Academie Le Tour University

The University is a big aspect of how I play my game. Nearly all of my teen sims go there. I only use one University - Academie Le Tour - although a lot of the original buildings have been remodeled and I've added a lot of buildings of my own.

Community Lots

(click the links for more screenshots and a detailed tour of the lot)

Le Tour Student Center is a remodeled, smaller version of the original EA building. It contains a coffee kiosk, pool tables, chess table, study areas and a small shop with magazines and electronics.

Next to the Student Center is a couple of small shops - Simella's Boutique, selling clothes, jewelry and perfume, and Starsims Coffee Shop.

Another remodeled EA building, King's Music Hall is the cultural centre of the University with a stage area for performances or ceremonies, and practice rooms upstairs with various instruments. There's also a bar.

Opposite the Music Hall are King's Public Gardens - formal gardens with toilet block, coffee kiosk and covered study/chess area.

The Library D'Livre has also been remodeled and is the perfect place to study hard or complete that term paper.

Le Tour Shops - Simella Boutique and Starsims Coffee

These shops are right next to the Le Tour Student Center. It's just a small coffee shop and a fashion shop on a small lot so the game runs smoothly.

Externally, it's in the same style as the other central buildings of ALT. (I've added some external lighting too after this screenshot was taken)

The left side holds the fashion shop - Simella's Boutique which a small dressing room in the top corner. On the right side is Starsims Coffee with comfy seating, and a small unisex toilet. There's no upstairs in this building, despite external appearances ;)

This reminds me very much of the coffee place I used to frequent when I was a student =) I much prefered studying there than the library!

Simella's Boutique also sells jewelry and perfume, making it the perfect one-stop-shop for image-conscious sims =)

King's Public Gardens

Opposite the King's Music Hall, I added these grand, formal gardens, complete with a coffee kiosk (students need their coffee!!) and toilet block, and also a covered area for playing chess or sitting to study.

 The main part of the garden surrounds the large fountain and has formal shaped hedging, trees and flowers. On the left side, there is a small hedged in 'nook' with seating, perfect for getting away from the bustle of student life for a little solitude. Above that, there's an orange grove. On the right side, there is another seating nook, and above that an arched rose garden leading to some smaller fountains. Along the back of the gardens, there's a line of large trees. This area is accessible, so students can sit underneath the trees or walk through this less formal area of the garden.

The covered area on the right has chess tables and some seating and tables, so sims can sit and have their coffee, or study, with shelter from the rain or sunshine.

On the left side there's a small coffee kiosk, next to the toilet block. This always proves popular with the ALTies. x.x

Library D'Livre Remake

The third building of Academie Le Tour to be remodeled. Internally, not much has changed here, but I didn't like the externals, so redid them to match the other two remodeled buildings... and banished the huge amount of concrete (and barbeques, why does EA put barbeques everywhere??)

You can click the pictures to view them larger.

The toilet block out the back is completely unchanged. I toyed with the idea of trying to include them inside, but decided to leave them out there. Externally here a lot has changed. The bay/oriel windows add a bit of character and help this building to match the others. I like the domed roof =) and I got rid of the pointless dormers-with-no-windows.

Inside, I've just moved the staircase and divided the space of the ground floor up a little. I've put a front desk in the middle, between the stairs, along with a pointless cash register, simply because I like the structure that a desk and 'employee' gives a public building. The back section becomes an enclosed study room for groups working on a project or wanting a little privacy. Half-walls separate study booths with desks and computers, and the rest of the space is bookshelves and seating.

Upstairs I've just replaced the seating and the fences around the gallery level. I think the layout works a lot better with the stairs in the middle like this and two staircases helps prevent sim traffic jams when playing.

King's Music Hall remake

Another ALT remake, although this one is a mixture of King's Music Hall by EA and this theatre here - the externals and dressing room set up especially are inspired copied from Stoffelsim's theatre.

I've always been disappointed by the King's Music Hall, and again it's a lot that I really didn't use that much. However, I really wanted a place for my musical and drama simmies to practice and perform and would love to be able to hold a graduation ceremony each time a class graduates. So after drawing a lot of inspiration from Stoffelsim's theatre, I gave King's a huge overhaul to make it more playable.

The basic arrangement of stage, auditorium and entrance lobby are the same. I replaced the toilets from the original building with a proper dressing room and backstage arrangement. The toilets have been moved to the wings of the building. I created a top level of seating on a stage with steps up to it. The lobby has ticket desks on one side and a lounge area on the other.

This screenshot shows the stage set up with a concert piano, but I can switch this to whatever I want to use the space for - a band's performance, a play, a lecture or a ceremony. The curtains at the back could be swapped out for scenery.

Upstairs, I stripped out the centre of the floor to make the stage and auditorium double height. There are three 'boxes' along the back of the auditorium for private viewing. Above the lobby are two balconies, one with a bar and the other with some seating. The rest of the upper floor remains as practice rooms, with instruments and seating.

I use a mod which allows community lot skill building, which makes this lot a ton more useful! My sims that can't afford instruments of their own come here to practice, or to perform and try to earn a bit of cash.

Le Tour Student Center Remake

Le Tour Student Center is one of the EA built community lots for Academie Le Tour University.  I found when playing it that it was so much larger than it needed to be, which was stalling the game, and there wasn't much to do there so I hardly played the lot. I rebuilt it on a smaller lot and remodeled to something more playable for me. =)

You can click the images to see them larger.

I really like the old fashioned style of ALT, but I felt it could go even further. Keeping the rough shape and layout of the original building, I used cyclonesue's castle windows and arches to add a bit of a gothic feel. As you can see the building is a little smaller than the original and the grounds are a LOT smaller. This new version runs a lot more smoothly for me.

Again, out the back the courtyard is the same shape, but a lot smaller and with better use of space. I hate the way the EA lots have these huuuge empty stretches of concrete. There is a small coffee stand and a double fountain, as well as some seating. The passageway in front of the fountains goes right through to the arches at the front.

The ground floor still has the main entrance hall to the right side with a double staircase up and a doorway through to the courtyard. I added a magazine shelf here as well as the electronics, and there's a small cash desk. The space along the bottom of the original building has been condensed a lot, shifting the toilets across. On the other side of the passageway, there's a small common room of sorts with chess table, bookshelves and seating.

Upstairs, I did away with the individual study rooms as I never use them (and you certainly don't need that many!!) and introduced a study area with computers, desks and bookshelves in the corner area. The pool area remains and there's a dart board up here too.