Thanks Phae, clear as glass now :D

Heres the start of mine, floor plan all planned out, fingers crossed I made the cut!

I passed ! Yay :-)
I'm sure I won't rebuild from scratch. I really think I will keep the building as it is and just decorate the lot from now. I like my church architecture so why start over ?:-)
The "hole" in the front of the church is just an outside access to the basement. In my area, there is a lot of things like that, especially on historical buildings. These made habitable rooms in the basement are often lent / leased to associations or doctors' offices. In my street, for exemple, there is a mental health center located in the basement of a building with a specific input such as this. And a little further into the city, there are support organizations for people in need, extra curricular activities for children and adults (dance, singing, drawing, theater, etc). That's why I find my "hole" normal and will keep it to separate the church in many uses ! Maybe I will readjust the stairs or something but I really want my extra-entrance to the basement.

Oh, and to be sure, once we pass the City Inspection, we have to keep our work for ourselves until we finish it, or does the City give advices until the end of the shell ?

Dear City Inspectors

Please consider the Saint Pixel Churh in Simwhere for renovation.

Volunteers have given up time and money to renovate some of the fences and clean the statues, but everything else have been
lost or stolen.

Attached find screenshots of the facade and the floor plans.

Thank you

The Saint Pixel Heritage Committee.

(More screenshots coming up) - Done.

ekrubynaffit, it took me a few minutes to realize that you are using your ceiling space. While clever, that's not in keeping with these churches. They use their lovely vaulted ceiling height to help bring the worshippers eyes up toward god or improve the acoustics or something. Without this space available to you, you might be short on useable space. That also explains your roof. Your hipped roof and the front facade give your church a slightly different style than what was pictured. Even still, I absolutely love the parts with the statues, so I bet if you switch just the roof to the regular sloped kind that might be enough to bounce it back into the style we are doing. Also, just as an fyi, the doors to the stairs and the loo would connect from the vestibule, not the sanctuary, that's pretty much all the vestibule is for, a glorified entryway and hallway. You could also open the space into your flying buttresses and use them as statue alcoves. Here are a few links to what the insides of these churches tend to look like: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3

xmathyx, thanks for explaining that hole in your yard. I'm glad I'm not going to have to worry about angry displaced ghosts on your lot. You might consider using foundation walls to cover the sloped edges, that might make it look more like what you are talking about. As it is right now, it's quite literally a steep depression with grassy and dirt edges - a hole. You can continue to post pictures for more feedback, but please don't go overboard with it, there are a lot of you, you'll all be doing multiple projects at once, and there is only one of me!

Justpetro, you have a similar problem to ekrubynaffit, your sanctuary doesn't have a vaulted ceiling. Your church does not resemble the provided styles. You also don't need to have so many classrooms. I do like your front and the main building however. I think if you opened up your sanctuary and nave (seating) ceiling, moved the tower to the front left or right and shrink it a tad, and perhaps included your classrooms, kitchens, and common area as a 2 story addition over where the tower is now, your church would both be the required style and be big enough for the next round. You might also consider a basement. I've been in a bunch of these churches and I have yet to find one without a basement. I love how spooky this church looks, very Halloweeny!

Thank you! I have never attempted a church before, so that was a true experiment - I think I know what to do now

@Petro - LOVE the 'spook'-factor!
@Tiff - Your facade (with the statues) is just about what I had in my head too

Re: Cemetery in front - I was gonna do that too... wouldn't that just add another hurdle for the reno-crew? Or will it absolutely need to be moved in the renovations? What if the cemetery was to the side, or back?

I don't have anything ready to submit yet, but I'm having lotsa fun messing around

PS here is the Google Search I did for inspiration...
...and another linksie I just found - gorgeous!!!

Thank you, Cat. Love that google search! Tall, orange drink with fermented Scottish juice?

Ahhh, yes You know me so well! LOL!
(In the case of fermented Scottish juice - 'orange' is really more of a golden amber though right?) Yum!

If you say so

Re: Cemeteries. I know these add a bunch of flavor and spook factor, but I really wouldn't advise including one. Cities generally have extra restrictions on what can be built on top of graveyards and it just gets icky from there. It is illegal in most places to build on top of a graveyard without first paying to move the bodies. That expense will not be taken on by our City, so the re-developers (you) are looking at an extra expense before they even get started (ie a hurdle that might cost you a Building Permit). A good number of these churches don't normally have graveyards anyways. If you want a yard of crumbling stone, include a meditation walk or prayer garden or fountains or something like that. The new owners will NOT be using this church for a religious space, nor are they a halloweeny type business, so not having to deal with ghosts just might be the difference between them choosing your church vs the other crumbling church a block away.

I have to admit that this is a good advice. I first thought "sanctuary" meant "cemetary". English is not my native language and sometimes I don't get the subtilities of some words, but it's pretty clear now ! Thank you for the explanations :-)

An indication of my general direction. It's still very much a work-in-progress. The window placement isn't permanent. CFE to do. But the basic structure has been blocked out. I chose not to go with a traditional basement. My reason is that it would restrict natural light, and I didn't want it to feel crypt-like. I'm also very big on using natural light in my buildings wherever possible. My initial inspiration was here. I took the words Sim City quite literally. I love urban churches.

I haven't really touched the interior yet.

kerri, I LOVE IT! Keep going! Your inspiration church is spot on. You might want to go a bit higher with your bell tower. It looks like you hit the build ceiling with 4 levels, but don't forget about the dormer trick to get another level out of it, and you can get more height for it by using a crazy steep roof angle for the tower as well. I love your 'basement' solution, the grand staircase in front is so dramatic! You might want to remove any lower level doors, as sims will use that as the 'front door' when they come to your lot. I'll need to see a basic floor plan and then I can stamp your lot as passing inspection.

I have a vaulted ceiling, I didnt want to give away too much until it was completely done if I could help it but...



So area under the domed ceiling is 2 stories and area near pulpit is 3 stories

*Edit
Looking closers see what you mean in regards to the balconies, blocking the *view* so will shorten those

Loving what I am seeing so far.

Phae, I hope we will have some indications of what things we need to look for in styles since I doubt I could distinguish the finer points of Gothic or Romanesque.

Alright, so changed the roof, shortened balconies to open up to ceiling space, and changed door placements.

Alright. I think I actually built myself into an annoying spot. Due to my desire for height on this building, it is seriously hard to get an entire floor in a single shot. I know there are camera mods out there, but I have no idea which, if any, will work with UC. Or which ones are best, or....whatnot.

Anyway, I did take shots. I have the floor plan in. Nothing's been grungified yet. But the photos show the floor plan...in pieces at a time, anyway.

...another quick "Q":
I know the lot needs to be 4 deep X 3 wide - with the front of the church oriented to the thinner (3 wide) side... but, does the parking lot 'drive way' need to connect to the road in front? Or can it be on the side (the long side)?

And, thanks for the no cemetery tip *sigh*

(edit:this was before the last 3 people posted, it takes me forever and y'all keep sniping me)

ekrubynaffit, I've used those vaulted columns before and they are neat, but they restrict the ceiling height. Maybe put them one floor up so your balconies get a bit more height? You could also try swapping one of your upper floors to become a lower floor like kerri and still have your basement. Your ceiling is lovely, but with the exception of balconies, there is never anything above these ceilings but the roof itself. I know it sounds icky, but I promise you'll want some sort of additional building that isn't part of the main sanctuary. Some of these old churches were originally built with wings off the side to house the rectory or a library or whatever else was needed. These areas usually echoed the original steep roof and shape of the sanctuary but were just smaller in scale. Others had flat roofs and ran perpendicular to the sanctuary. This photo isn't helping my plea for no cemeteries, but you can see two small wings coming off the side, and another taller roof connecting the two. It looks like you are still on the smaller lot size, if you want, I can LotAdjust it for you.

Jo, (and everyone else) there is no qualitative judging on how closely you can mimic the style, so don't sweat it. The judges will be looking for the specific rooms I've mentioned, and how well you've decorated (grunged up) the inside and outside. I'm the only one looking at the architecture and I'm simply looking for a very low-level Pass/Fail on it and providing lots of help to get you all there. The other thing I'm looking for is to make sure you'll have enough space for everything required in the reno. Also, by requiring you all to design your building in the same style, it helps the judges score apples to apples. Russian churches look nothing like Megachurches and I want everyone to have a similar experience when turning their lots into the next business type during the reno.

Cont'd

Kerri, love it all. You've passed City Inspection, keep going!

Catherine, I'd love to say n'ah, do whatever, but that's a big piece of real estate we are talking about, if you don't connect the church to the front you'll have so much more yard than everyone else does, and that's an unfair advantage. Sorry, you'll need to connect your parking lot to the street.

Yes please Phae, could you lot adjust for me?
I guess I will build out instead of up,
Sorry about large file!! Theres already quite a bit in there!

Actually given a few minutes thought I will scrap it all and restart on the whole thing on the larger lot, be easier than reconstructing what I've done and fiddling round with the CFE

So... that's a no? You can remove that attachment if you don't need me to do that. (That way no one can steal your seckrits!)

Thanks I have :p

Need a drink, Tiffany?

I'm not sure to understand : so it means that the parking has to be connected to the front road ? or the connexion can be done on the left or the right side (if the lot is on a corner, for exemple).
I'm asking because I had no advices about that when I first uploaded pictures (link to the post ), and my parking is on the side (actually it's on the other side now, but still). I used a place in a corner especially for that because i wanted my parking on the side. So if it looks connected to the road, it's ok, right ?

I need more than one, and really really strong, please and thankyou!