Tres Islas Marias
 

Tres Islas Marias

Flag:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...MariasFlag.jpg

Geography:

The group of islands we're originally named Islas Magdanelas but years later they were each given a name. The largest island is called Isla Maria Madre (Island Mother Mary), it is 616 meters (2,020 feet) at it's highest point and in the second most Northernly island. The second largest is Isla Maria Magdalena (Island Mary Magdalena) and is 457 meters tall (1,500 ft.). The smallest of the main islands is the Isla Maria Cleofas (Island Mary Cleofas), it reaches up to 402 meters (1,318 ft.) above sea level. The islands are located about 60 miles off the Western coast of Mexico, nearest to the state of Nayarit.


History:

The Islands originally belonged to Spain but in 1821 Mexico got it's independence leaving the islands in the hands of the Mexican government. In 1840 the people of the Islas Marias decided to become independent so they went to war with Mexico and lost the first of two battles. In the second battle the people of Islas Marias used a method from the Spaniards where they filled some ships with explosives and sent them into the enemy's ship fleet.

Mexico lost 31 out of 35 ships in June 4th, 1843 and the Islands got their independence on that day. After the Mexican defeat, the U.S. was the only country trading with the Marian Islanders until 1865 when the Mexican and Marian Island Government signed a treaty.


Now there are a # of large cities which are important to both the island and Mexico. The largest city is Puerto Independencia in the Isla Maria Madre which is home to 5 million people and is the economic center of the country.Puerto Independencia is the capitol of the island-state, Isla Maria Madre. The second largest city is Pacifica with 3 million people in Isla Maria Magdalena and although more people live in this city than in Puerto del Pacifico, it is third in economic importance. Pacifica is the capitol of Cleofas-Magdalena, which is made up of both the smallest of the islands and the middle one. The third largest city is Puerto del Pacifico (Port of the Pacific or more commonly known as Port Pacific), it is home to 1.7 million people and is the second most important economic city in the country. Port Pacific is also the nation's capital, located in Isla Maria Cleofas, the smallest of the islands.

There are some small cities with large importances too like Puerto de Maria (Port of Mary or Mary's Port) which although is only home to 400,000 people, it is the largest port in the country and the largest in Latin America moving 163,500,000 million tons in cargo. The port is the third busiest in North America after the South Louisiana port and the Houston Port. Worldwide this is the 17th largest port behind Chiba, Japan as of 2006.

The national language became a hot topic during the 60's as most people spoke both Western English and Western Spanish. In 1965 the government made both English and Spanish the national language, added English and Spanish classes to all schools, and made it a requirement to speak both languages for people to pass highschool.

Sounds good. cant wait!:tup:

Isla Maria Cleofas: Puerto del Pacifico
 

Port Pacific:

The city was established in 1857 and grew to be the second most important city economically-wise in the country with the third largest population. The city neighbors the largest port-city in the country called Puerto de Maria (Mary's Port) and is the most populated city in the island of Maria Cleofas.

The city quickly grew during the late 70's through the early 90's then had a slowdown in the late 90's when the Latin American/Asian Market slowed down.

Overview of the city (not finished):
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF1.png

The city has many well known hotel companies including the Royal Carlos which opened it's doors in Port Pacific on July 30, 2007. The hotel is 465 feet tall and has a 4 1/2 star rating:

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF2.png

The building has the nickname "The CD Rack" because of it's huge spires at it's top.

The current tallest building in Port Pacific is the Pacific Trade Tower which opened up the doors to financial trade in the city when it first opened in 1983. The main tower is 914 feet tall with 67 floors in total, 63 floors are rentable office space while the first floor is a lobby and the 2 other are mechanical and trading floors. The last floor is an observation deck with a small restaurant:

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF3.png

The shorter tower is the PTT number 2. It's 495 feet tall, has 37 floors, 34 of which are office floors, 2 are mechanical, and the first floor is the lobby.

Looks awesome! great layout, nice buildings, and i like the shape of the island

cant wait for more!:cool: :tup:

lol. That's actually the shape of the city. I took the other parts of the island to make it smaller. But these are real islands, look em' up. I'll post a picture of the whole island later on. Actually, on the flag, the island farthest to the South is where Port Pacific is. I only added the moon but the islands look like that.

Is this the only fictional country that has a flag in here?

I like the layout, and the buildings look great as well. That hotel's crown reminds me of the IFC in Hong Kong.

Its the only fictional country here,Aleks...:P

But,what was wrongwith the other?

I like the Royal Carlos Hotel.. Looks great

that was great history aleks. it was very interesting to read! :yes: the matching modern towers are nice :cool: to answer your question, i believe you are the first to come up with a flag for a fiction city/country! :)

Wrong with what other?

So I downloaded Kerk today and it runs really fast in this new computer so I think I'll be making renders of my city when I find a way of importing my SU models into Kerk again.

Fucking Honors homework. We get a 3 day weekend and it goes from an hour 1/2 of homework to almost 3.

So, no update, just needed to share the above information. But, I will say that I haven't worked on the city much. It bores me working on one thing too long and I have 2 more SU projects I want to finish. Well, I'll finish one, the other I'll improve over time.

I made a building today which I like. Well, I like the shape but I don't like the way it's decorated so I'll have to start it over again. Maybe I'll update Tuesday night.

PS. I'm getting my eyebrow pierced tomorrow and my lip in Spring Break.:koko: :shrug:

Nestin Hotel
 

The Nestin Hotel in Port Pacific is currently the tallest hotel at 696 ft. up to the roof. It features 48 floors of 4 star rooms, the top floor is the Sky Suites level. There are four Sky-Suites at the top with 120 degree views of Port Pacific, two separate rooms in each suite, a full kitchen, a living room, bar, and 2 1/2 bathrooms. The Nestin Hotels first started as small inns when Port Pacific was first founded, first there was the Nest Inn, after there were 20 inns the company opened it's first hotel and with it came a new image. The name was changed from Nest Inns to Nestin Hotels. Port Pacific Nestin was built in 1669 when many investors started traveling to Port Pacific to look for business opportunities and for American tourists looking for a nice place to spend the night at.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF4.png

There are a total of 54 floors in the building. Forty-Eight floors are hotel rooms, 3 maintenance floors (one of which is also a trading floor), and 3 guest service floors with pools, a spa, private theater, and many more things which will please almost any business man, tourist, and even the President.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF6.png

Your jaw will drop when you see the beautiful views of Port Pacific Bay, Downtown, North Beach (Playa del Norte), and even the neighboring city of Puerto de Maria (Mary's Port).

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF5.png

Those be lights?

no, he's an environmentalist, those lights are yellow:P

Probably curtains.reminds me of marina city. Neat!

Haha, those are lights. This tower was built before the whole "save the world" movement. But don't worry, soon enough you will hear the wrath of my environmental ways.

The tower's actually based of the Westin Towers here in Seattle (Nestin? Westin?)

I'm a little confused now, those are some bright lights, especially in the day?

OH AND YESS the twin Westin Towers! Ohh I love Seattle's skyline.

haha Nestin = Westin
like Horton = Hilton
:haha:

Cool design, reminds me of Marina City.

Yeah, those are bright lights but the building looked to dull without them. It was just best to add some flavor the the tower or else it would've ruined downtown.

Yeah, I thought of Marina Towers when I added the dark gray trading floor in the middle but oh well. Also, I finished another tower today but I won't update until later tonight or maybe tomorrow.

So an update will be next. I just wanted to waste this page before I added an update.

Pacific Gallery
 

The Pacific Gallery (formerly the Island Steel Factory) was built in 1889 when the country grew at the fastest rate in it's history almost doubling in size from 5 to 9.8 million. Isla Maria Cleofas was the only island where large factories were aloud and an American company founded the Island Steel Factory to supply the growing demands of the country. The huge clock in the front is the largest in the Western Hemisphere and rung at 7:00 a.m. to call hundreds of poor people to start their jobs as steel makers.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF7.png

The building ran from 1889-1948 when America Metal closed down due to bankruptcy. Since the factory was in great condition, the government bought the property and turned it into the National Steel Factory. It was open for 21 years (closed in 1969) until one day a machine exploded in the North wing of the building creating a huge gap in the tower, releasing tons of harmful chemicals into the air, and creating a huge decrease of steel during the late 60's boom.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF8.png

In 1998 the building was chosen to be demolished and make way for a new, large, and ugly museum which would become the countries largest museum. The plan was never approved and instead the old building was remodeled and finally open in 2006.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF11.png

The huge hole in the North wing was covered in a glass atrium which turned the building into a huge attraction, bringing people from Europe, Asia, and all over the Americas for the grand opening. Three unknown presidents attended the grand opening as well as the U.S, Mexican, and Brazilian president. Of course the Islas Marias president bought the first ticket ever sold.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ifico/PdF9.png

The large patio between the North & South wing used to be a shipping center where truckloads of steel and metals would leave the factory everyday. Now, it is a huge public patio where people can take a lunch break, appreciate the beautiful architecture of the building, or just relax in the 80 degree weather.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF10.png
There are 3 main floors in the building. Since the building was originally a steel & metal factory, the roofs were high and needed almost no change when the building was turned into the museum.

Wow! Very nice! Very creative and i like the glass opening and the window detail is niiiiice!:tup:

Interesting concept, and I like what you did with the smoke-stacks.

I loved that history! The windows are nice, but would you ever consider pushing/pulling in your windows to make them 3D?

Yeah I did. But if pull the windows, that will add 40 more faces and 40 lines, and those are only the ones you can see. The curved part would have 12 hidden edges and those still count for some reason and it makes the file size bigger.

Thanks, I wanted to make the history seem realistic and fitting into the history of the city. After all, I did add real historical facts to the countries history. But at the same time I wanted the building to go through a lot of harsh times. My computer screen is huge so my stories don't seem to long to me. Should I make my histories shorter or is it O.k. to make them a little long?

i suppose that would be a lot of faces and lines. I do admit, in my city it is really slow to work with so ijust hide everything except what I'm working on.



The way you did the history in the last update was the perfect amount and you did it good putting the pictures in between sections of the history. I find that it's the best way to keep the viewers from becoming bored. If someone comes to the thread for the first time and see a big huge story at first glance they may skim over the great history.

I think history makes the city's funner to do. It just gives what we model have some meaning. Keep it up!

Yeah, I'm trying to make the city as detailed as I can but I have to sacrifice most of the details so I can make the island bigger with more structures.

I space my history most of the time. And if you compare the paragraph with the picture below and/or above, most of the time they are related. I want to show two buildings in my next update but it would be too long so I'll just show a building across the street from the museum (the khaki colored building with a green roof, you can see it in the pictures above).

Tri-Update
 

So I said I was going to update on another building but I'll do these instead. It's a little repetitive since they're all near each other but what the heck.

Ferraro & Daco was built in 1958 becoming the cities first skyscraper at 505 feet tall with 36 floors. The building was built to house the Ferraro & Daco shipping company which at the time was the largest in Latin America. It was used until 1976 when Ferraro & Daco went bankrupt and the building was abandoned for 9 months until another shipping company, Globe-Shipping Inc. bought the building. Globe Inc wanted to tear the building down and create a new 856 foot tall, iconic tower which would become the cities tallest. Fortunately the building was added to the National Historic Structures list. Globe Shipping instead chose to use this tower as it's new headquarters along with a new tower a block away.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF12.png

On April 5th 1979, Globe Shipping Inc. filed bankruptcy which hauled the construction of the nearby Globe Tower 2. It wasn't until the end of 1986 that the company had grown enough to finish the Globe Tower 2 which had it's foundation finished but nothing above ground had been even started. The tower was finally finished in 1991 with a 1970's looks being called "The Lost in Time Tower."

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF14.png

The next building is the Leaf Industries Building. Leaf Industries focuses on reusable, energy saving, housing, house appliances and common household items. The company was founded in 1997 when many politicians were complaining about the increasing cost of shipping waste products to the near by country of Mexico. Leaf Industries was founded by a local business man who used to repair washing machines in his late teens. With the help of the government, the business man started a new company which increased the lifespan of houses, created green house appliances, wood saving furniture, and many other house products that would've been thrown away in a couple of years.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF13.png

Leaf Industries is now the largest green house products company in the country and in 2005 finished their new headquarters which decreased water usage by 45% and energy usage by 49%.


Closing Shot:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF15.png

Boring reading. :slob:

Great designs as always Alek, and good history as well. That circular building really does a lot of justice to your city.

Definately not boring reading Aleks. It's very interesting. My favorite is the Leaf Industries building. I like the green color, but it's the design that wins me. The two sides have that sort of invert point inward that makes it look like it's curving out.

No I love the history on the buildings, keep doing that Everything is great, but I just cant warm up to those lights on the hotel!

Aleks your imagination is pretty cool :cool:

1010 First Ave.
 

The newest addition to the condo crazed city of Port Pacific is also the most expensive condominium tower in the city. With three condo's per floor, it also has the most square footage for 2 and 3 bedrooms in the whole island. The building was designed by AMAA and incorporates curves into the building so that every condo has a view of the waterfront.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF19.png
The tower has two main arched walls. One on the South side and one on the North side. The corners have a smaller angle so that all condos have views of the Pacific Ocean.

The company who built the tower bought nearly 3/4 of the block so that no future development would block the vies of the condo owners. Although the tower is not the tallest residential tower in the city, it is the most expensive even though it has a height of 480 feet. The last section at the top is 2 stories and includes 2 penthouses. The penthouses are divided so that both can have the same value. Since penthouse 1 has a large outdoor deck, it was decided that the penthouses were going to be divided vertically instead of each condo getting1 whole floor.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF22.jpg
The top 5 sections of the tower facing the Nestin and Globe Tower 2.

The North Penthouse has the large outdoor patio and is 2 stories tall. The South Penthouse has no outdoor deck but it faces the North where no building block the view. The square footage is also different to balance out the price.

A local photographer shot this photo and Photoshoped the picture so that only his favorite buildings would show:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF21.jpg
------------------------
I know, my Kerk skills suck but I'm learning. I hope that later on I can make the water actually look like water and the shadows, glass, and sun look better. And I still write those long stories gees.

Incredible how the city just comes alive once you render!

The new condo is very innovative. I'd actually like to see some more shots of it if possible, perhaps an aerial.

The Nestin tower looks so nice rendered! They all do! Nestin is probably your finest so far, and it's the one my eyes are drawn to the most, even though it's not your tallest. The lowrises on the waterferont also look quite stunning with the glass being reflective. The rendering sure brings the beauty out of your buildings!

OMGOMGOMG. Aleks! I hate you! Your city looks GREAT! Especially rendered, 1010 First Avenue looks so great and so realalistic. I wish I could say I had a favorite building in your city, but its just too hard! If I had to i'd be a Tie between the Globe Tower 2 and Leaf Industries Building. THEYY BEE HAWT.

Please continue writing the stories, any info on the Gold/Brown tower yet?

Thanks! I actually think of the Nestin as a nuclear launch button because of the big red roof at the top. I actually took the design from a building called 1521 here in Seattle. It's gonna become the cities tallest residential building at 445' tall but it won't last long since another building called Olive 8 and that will last for some years until the Heron Pagoda Twin Towers are built.

I'll render more shots tomorrow after school since Spring Break is over. Well, I have some shots but I wanna finish this page before I post more renders.

Patrick: Yeah, I have a plan for the gold and brown towers but I'm not sure about the colors yet. And they're turning out to be a pain in the ass since they won't connect, or extra faces will pop up. I will say that they have a big role in the cities economy though, But that's all for now.

Fantastic! I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Nestin is one of the best buildings I've ever seen in sketch-up. Your city is coming along well.

:previous: Agree!

This city is awesome rendered!! Keep it up:tup: :worship:

This is kind of odd to mention, but I noticed the lights of the Nestin in the normal SU shot compared to the rendered shot look different. They are more a regular yellow in SU and more a green in the render. My guess is that the reflective blue sky is mixing with the regular yellow to give us a yellow-green color.

The yellow-green looks cooler!

Delete post. sorry:P

Haha, no. I darkened the yellow on SU and added reflection on Kerk. Maybe the shadows, sun, and darker color made it look like that. Also, I'd like to give credit to CGII since my GT2 was based of a building he designed for the Cityscape City.Only 3 buildings in my city are based of other designs. Nestin, 1010 1st Ave, and GT2.

I noticed that lights come up ou of no where on Kerk. Like on the Nestin Hotel, one of the balconies has a light shining down on it. And on the Leaf Industries buildings, it has lights shining towards the middle white part. hmmm...

I think I'm gonna start adding lights to my city and set Kerk to render night shots.

Nothing new, just 2 shots of the current finished progress. In the next update I'll show the hospital. It won't be for a while though cause the hospital is huge. I also didn't do that areal shot because most of my city is naked and I just wanna show the finished parts.

1010 1st Ave is doesn't seem too shiny in this picture, I'll add more historic low-rises later on to make the drastic change from new to old:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF24.jpg

The Royal Carlos (if anyone hadn't noticed, I got Royal Carlos from the Ritz Carleton) hasn't been shown for a while so I thought I'd show it this time. There's also the Roy building, it's the white building with long blue windows farthest to the left. Nothing special, just another insurance company, Roy Insurance, pretty common name, Roy:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF25.jpg

I was wondering what happened to the Royal Carlos!

The city is clean-looking. and mmmm Ol' Roy is lookin good!

You need to focus less on the details and more on the design...


:p

Yeah, well this is downtown, which I forgot to mention. I'm gonna work on 1970's/80's residential towers later on. For now I'm gonna finish Downtown, Frontier Waterfront (historic district), and the very large hospital. I wanna fill the city with mostly pre-2000 buildings first then I can start making some nice, modern, shiny buildings like the ones you design.

Looks great mate!

i like very much what u've done with the pacific gallery and how it adds to the skyline.
I like that short building of the curved facade-top on the last shot,

Thanks, that's the Royal Carlos, or the CD Rack as most people refer to.

Anyways, here's a picture of the Nestin, nothing special, no new buildings in SIGHT, but just another render:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...fico/PdF27.jpg
My crappy base cannot compare to the base Austin made.

^It still looks great though! And your actual tower is much more interesting to look at than the actual Westin.

When do you plan on updating again, and what can we expect to see? It's been longer than usual.