I havn't done any 3d in a hell of a long time, so I thought i'd try it again.
I did this scene with Blender and yafray.
I really didn't model anything. I used boolean to cut objects etc. I got the modelling on this one done pretty quickly. I have spent about one hour and a half on it so far.
http://www.marc-foley.co.uk/work/archrender1.jpg
Render is really crappy but shows how much I have. I shall probably envmap it and texture it. I need to fix the floor, make some interior stairs and add a few bits and peices.