Conclusion

I think overall the building is effective. It's been an... interesting experience and I've learnt a lot. Below is an image of the building that shows two of the sides. Both my Arch+ and Architecture Review journals explored dynamic buildings and if I were to redo this project I would look at creating a building that was less conventional as I feel this building is a little constrained by what our idea of a "physical" building should be. However I believe there are components of the building that make it successful and it serves the function that it should.

Mosaic Wall

The mosaic wall was one of my main starting points for the building.  After painting a mosaic I figured the effect could be interesting if used as a building facade.  I think the strong geometry is contemporary and dynamic and was a valuable feature to use in informing other components of the building.  The exterior of the mosaic wall can be seen in the image below.  I thought it linked to both my Arch+ journal and The Architectural Review as it creates an interesting feature and pushes the boundaries slightly more than if the wall were blank.

These images show the avatar sitting on my sculptie chair and an image of the completed lounge area.  In the picture below the light and light switch can b seen.  While I understood how to make a prim cast light I had difficulty finding a script that would allow the light to be turned on and off.... The light I created is, I think, created around a "glow" rather than a light.  The light switch successfully worked though and the glowing sphere does cast a light when turned on.

Journal Display

We wanted to create something more original to display our journals on.  I designed and built this "Journal Display"  that is cohesive to other components in the building and makes the presentation of the journals more dynamic. 

Linkaaaagge

Given that this is a virtual library and the potential of the library is large, we wanted to utilise the virtual component of the library, by incorporating qualities of the virtual world. In the image below is a bookshelf with links to various websites I used and found useful during the process of the build.

Similarly in the picture below, we each chose one of our journals and placed the link on a prim.  The website can be viewed and used on the prim.

Particle Times

We've made bowls to store our particles.  My particle is a glowing orb. My computer doesn't recognise objects like this for some reason so I was unable to upload an image... I'll have to do this tomorrow.

Alpha Channel

Well we made our alpha channels.  I designed mine with the colours of the building in mind as well as the geometry.  It is reflective of the mosaic wall.  We applied our alphas to the "alpha tree"  That can be seen in the image below

I applied my alpha channel to a wall on the first floor. As can be seen below

Tree House Elevations

I managed to work out how to do the elevations and plans :)  Success

                                                                             North Face

                                                                                 East Face

                                                                        South Face

                                                                               West Face

Treee house times

I made this back in the day but didn't post images of it for some reason.  It's a fairly basic treehouse but meets all the requirements.  As can be seen there is a swing out the front.

Folds

At the beginning of the project our group decided we were "fold" people.  So the building is based around this concept. As can be seen in the images below, the design is structured around this 'folded' wall. I thought this design concept was contemporary and creates cohesion between the stories.

More elevator times

Here are more pictures of the elevator, now completed. The image above shows my avatar sitting on the elevator.  The red "button" causes it to move upwards to the first floor.
The picture below shows my avatar on the first floor after travelling.

The button in the picture below summons the elevator to the first floor for departure downstairs.

This picture shows my avatar sitting on the elevator at the first floor.  There is an 8 second waiting time until the elevator descends.

Landscaping times

I wanted to include an outdoor area that focused on creating a public space, reflective of my assigned Urban Design related journal.  The journal looked at the extreme importance of Urban Design and creating public spaces for the benefit of society.  I created this additional "path"  that acts as an aesthetic feature, an abstract walkway and can be used as a seat at any point.  The colours and shapes relate to other components of the overall building including the 'mosaic' feature wall, the bookshelves and the various other coloured sculptures.

The walkway can be seen to the bottom-left of the image, and my avatar is sitting on a portion of it to demonstrate the multi-functional properties of the walkway.

The structure to the right is Elena's "tree"  which will present our alpha channels.  it adds to the landscaping concept, as well as the geometric nature of our building, and is an interesting aesthetic feature.

EDIT:  here is a completed (as of now anyway...)  of the landscaping area.

Offsetting times

My original offset image of stones wasn't successful so I decided to redo it using shells.  I wanted to create a path outside the library that would link to my Landscaping Australia Journal and frame an outdoor area.

This was the old image, I cropped it slightly to avoid the out of focus edges

Here is the offset image

I found this considerably easier to make seamless than my previous attempt. I was unable to upload a screen shot from second life of the completed path but I will include this later.

Coloured lights

Good old Scratch 4 SL right??  Well,  I've got the hang of this script thing right, so we've now got a dance floor of sorts.  All we need now is flare pants and some classic 70s disco playing and we'll be set. I set the lights to flash a variety of colours, by 10 each second.. It has quite a nice effect.  My initial intention was a colour change when walked over, which I imagine is possible but I haven't figured it out yet.  May give it a go else where.

The second image also includes my sculptie beanbag.  Appropriately coloured imho.

Elevator times

I have successfully created an elevator.  Ultimate satisfaction.  Unfortunately all of our prims seem to act as phantoms despite the lack of any phantom selection by us, so the actual elevator prim leaves without the avatar standing on it... A little bizarre.  Fortunately this is remedied by a seated prim that the avatars sit on to ride the elevator.  I'm sure they need a rest after all that flying and walking around anyway... The elevator is also reflective of April's journal about disabled access.

The first image is me sitting on the elevator.  Unfortunately the second image I took of me at the upper position didn't upload so i'll have to amend that later.  The second is a further image of the elevators, the left going to the first floor and the right to the second as is labelled.

My avatar was going through a phase clothing wise, which passed over time.  I'm losing my mind...

Faaaantastic

http://code.google.com/p/secondlifelivelyscripts/

great website to help with scripting

Sculpties and an exciting media texture

Sculpties

http://kanae.net/secondzlife/tokoroten.html

http://www.avatars-3d.com/en-tutorial-sculpty/234-second-life-sculpty-tokoroten-sofa

Lift script

http://www.freeslscripts.gendersquare.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36:lift-script-v-10&catid=13:air&Itemid=8


I found an exciting media texture (!) below, and uploaded it to make a rug (cool) below that.  So here it is.

These are a little backwards....

Here's a photo of my smoky self (naaaww) on a prim.  I paid $10 virtual dollars for that.  Better be worth it.

I did this a while back but last time I tried it wouldn't upload -_- the internet hates me.

There's my non smoky avatar looking at it.  COOL.

Sculptie times

SCULPTIES. The potential to be the death of me but allllg.  While Sculptypaint, a highly recommended (by fellow virtual friends) sculpty website was down, (Murphy's law)  I found another that was reasonable.  So i've made some lovely couches to place in our library.

Look at that.  Great.  While I can't get my avatar to sit on them, they look alright.


EDIT:  They are now sittable.  Success.  I'm starting to like secondlife...

sculpties...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CJxwvvgFzE  Useful.  Sculptie stuff.

Useful websites looking at architecture in the virtual world

http://sing.stanford.edu/meruweb/meru.html
http://archvirtual.com/
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2049021/Virtuatecture-in-Second-Life-What-Makes-a-House-a-House

Last one's pretty interesting.  Some apparent controversy, always good.

Casting some liiiights.

Manage to cast some ... cool as lights in second life.  I didn't know how to use the same colours that i'd made in photoshop so I just chose colours similar to them.

I tried to take a photo of myself with my lights but for some reason I'm just a hovering smoke/light thing rather than an actual person:

There I am in the middle.  Awkward.