So, I'm experimenting with remodeling my store. I'd like to cut down on the prim count (well, the polygon count, really), take some advantage of occlusion culling, and make the whole thing a bit easier to organize. All the while, of course, keeping an aesthetic that's upscale, refined, Art Nouveau inspired (with a pinch of Victoriana thrown in), blends in with the surrounding land, and bears a resemblance to an actual store.

It's not easy -- especially the whole "looking like a real store" part. That's really tricky bit.

My first attempt wound up looking like a cross between a greenhouse and a '50s tract home. Greenhouses are okay, but '50s tract homes are most certainly not. The second attempt was aborted too soon for it to resemble anything other than trash. The third attempt, currently hanging 730 virtual meters in the air, is looking like the bastard child of a cabin, a church, and the movie version of Rivendell. I think I could tone down the cabin aspects of it if I changed the roof and made the foyer area smaller, but I'm not sure what I'd change the roof into. Glass is a decent choice, but it's prim-intensive, and there's no sense in remodeling if I'm just going to clutter up the new build with prims.

If Nouveau were a city sim, this would be a lot easier. For one, most of the Art Nouveau architecture I can find pictures of is in an urban location. For another, designer stores aren't just plunked down in the middle of nowhere. I can't just build one of those tall, skinny buildings that older cities have and then plunk it down on my plot.