Buried hall, the subterranean dormitory

Title: Buried Hall
Category: Dorm

Lot size: 1 x 3
Price: N/A ($38,000+ if converted to residence in college town)
Furnished: Yes; maxis objects only
Number of rooms: 26
Tested: Yes, several semesters completed with 4-student household.


What started as an experiment in 5 level houses with a ground level exit on the top floor ended up becoming an unusual dormitory. I always want to see how many sims I can cram into one lot, and I believe 26 rooms on a 1x3 lot is probably as much as I could hope for. The rooms are as minimalist as you could imagine (each is 10 squares, with a bed and a desk), and the whole dorm has a very cramped and claustrophobic feel to it which is most apparent in first person mode. I found that there is generally enough space that the sims don't get too bogged down blocking each others' paths despite the building's small size.

The dorm should have all of the important objects sims need to be able to complete semesters, including a tiny gym with swimming hole on the bottom floor. Each group of four rooms has its own small male and female bathrooms, and there is a more complete bathroom on the ground (top) level. There are five levels in total:
Ground level: Cafeteria, full bathroom and study area
Basement 1: Recreation room, 4 dorm rooms
Basement 2: Rooms level, 8 dorm rooms
Basement 3: Rooms level, 8 dorm rooms
Basement 4: Rooms level with gym, 6 rooms.

The lot is rather bland from the outside. This is semi-intentional; I don't think it is a dorm most people would ever want to inhabit in the real world, and as such I think it's appropriate for it to look rather uninviting in the game. The way basements work in the game mostly precludes having any windows; I could have put some on the top level next to the door but decided against it just because there aren't any on the lower levels. The flower boxes outside the front door aren't actually reachable by the sims as the flowers are technically on the second floor. I think the dead flower boxes outside are appropriate to the sort of building it is, but if you disagree, you can always remove them, or put the bushes on the ground, or buy new ones when the existing ones die (you'll need to use the "moveobjects 1" cheat to place them).

I didn't use any custom content in this lot, it uses "elevator" style modular stairs to move sims between floors. The single-sex bathrooms are marked with a bright pink and blue to make it easier to tell which is which from afar.

Lot Size: 1x3
Lot Price: n/a

Additional Credits:
A general thanks to the ones responsible for the build mode tutorials on this site for making the basement creation process clear, and also the tutorial on creating "elevator" style modular stairs.


If you can put this lot to use somehow in one of your own creations (perhaps by turning it into a regular house), you are welcome to upload it or share it wherever, all I ask is that you do me the courtesy of honoring these two conditions:
1) Give me a little credit ("Based on Buried Hall by wParam" is plenty).
2) Don't upload it to a pay site.