Although we’d be quick to agree that you don’t really need a building in Second Life (SL) there are a number of benefits that can be gained from suitable architecture even if it is not required to keep the rain off.
Construction is certainly easier than in Real Life (RL) but there is quite a bit of skill in creating a well balanced building from a limited pallet of primitives. The images below show snapshots of the construction – note the use of coloured prims to help identify what is being worked on.
Blu Sparkle was the principal designer with Sandry Logan doing much of the work and Austin Thatcher making the odd unhelpful comment. The idea was to use the main building to create a visual statement that had the look and feel of architecture found on Anglia Ruskin campus without slavish replication. We also wanted it indicate of the sort of information and activities that it would support – i.e. a welcome, reception and information resource for the both the Island and Anglia Ruskin University.
The back of the building shows the SL influence on design. It is largely transparent to make it easier for avatars to see what is going on inside – and for those inside to see what is going on outside in the Island. The build time for the construction was two days for Blu and Sandry which includes sourcing and constructing materials, applying and aligning textures for both the outside and inside.
Finally, the computer science department is more purely SL, as it is not based on a building at all, but on a coffee flask (illustrating that computing and coffee go together). This has semi transparent walls so that contents can be viewed from outside.
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