So okay, I admit it -- that for the last four or five days, ever since my internet connection here at home got turned back on, instead of doing the things I should've been doing with my time (like this blog, getting caught up on email, etc), I've been spending obsessive hours in the Second Life sandboxes instead, finalizing the styles and designing the first houses for my new prefabricated building business, Fabb. For those who don't know, by the way, the reason I'm so anxious to get some houses finished and for sale is because this is an actual working experiment as well; an experiment to see how fast it will take me to generate 700 American dollars in revenue through Fabb, thus letting me finally afford a new Windows gaming-optimized mid-level computer, thus making my SL experience so much better and letting me cover popular events, participate in arcade-style activities, etc etc etc. It's no secret that I'm unemployed in RL right now, and just couldn't possibly justify taking what little money I have and spending it on a new computer, just to make my SL experience a better one; if I generate the money through SL activities, though, that's just enough of a justification.

So anyway, I'm happy to say that my first mature starter home, one designed specifically for 512-square-meter plots, is currently rezzed at the ITG headquarters [Yongdong 185/279/21] and is just a few steps from completion, for anyone who'd like to stop by and check it out. And by "mature," I of course mean that I actually designed and built an entire starter home before that one as well, but then unfortunately got it rezzed on my land and realized that I didn't like it very much, so have decided to abandon it. That's it that you're seeing in the above photos; as you can kinda tell from the 2D images, the design looked fine in its original paper form, but then turned out to be just too convoluted a space when actually erected in the metaverse. Plus, as much as I like that particular design, I was realizing that it's simply too fantastical and space-age; that for a prefab home to really be a winner, and especially for it to fly off the shelves, it also has to invoke a strong emotional sense of reality to a potential customer almost from the start.

Examining the mistakes I made with the first prototype in more detail, I realized that an even smaller footprint was needed for the house to give it breathing room on such a tiny parcel; I eventually knocked it down, in fact, to 280 square meters (20 x 14), from the 288 m2 of the first prototype (24 x 12). This then knocks down the first-floor living space to a convenient 10 x 10, which saves enormously on prims (since that's the maximum size a single prim can be stretched); but as you can guess, this also forces you into a situation where you basically only have one room per floor, for a grand total of maybe three rooms altogether if you count the rooftop patio. Which, hey, is just the reality of starter plots, with nothing that can be done about it; but believe me, it's a special challenge that lies in front of the virtual architect, of how to design an intriguing, functional, aesthetic, unique, fantastical yet realistic living environment with so many limits attached.

I figured that the best way to work with such a space would be to create as large an open-air atrium inside the house as possible; this in turn would give residents a lot more breathing room with their cameras while inside, instead of that cramped, claustrophobic feeling one gets while inside a room with low ceilings. And this of course brought me to the Mid-Century Modernist style of architecture, for obvious reasons: because they too dealt with small houses and large interior atriums; that their real-life houses look surprisingly like most creations within Second Life, because of the stark Euclidean nature of both; because they were the architects of note when the term "space age" was originally created, and most associated with the interesting of cool, sleek housing; and because such designs allow me to slap a whole variety of appropriate textures onto them, thus keeping in line with my vision of Fabb's style selection. And so armed with this new vision, I sat down at a public sandbox one day, and eight hours later (give or take a few breaks) had my first house that I'm really happy with -- you're seeing it above there, and it's called "Ion," named after yet another small entity that packs a big punch.

Now, there's basically one question I'm obsessively asking myself throughout this process, whenever it comes time to design another house: "What are the most fun things about being a homeowner in Second Life, and what are the crap things that a lot of people don't mind paying someone else to do for them?" For example, I think one of the most fun things about being a homeowner is the chance for customization: to be able to put down whatever kind of furniture you want, wherever you want it, add such home improvements as fireplaces and pools, even tack on entire extra walls, rooms or wings. What I did when designing Ion, then, was to keep this in mind, and to design my limited set of rooms with an eye towards what they'll most likely be popularly used for. Here above, for example, you're seeing the one-room first floor; I imagine that most people will furnish it much like a loft-style living room (couches, rug, recliner, etc), which is why I designed those windows the way I did, to give a particularly dramatic view when sitting inside at chair level.

As soon as I add the appropriate scripts, by the way, both those glass walls and the front door will have the ability to slide when touched, from a closed position to an open one and back again. Instead of the usual handles, I decided to come up with some coolio space-age ones on my own in Photoshop, which you're seeing above; technically, of course, you'll be able to click anywhere on the door or windows to get them to slide, but I just enjoy the panel-like way these icons came out. Then another script that will be embedded in all windows is a controllable tint function; that yin-yang button you see above is my self-made tint control for the house, which the owner will be able to click on repeatedly to cycle from completely transparent windows to completely opaque ones.

And then here's the second floor, which people get to via an elevator I haven't built yet. It's even smaller than the first floor, as you can see; I'm envisioning people putting not much more than a modernist bed up here, for example, or perhaps a dining table and chairs. As with the first floor, this room also has glass panels the size of walls, that will eventually slide from a closed to open position when touched; this floor also has its own window tint control, with both it and the first-floor one controlling every window in the house simultaneously.

And then here we are making our way to the roof, via an outdoor set of fantastical stone steps so that I wouldn't have to devour precious indoor space. This is a cheat of sorts that I think all starter homes would do good to include: a way to create a "third floor" of living and partying space, while only needing enough prims for a solid floor and railing. This, I'm imagining, is where those with an interest would set up a personal dancefloor; that's why I left it nice and blank, so that a large number of people can gather in a clutter-free environment.

And then finally, here are some shots of Ion fully furnished, a model home of sorts to give you ideas of what you too could do with your own. Now, please note the following: 1) I did not design any of the furniture you see above (for those who are curious, a lot of it came from the excellent, excellent Maximum Minimum); and 2) On a 512-m2 plot, you would not have enough prims to erect every piece of furniture you see here simultaneously (although you would, for example, if you erected this on a 1,532-m2 plot). I also included a few "glamour" shots of the house at sunset, basically shots you'd see in a brochure or on a kiosk as a way of selling the place to potential customers. Man, just look how sharp that place is, daddio! I feel like listening to some Dave Brubeck, attending a beat poetry show, and invading Korea!

So what do you think? Is L$1,200 (5 American dollars, 3 pounds, 4 euros) too outrageous a sum to ask for this? Not according to my research, anyway; most other prefabs are selling either a comparably complex house for a lot more, or a comparably cheap house but ugly and with no amenities. I think if I could get a total of three or four such starter designs done, and get each of them released under all seven of Fabb's styles (Forest, Beach, Sky, Snow, Water, Urban, Noir), I have a feeling that I'd soon be racking up regular $5 Paypal transactions, and be on my way to a new computer before I even know it. Hmm? Comments and suggestions gladly accepted; you can email them to inthegrid [at] gmail.com if you don't feel like sharing them with the public.

For those who are super curious, by the way, here above is a sneak preview of the next house I'm working on, which I'm calling "Crescent" and is about three times the size of the Ion starter home (that is, a 900-m2 footprint [30 x 30], versus the 280 m2 [20 x 14] of the starter home), designed ideally as a private home for a 2,000-m2 plot owner, or perhaps as a retail store for a fashion boutique. But as always, more on this project another day. I'm still looking for people, by the way, who would like free copies of these houses, in exchange for letting future customers come by and check the house out as it exists on their land; if interested, just contact me via email at the above address.