Fixing the below ground room

I was about to completely change the below ground part, to remove the glass room and the water, thus making it simply a huge wavy hole in the ground. The stairs would extend right along the edge of one wall, and would be curvy rather then straight,

I have now decided against this, as I am unable to design the stairs in sketchup... I just can't work out how to do it.

However, I did feel there was a problem with the design of the below ground section in two ways:
1. The glass room looks boring. Perhaps it could echo the ground more, and appear to be flowing, rather than a rectangular prism.
2. The terrain is simply an extrusion of one shape, leading to it appearing artificial.

I have remedied these two problems - the terrain is still an extrusion of a single shape, however it is not a linear extrusion, and instead bends (through the use of the follow-me tool). The room is now designed to have much more rounded edges, and follow the terrain.


The following rendering in 3DS Max better communicates the shapes involved, thanks to more realistic lighting (two omnis and a skylight):
Note that I have removed the water just for this rendering, to make the shape of the room clearer. Also note that the textures for ALL objects will be greatly improved, and the room and stairs will become semitransparent.