There are ways to get limited motion in Sketchup as well, although nothing near what you are referring to. I was able to a make a working elevator in one of the central shafts of that skyscraper using the ‘Sketchy Physics’ plugin. It can be used to travel from the observation level in the basement to the top observatory floor by locking the camera onto part of the elevator.
I haven’t posted in this topic in a long time and thought I’d give an update on some of my projects. I apologize if this is considered a bad bump.
OMC Johnson Plant
I first showed this model in the original post, so here some new work I’ve don on it.
Exterior Overview
Water tower and some new rooftop equipment.
Dust collector system for the pattern shop and rear side of the 1959 section of the building.
Interior hallway
Structural truss detail in open plant.
In real life, this building is going to be torn down very soon, I made a post here about it: <URL url="My favorite building about to be torn down text=“viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7211”>My favorite building about to be torn down
Stern Drive Corporation Plant
This is my newest and most incomplete model. This is a fictional plant for manufacturing marine out-drives.
Exterior Overview
Exterior of Manufacturing Offices
Structural Truss Detail in manufacturing plant.
Manufacturing and Office Building
This is a small, generic manufacturing building with some office space.
Air handler for filtration system and steam piping from boiler room on rear of building.
Open floor plan office and R&D space on the interior.
Additional Office Space
Boiler Room
Finally, some incomplete piping in a standalone boiler room I’m creating for use in the Stern Drive plant.
Thanks for looking! If anyone else wants to share something they have created in Sketchup, Rhino, or any other modeling program, please go ahead!
Here’s the interior of the administration building for an old manufacturing plant I’ve been working on. This particular building is modeled as having been built in the late 1940s, so you gotta love the wood paneling. The smaller ceiling tiles are also representative of this era, and would most likely contain asbestos.
Front entrance of administrative building, showing main entrance and walkways, as well as a small section of parking.
Interior of main entrance lobby showing revolving door and side exit doors.
Central stairway as seen from second floor of the building. This stairway straddles the main lobby.
Small private office spaces at the front of the building on second floor.
Private office corridor towards at the end of the building. These offices overlook the north and west sides of the building (located at left side of building in first picture). One of the standpipe system connection can be seen at the end of the hall. Another is located at approximately the same location on the opposite side of the building.
Hallway connecting mixed office spaces at the front and western side of the first floor. The open area of the northern wall at the corner of the hallways is access to the fire standpipe that extends up stairs.
Western side open office space looking along front wall of manufacturing plant. This is directly below the “private office corridor” in the fifth picture of this post.
Here’s an update on the manufacturing plant I’ve been modeling in Google Sketchup. I’ve decided to model this building as having been a (fictional) locomotive plant for the Electro-Motive Divison of GM around 1960. I believe making the buildings in my models have a “purpose” makes it a bit easier to design spaces that would be realistic based on what would be required for the operation. Plus, sticking logos and signs on the building adds a bit of fun and realism, especially with real-world connections. So, here they are.
Wow, I can’t believe I just found this page now. This is incredible!
Thank you! Glad you find them interesting.
Here’s a fire escape I just finished on my (fictional) Electro-Motive Locomotive plant. This provides an exit egress from the second floor of the manufacturing office space in the late-1940’s era section of the building.
EDIT: I just realized looking at these pictures that opening the exit door would block the escape stairway. I flipped the door arund so now this issue is fixed 
View from above. Notice the grating on the platform and steps.
View from walkway below showing the counterweight arm.
Inside the building looking towards the exit door and “Fire Escape” sign.
View of the lower section extended to the ground. Using the components feature, the ladder can be rotated up to the closed position or down to the exit postion.
Finally, a view of the facility as a whole. The fire escape itself is on the opposite side of the small office building in front of the main manufacturing building.
This facility is still very much a work in progress. Hope you guys enjoyed!
Now this would be cool to put into a game engine such as Source, like what Andrew did.
It’s been about a year since I’ve last posted an update on the progress of any of my building models, so I have a lot to share!
Most of my time that I spend working on these has been devoted to completing my model of a fictional Electro-Motive assembly facility.
Main Engineering Building
The engineering building is modeled as a late 1960’s structure that has received renovations on the ground floor and machining areas in the late 1990’s. The 2nd story office area retains 1960’s furnishings, but the floor in the open office areas has been raised to allow installation of in-floor electrical and telecom hookups. The model of the 1st floor is still incomplete at this point.
The exterior of the 2-story engineering building, with the prototype machining building extending from the rear towards Dock #2.
The rear of the engineering building and the single story prototype machining building.
The previous two photos show the 2nd floor office areas, including the raised floor renovation.
This photo shows the still-incomplete entrance hall that connects the engineering building to the prototype machining building. This also provides access to a conference center built into the far end of the engineering center’s first floor.
The main hallway of the prototype machining building. This is modeled as a heavily-renovated section of the facility, with more organized machining rooms and design offices replacing the original open floor plan. This results in an extremely modern appearance, although the exterior remains from the 1960’s era, with slight modifications.
Shipping/Receiving Center (Dock #2)
Dock #2 serves as the central parts storage center, as well as the principle shipping docks for the engineering center and parts/materials acceptance for the assembly plant. Finished products from the assembly plant exit from its own shipping docks, while the die cast building has a dedicated dock. Part of the building also connects the original assembly plant to the die cast center. It is modeled in an early-1950’s style, constructed at the same time as the rest of the die cast building.
The interior of Dock #2, showing the structure and unfinished mechanical mezzanine
This structure directly to the left of Dock #2 connects the original assembly plant to the die cast addition, as well as providing access to Dock #2. It also features an additional entrance to replace the smaller original entrances of the assembly plant.
The interior of the entrance vestibule. The doors at the far right of the photo exit into the assembly plant.
Die Cast Building
The Die Cast building is modeled as a major early-1950’s addition to the plant. Facilities include spaces for aluminum casting machines, locker rooms for employees, and a continuous forced-air make-up/exhaust system. Massive air handlers on the side of the building force air through vents embedded into the floor, while rooftop exhaust units expel fouled air.
Complete view of die casting complex. Both exhaust and make-up air handlers are visible.
Close up of make-up air handlers.
Close up of exhaust air handlers. The steel frame extends directly onto the truss structure of the building.
Interior of the die cast plant, showing the truss structure. The design provides 5 aisles of 50’ wide uninterrupted floor space and provisions for mounting full length ceiling hoists. The intakes for the exhaust air handlers can be seen on the ceiling within the truss structure.
Assembly Plant
Modeled as a typical 1940’s manufacturing building, the assembly plant is the original building on site. It includes the original office building, now utilized to house plant operations and management personnel. 1990’s renovations brought central forced air make-up systems to this section of the plant.
Overview of the assembly plant.
Mechanical mezzanine for forced air make-up systems. Directly behind this structure is the office building. The system can provide limited cooling abilities by a connection to the chiller system. Heating is still accomplished by local ceiling-mount steam heaters and radiators.
Thanks for taking a look! I’d appreciate hearing any feedback you have!
All of your work is impressive. I have had a little side hobby of drawing floor plans and some devices in my free time. I could see you getting a job and a lot of real-world experience with this sort of art.
Wow that is actually funny because in my spare time I find myself looking up school floor plans because I like the architecture. Have any schools that you draw?
I really have only done examples using alphabetic letters as models for the design. Occasionally I will model floor plans after schools I’ve attended, but for security reasons and to expand creativity, my designs are often modified versions of the original product.
Understandable but do you draw made up schools is what I meant to ask.
Yes, most–if not all–of the schools I draw are fictional, even if they incorporate elements from school buildings in real-life.
I would like to see some sometime. I am a big fan of architecture but I couldn’t make my own floor plans.
Here’s an update on the fictional Electro-Motive plant I’ve been working on.
Main Engineering Building
The ground floor of the facility is now partially completed. Office groups line the outer walls, while the large area on the interior provides space for small prototyping machinery and work-benches.
East end of the facility. Windows in the walls between the office groups and main floor allow light from the exterior windows to pass through the space.
Exit door vestibule between office groups.
West end of the facility.
Machining/Prototyping Building + Dock 2 Shipping/Receiving Facility
I’ve decided to extend the machining center into some unused space at the western end of the Dock 2 facility. In the context of the model, this represents an interior addition constructed during the 1995 renovation of the M/P building into an unused portion of the 1950’s storage and shipping building.
This hallway previously ended directly past the first door on the left. The brick columns at the right of the hall conceal the original Dock #2 support columns.
Exterior view of the expanded space. The roll-up door on the left provides direct access to the engineering hallway for moving large items in and out of the machining areas.
A concrete curb and railing creates a dedicated walkway along the back of the shipping facility.
Pipe detailing above the engineering center expansion. This runs from here along the exterior of the facility to the main engineering building.
Die-Cast Utilities Building
This building handles the incoming natural gas feed, city water supply, oil mist, and recirculating water system in the below-grade utilities vault. Electrical and compressed air supplies are located on the second floor. These resources are provided exclusively for the die casting process, building systems and the rest of the facility have their own supplies.
Rear of building showing tanks for oil-mist lubrication system. Also visible is the main die cast plant.
Front of building. The first floor is partially below grade to accept incoming utilities and pipelines running underground to die casting plant.
Main doorway of facility, showing safety signs and storm water drains.
Small interior stairwell between first and second floors. Some pipe detail is visible in the main hall.
I’m getting an Aperture Science feeling from that facility…
It’s probably from all the white walls. I’m not at all complaining, I actually kinda like it.
That has came out really nice! Good job!
Thanks! Some of the older areas of the plant have light gray walls, but the area shown in the engineering center is bright white. I like the clean and new look it gives, especially since that area is modeled as having been more recently renovated.
Thank you! I started on this model a little under 2 years ago, and still have much to do.