Midway Gardens
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Hello all,
This is my first time posting a model of my own on here, and I admit I’m a bit intimidated. I could be a lot better at Sketchup, and my renderings are pretty amateurish (I used IDX with a minimal amount of manipulation), which leaves me feeling like quite a newbie in terms of my skill. Having said that, I’m extremely proud of this model, which I have been working on for over four years and probably have several more to go before it’s finished.
This is my attempt to recreate a lost building: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway Gardens. It was built in 1914, was altered only two years later, and had a number of ill-advised renovations before its demolition in 1929. It was a huge entertainment complex, where hundreds of people could eat indoors or outside. There was dancing, bars, and an outdoor stage. Frank Lloyd Wright designed everything, including the furniture, dishes, and the murals on the walls. Not only did it have a very short life, but it was never completed to his design. I’ve been basing my model on photos and drawings of Midway Gardens. Some rooms I have no info for at all and am using my best judgment. When it’s complete, I hope to have a great model and walk-through of what the building should have been.
I’m taking the modeling approach of creating every single thing in 3D. I realize I could have saved myself a lot of time just using textures for the bricks and the roof tiles, but to me it is worth it. There is literally not one single thing on here I haven’t done at least twice trying to figure out what the building was really like.
Please bear in mind that this model is still extremely incomplete. The statues have no heads, most of the stained glass is missing, and more than half the building just doesn’t exist. But I’d love to have everyone’s reaction regardless.
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Impressive detailed model! Any problems with that amount of geometry until now?
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Impressive research and model!
Some aspects that could be better:
1 - need a little love on the textures and context to be visually impressive.
2 - ditch the typical sketchup team 2D person and would take a better
3 - create a better animation without looking inside walls and ground
4 - I bet a lot of folks here could help you even more with much better suggestions than mine.I definetely think this model deserves that!
Congratulations,
João
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Nice work.
How many hours do you have in so far?
Imagine drafting by hand
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I really like the graphic on the wall of the private club. Very cool.
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Thanks for all the comments!
Cotty-It's hard to maneuver the complete model, just because it's so big and I'm on a relatively weak laptop that I didn't buy for rendering. All the major rooms are components that I can work on individually and then reload. Sometimes it's slow, but it's still manageable.
João-I completely agree with everything you said. This is all very preliminary, despite all the work I've already put in. I'll get rid of the little Sketchup dude eventually, but I've done series of renderings already with him in there and it's nice to have him as a reference point.
sfto1-I'd guess I'm at about 500 hours at this point. A lot of that time is figuring stuff out, and I wasn't kidding about doing everything twice. In fact, some things I have changed at least five times, and occasionally the changes are enormous. I've done some very elaborate autoCAD drawings as well to help me along. It's slow going, but makes me very happy.
xiombarg-Glad you like the mural. It's one of my favorite parts and was all done in sketchup; it's not a graphic. Those are all hundred sided circles. Here is a close up.
Any more comments and suggestions are more than welcome. I'm thinking of giving Theta a try since so many people on here seem to have good results. Also, if anyone has any suggestions on how to do statues, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!
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Hi ArchitectCS,
First welcome to Sketchucation forum.
I like your model. Very detailed.
Please do post wireframe images if you have the chance.
I look forward to seeing more.
Have a good day!
_KN
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Very impressive work, sir.
A few things to consider, as seen in your last rendering "interior of private club":
- be careful of the direction of the grain on your wood textures. It appears to be running vertically on the horizontal bands. Likewise on a stile & rail door, door casing, etc.
- When modeling a wood element that is adjacent to another wood element (such as double doors in a wood frame), and it is going to be rendered, remember in the rendering those SU lines will disappear and those elements will appear as a single object (especially if the same texture is used). I usually model a slight gap between around the doors; for added measure, I sometimes color the inside of that gap darker.
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KN-Here are some wireframes. I'm afraid they aren't very good simply because there is so much geometry. All the bricks, panels, and roof tiles make a real jumble. But if there is something specific you'd like to see, I'm happy to post it.
Daniel-I agree about the wood; I just haven't gotten to it yet. For now, I'm just trying to get everything modeled, which I think will take another two to five years. The finishes I'm showing are mostly place-holders for now. I'm happy with almost none of them.
Here is a page with some good photos of what Midway Gardens used to look like. Cool, huh?
http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%20Pages/PhRtS180Fuermann.htm
This weekend I'm going to give Thea a try and if I have some good results, I'll post them.
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I love these kinds of projects. I myself have been working off and on (mostly off
), on a similar one. You can find it here http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=81%26amp;t=25162.Anyway I applaud your endeavors and just keep at it. Sometimes the lack of information can be a big road block, especially with a building that no longer exists. Sometimes an obscure reference in a book can help tremendously, so check libraries and online university databases, or even browse amazon.com for books on the subject.
Good Luck, I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
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