Any tips for building modern houses?

[sniper_zero]

Hi, i've been trying to build a modern mansion lately and i just can't seem to be satisfied with the exterior I come up with. Moreover, the interior poses a problem as well since I'm not good with open house plans, something which I plan to give to this house I'm building. So I was wondering if any of you guys could give me advice.

[SommarBlomma]

You schould probably search for the images of real modern exteriors and interiors in the Internet. The game has some restrictions so you won't be able to make everything you'll see, moreover, you don't need to make replicas of real houses, just use those pics for inspiration, at least it helps me.

[lichtje]

Hello,

well concepts can be so different ;-): I never go for floorplans of real houses, because Sims might simulate reallife - but it just isn't reallife and architecture differs enormously!

If you go for open space living dont make the mistake to build large square rooms. Keep the rooms small, give them nooks and niches and make them open again with lots of arches. The trick ist to define lots of themes for all the small rooms: communication room, tv room, computer room, library, games area, hobby room, music room and so on. Even split the dining from the kitchen. The kitchen can keep a small sitting area for fast eating, but the dining with friends table should be separated.
The private rooms can be also split up. Give them a build in dresser - even a small on (4 squaremeters) adds individuality to your floorplan and makes decorating easier. I like to put kids/teen beds into seperates corners as well connecting them via arches again and putting a curtain to the arches. If its a really big mansion the kids should have several areas in their rooms like working, reading, sitting with friends and hobby. Again its easier to seperate those themes with a non square room.

For the exterior it depends on your building style how to pimp it ;-). If its a really nice looking facade you might go with just plain colour - if you are against experiments stick to white. But this kind of house really needs variety - in window sizes and placements, cut outs, two building bodies build into each other (like two cubes of different size).

If your house is more like one cuboid/dice I suggest you use more then one material for the outside, like the lower part white plaster and on the upper part some wooden planks. Make it even more exciting with using a half splitted texture (like in tapestry section) on one of the levels to get something like for example 1/4 white and 3/4 wood in total. (hope you geht the meaning). Btw. using more than one material and color makes every building more interesting.

Ups... didnt mean to write a book when I started... was just wandering through my latest architectures in mind and hope I could help. If you don't mind show us pictures with more specific questions about difficulties.

Greetings
lichtje

[jje1000]

http://www.archdaily.com/
http://www.dezeen.com/
http://www.designboom.com/eng/

Your go-to source for all modern architecture.

Make good use of the half-walls and the placefrieze cheat, they greatly help your roofline and general profile of your building.

Also, make good use of the colour palette, approximate and keep an eye on the proportions!