Friday 16 July 2010

Lot tour: Exeter Aquarium

So this won't be anything new to those of you who post at N99 but those of you who aren't members there will not have seen these yet. I showed a little bit of the aquarium in today's Romilly update but by special request, I'm showing you some more. :)

I built the aquarium for three reasons. The first was that I was inspired by the aquarium at The McTavishams. The second was that I eventually want a lot for every career (this one is for Oceanography). The third reason was what made me kick my butt in gear and get it done: the June Project at N99 was to build a community lot, so I finally got started!


As always, all images are thumbnails, so click to enlarge.So here it is. I moved a few buildings around so that the aquarium is placed near other "educational" sort of buildings. So it's near the library, the museum and the high school. Not that you can tell from this angle! Very impressed that those letters work on the roof like that - I didn't even need to move them up or down.

Here's the top down view of the first floor.

And the second floor. Sorry about the grid!

Exeter Aquarium is mostly a public tourist attraction but I also have a small office for Sims in the Oceanography career to work in. It's in a tiny building that is separate from the main aquarium. Yes, the Romilly family are our guides once again - I did build it specially for Victoria!

Currently, only Victoria works in Oceanography, so she has the office to herself. I like to imagine she does a lot of field work, as well as her work at the aquarium.

Just inside the main entrance, you can buy your tickets from the counter. As you leave, you can also buy greeting cards/postcards as a souvenir of your visit.

The main attraction, of course, is the aquarium and the array of marine life that it houses.

Caitlin is just fascinated!

There are a few snack machines on the first floor, in case Sims get hungry while they're looking around.

And a couple of benches to sit on.

There's also a little restaurant on site, for those who'd like to have a proper meal.

  The experienced kitchen staff prepare delicious meals every day, for lunch and dinner.

You can even watch the sharks swim by while you eat! That's Victoria's dad Trent sitting down ready to order in the foreground.


Besides the fish, sharks and other animals, there are several models of different devices and transport used in oceanography and marine biology.

And this enormous model octopus!

There's even a touch pool (which I will one day take off the stage foundation, so it would be conceivable that people would be able to reach in and touch!)

Aerial view of the touch pool.

Across from the touch pool is a smaller aquarium.

Which Caitlin is also quite fond of.

And last but not least, Exeter Aquarium also boasts a theatre which plays various educational movies at regular intervals during the day.

Notes:
  • So there it is, for those of you hadn't yet seen it. I think it's probably the lot I'm proudest of in Sullivan. I love my primary school but I didn't have to follow any tutorials to build that, so I can't say it was as much hard work as this one was. Once the aquarium tank part was done, this was mostly just tedious!

16 comments:

  1. Very creative. I thought about doing a lot for all the careers but I do not have the energy for it. I get inspired by those of you that blog. Keep up the good work. I cant wait to see what other community lots you build!

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  2. Looks great! I'm always in awe of your building abilities, mine are always just so boring! I really like that idea of having an office for every career, it's cool, and you can use it for the posts and such too!
    And so, here it comes, the Where Can I Find's :P Um, Number One: The NPC truck in the parking lot. I'm guessing it's on MTS though, right? The only other one I had was the aquariums. Are those the Apartment Life ones or are they something completely different? I hope you don't mind, and I really hope you get this blogger mess straightened out, it seems like it's really getting bad!

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  3. Bernz, thanks! I drag my feet on building, because I have to wait until some sort of inspiration hits or I end up with a boring box. Lately though, I've been pretty happy with most of the stuff I've been doing. :)

    Tessa, thanks so much! And yup, the career lots flesh out my posts, which is really the main reason I'm doing them. It's nice to have a picture of where the Sim might be going off to when they disappear for several hours each day.

    The truck's info says it comes from Cyclonesue at TSR. I would hope that it's a free item. It'd be a bit cheeky to charge for something that is just extracted straight from the base game. I got mine with a lot though, so I can't say for sure.

    If you mean the aquarium Caitlin is looking at by herself, yes, that's the AL one.

    I don't know what's up with this font problem. I have it as a uniform font now, at least but I don't think it's my regular one. :\

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  4. Thank-you Carla for the tour! I love seeing how people build lots. It never occured to me to really fill out my neighbourhood with the places where sims work...(note to self start building more work buildings in Winchester). Can't wait to see what other work buildings you have created.

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  5. Your aquarium is amazing! I'm such a lazy builder, I don't know if I'd have the patience to do all that, lol. But it turned out really awesome!

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  6. I love the aquarium! I've been kinda doing the same thing as I rebuild LaQuest. I have a really cool building for the people in my science careers (which right now is just Amanda and Corbin). Of course, I didn't build it myself because I suck at building lol.....you, on the other hand, are very talented!

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  7. As I said in the previous update, I thing this building is AMAZING!!
    I like the idea of a building for every career.

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  8. Wow, that looks amazing! I'm trying the location-for-all-careers thing too, but my Oceanography and Natural History share a place and my aquarium isn't anywhere near as impressive.

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  9. I love this lot. I wish mine looked like yours. LOL I think you actually kicked me into finishing mine. I my head its a mix of the PPG aquatium here where I live and the Natinal aquarium in Boltimore. I really liked that one!

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  10. rome_raven, you're welcome! I like seeing other people's lot tours as well, so I post them myself when I can.

    I really need to check out your hood! :D

    Shana, thank you! I'm pretty lazy myself. I won't tell you how many times I started the aquarium part, gave up after not trying very hard at all and then exited the lot without saving. But it was a lot. LOL.

    Mizzgin03, thanks. I actually really don't like building, because I almost always hate the shell of the building (this is a rare exception) and I can't landscape worth a damn. But I find the interiors of the places I build myself always work better for my purposes than anything I download. At least for community lots! I never, ever build houses!

    I can't wait to see your science building, when you get around to using it in an update (and when you finish the rebuilding process!)

    Tanja, thank you! A building for every career is quite a task I've set myself but I'm hoping to get another one done today.

    Blackcat, thanks! I'd love to see your museum/aquarium! A museum is something on my to-do list that I haven't really got around to yet. If I can't have a huge whale hanging from the ceiling or an enormous T-Rex in the lobby, like the museum here, I'm going to be bummed. ;)

    Riverdale, thank you! I would love to see your aquarium when you're finished. :) I started off basing this on Sydney Aquarium but didn't stick with that for too long! So it's mostly just random ideas that popped into my head while I was building (no plan, again - as usual!)

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  11. Wow! Thanks for that. I love the look of it. What a clever and fun idea!

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  12. Lunar, thanks! I think the best part about it for me is that it runs really beautifully. I was afraid it was going to be laggy but it's not laggy in the slightest. :)

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  13. Oh! I love your aquarium! So creative and fun.

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  14. Denise, thank you! I'm very happy with how it turned out. :)

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  15. I started building an aquarium for Simmeria today, and I'm actually loving it so far :)

    I was actually wondering how you did the touch pool, if you're willing to share...

    I'm sorry to bug you here with this so long after you posted this tour.

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  16. Tanja, can't wait to see it!

    The touch pool was really easy, actually. I just used the stage foundation, put a glass fence around it, laid down some flooring that looks like water and then used some of the same marine life decorations I used in the main aquarium.

    I keep meaning to go in and take it off the stage foundation, because up so high, no one but an adult could reach in. But I've been too lazy!

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