

(Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/09/modernist-building-in-north-by-northwest-changed-cinema-forever)

Now, that's more like it!

 

(Edit: Yes, that "modern" house is actually a simplification of a movie set from 1959. Not only that, I'm sure at least some of you notice how heavly the Vandamm house leans on Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, dating all the way back to 1935. Nearly everything that is presented as "modern architecture" today is actually quite old, typical pre war Lloyd Wright and/or Le Corbusier style with a little bit of brutalism and Bauhaus thrown in for good measure. Es gibt nicths Neues unter die Sonne.)

Edited June 18, 2023 by ChinRey

[arton Rotaru]

10 hours ago, ChinRey said:

Similar? More like identical I think.

Anyway both Animats' picture and the one on MP shows the house in the wrong settings. The original Vandamm House (from the 1959 Hitchcock movie North by Northwest) was on a hilltop:

(Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/09/modernist-building-in-north-by-northwest-changed-cinema-forever)

Now, that's more like it!

 

(Edit: Yes, that "modern" house is actually a simplification of a movie set from 1959. Not only that, I'm sure at least some of you notice how heavly the Vandamm house leans on Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, dating all the way back to 1935. Nearly everything that is presented as "modern architecture" today is actually quite old, typical pre war Lloyd Wright and/or Le Corbusier style with a little bit of brutalism and Bauhaus thrown in for good measure. Es gibt nicths Neues unter die Sonne.)

I love this movie. Now that you posted this, I read in another article that the outside views of the structure are just matte paintings. Never realized that while watching the movie. For sure, I'm going to watch it yet another time tonight.

[Orwar]

On 5/31/2023 at 9:03 AM, animats said:

You need an isolated coastal location for this. But it's not a difficult house to build in SL.

   Happened to see that on the neighbouring plot of my sister's club the other day - so, someone did!

[Love Zhaoying]

15 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   Happened to see that on the neighbouring plot of my sister's club the other day - so, someone did!

Man, that architecture is almost..Brutal!

 

[Leora Greenwood]

1 hour ago, Orwar said:

   Happened to see that on the neighbouring plot of my sister's club the other day - so, someone did!

I think that is the Orsa Wedge cottage:  https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Trompe-Loeil-Orsa-Wedge-Cottage-V11-mesh/22246556

[ChinRey]

4 hours ago, Leora Greenwood said:

I think that is the Orsa Wedge cottage:  https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Trompe-Loeil-Orsa-Wedge-Cottage-V11-mesh/22246556

Yes, that's another replica of the same house. It seems to be a bit closer to the original than Meshworx' take on it.

This is a bit worrying. Although the house is, as I mentioned earlier, probably inspired by the Vandamm House, it's still a very unique and original design and should be IP protected (by Atelier Monolit unless I'm mistaken). And neither of the two MP listings give any credit to the actual creator.

[Charalyne Blackwood]

On 6/16/2023 at 11:47 AM, Tyiler Scarborough said:

Im working on a hyper Modern skybox right now... Im a high school dropout so i have no formal education but it's fun to let your imagination go wild =D  i I have a friend who is a professional Architect in SL and he looks at my builds and is like... "yeah im glad this isn't in real life... it would kill someone xDDDD" #Sam P...

I'm curious what the LI on this is 😮

[Codex Alpha]

On 5/31/2023 at 12:03 AM, animats said:

We have an interesting opportunity in Second Life. Not only can we build architectural models, we can live in them. So we can see what will work.

This would be a nice challenge for architecture students. Design a house, put it in SL, rent it out, and get user feedback.

We need new, liveable modern architecture. Midcentury modern has been done to death. That was tried for Horizons, but the houses were mostly cute exteriors with useless interior space.

Here are some recent designs to look at. These are all real-world houses.

Mostly straight lines, so the triangle count is manageable. It's all about materials and lighting, which can be done well in SL. This would work in a neighborhood.

This style could be used for a smaller house. The combination of glass, stone, and water features works well and is not difficult to do in SL. Although, if too small, it will have a McMansion look.

 

You need an isolated coastal location for this. But it's not a difficult house to build in SL.

This is a render, not a real house. You can see the RL problems. The outer edge is useless; you'd fall off. At high tide, you'll need a boat to get to the stairs. This is cool but useless architecture.

 

Problem with this is, a few creators have cornered the market, and now that they have, they have put their prices so amazingly low, the potential ROI from providing an optimized and interesting home is quite low.
Add to that that people want the house as a building kit (through mod permissions) and its looking like it's not worth it. I'd love to get into this arena myself as well, as it would be fun to make some cool homes (I like originality and inspired by, not copies) - but ROI might not be there anymore.

I also can't get past the "I spend time making the build efficient, but am just giving someone a building kit for the price of a prefab" just doesn't strike me as fair.