Architectural guru Erwin te Kortschot is back to creating brilliant LEGO skyscrapers. His most recent is a translation of one of the artist Achilles Gildo Rizzoli’s drawings, a portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Healy in architectural form. Erwin’s interpretation of the sketch into brick form makes a very visually interesting tower.
I am sure Andrew can provide some translation as to what is actually going on in these cityscapes by 62778grenouille. But really I think the images can speak for themselves.
Absolutely Beautiful.
EDIT (AB): The photo description in Japanese just notes that the train is a mag-lev, and that the builder used LED light sticks from Ikea for the lighting effects.
Simon Pickard (brick.spartan) has made a minifig scale model of the ancient Hebrew mobile tent-temple known as the Tabernacle. Working from the Bible’s detailed descriptions of the temple dimensions and contents, Simon makes great use of LEGO’s limited palette of gold pieces to create the Ark of the Covenant, altars, and other accoutrements used in the temple.
Giving a whole new meaning to “flying buttresses,” Awesome O’Saurus provides us with this stunning rendering of a Gothic-architecture inspired space battleship. After seeing dozens of space tankers and flying boxes with striping (which are cool, to be sure), this spaceship is a welcome new style. Already I want to go design my own space-worthy cathedral of doom.
Yo-Sub Joo created a replica of the world’s tallest gold-cladded structure, the 63 Building in Seoul. Staying true to the appearance of the landmark, the builder used chrome gold colored tiles to coat what must have been an expensive creation.
It’s time once again for a Saturday exploration into the always fascinating world of architecture. Both of today’s selections are from TBB neophyte Erwin te Kortschot (buildingmaster 1966), who has a very small but high quality stable of models on Flickr. We begin today’s ruminations with an 1898 Art Nouveau structure and National Heritage Site from Rotterdam, Netherlands called the “Witte Huis“. Designed by architect Willem Molenbroek, it is considered the first high-rise of Europe.
Don’t blink, because our tour ends as quickly as it began in Oxford, England, with the Radcliffe Camera designed by James Gibbs in the English Palladian style in 1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library.
If you’re a fan of the genre don’t miss Erwin’s outstanding Aloha Tower from Honolulu Harbor in Hawaii.
Builder Mark Clark let us know via Facebook that he recently displayed his model of National Historic Landmark Cincinnati Music Hall in the venue itself to the delight of its many visitors. The model was constructed to appear as it existed in 1896, in 1/50th scale, with an interior that includes the acoustically acclaimed Springer Auditorium and Corbett tower.
Like many builders who attempt a project of this scale, Mark indicated on one of his photos that it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of his family. Kudos Mark, for a an accurate tribute to a fascinating structure.
Inspired by the collected works of Spencer Rezkalla, TBB newcomer Rocco Buttliere has slowly amassed a fine collection of microscale skyscrapers with a focus on the architecture of Chicago Illinois. For his latest project, Rocco takes on the 961 ft tower at 311 South Wacker in downtown Chicago. According the the builder, “311 was the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time of its completion. It is the seventh tallest building in Chicago, and sixteenth in the US. It is also the tallest building in the world whose address is also its formal title.” Considering the limited availability of Medium Dark Flesh colored elements, the building seems all the more impressive. Enjoy today’s slice of architectural history.
As part of an event in Ballabio, North of Milan, the Italian LEGO users group ItLUG held a Creator contest, which was won by Dario Minisini (oirad72) with this lovely cottage.
I’m not sure whether the combination of the shape, the red roof-tiles and the white walls triggered it, but when I saw this picture I was immediately reminded of Italy, even before I knew the back-story. Like many Creator sets, its construction may be relatively straightforward, but the colours, the proportions and level of detail make it work.
We don’t feature many modular buildings (or Cafe-Corner Compatible buildings, if you prefer) on this blog any more. After a while they all start to look a bit the same. A few weeks ago, however, I attended a Lowlug meeting and saw the very original models by Christiaan de Roo (aloisvonesterhazy), inspired by Amsterdam. My favourite in his collection is a somewhat older model called “Cafe het Hoekje”, which is Dutch and translates to Corner Cafe. It is built in the very attractive style typical of many 19th century buildings in city centres in the Netherlands, reminiscent of 17th century Dutch architecture.
One thing I don’t like about many modular buildings, including some of the sets, is their overly elaborate decoration in too many or odd colours. I prefer a more restrained look and Christiaan got that just right. There is a variation in the colour of the roof tiles, which adds some extra visual interest, but most of the building is plain brown with white accents. The building also has a full interior with some spectacular tile work on the ground floor. You can enjoy it in all its detail by checking out the full set on flickr.
