Tag Archives: Architecture

LEGO provides the perfect medium for recreating the buildings and landmarks of the world — LEGO has even released a line of official LEGO Architecture sets. Check out our coverage of the official sets, and don’t miss all the gorgeous architectural models created by LEGO fans from around the world.

Johnny Thunder takes on the highest peak

I’m a 90’s kid. Early 2000s LEGO shaped my childhood, with Bionicle, Racers, Harry Potter, and Star Wars. However, one theme was grounded enough to offer a haven from all the crazy. Orient Expedition was the short-lived sequel/reboot to the popular Adventurers theme from the late 1990s. The theme follows Johnny Thunder and his team of explorers in seeking the lost treasure of Marco Polo. Similarly, Lord Sam Sinister also sought the treasure, but chose to try and steal it instead finding it on his own. GunnBuilding reimagines the 7417 Temple of Mount Everest playset, where the heroes and villains have a showdown on top of the world’s tallest peak.

Click to see more of this homage to Orient Expedition

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

Not your average farmer’s market

No matter what day of the week it is, it’s always nice to go to the local farmer’s market. Not only are the food and goods top-notch, they also have a nice atmosphere. Not unlike Andrew Tate‘s village grocer, which has a charming house rather than tents and food stalls. No doubt the fruits and vegetables sold outside in crates are locally grown, given the small-town feel of the build. The ground floor has a small convenience shop, and the rest of the house must be where the owners live.

Andrew pays homage to a more famous LEGO grocer, a popular Modular Building set from 2008. The green and tan awning is similarly to the blue and white awning of the LEGO set, and both share the same white Fabuland lamp-posts. Andrew also references LEGO’s Winter Village series with this village grocer’s alpine architecture. It fits right in there, minus the cold and snow. Come to think of it, what’s Winter Village like when it’s not winter?

Domes for days in Agrabah

Architecture is great subject matter for micro-scale LEGO models, Jannis Mavrostomos demonstrates this with his brick-built eastern styled mini city reminiscent of Agrabah from the Aladdin films.

Mavrostomos’s tiny city utilizes many commonly found elements, including tiles, 1×2 grilles, 1×1 studs, 1×1 cones, and other small pieces mostly in a tan and reddish-brown color scheme with some green and pearl gold elements. Mavrostomos also cleverly uses some more specialized elements such as the cauldron pieces as well as the ice cream cone with swirl element to render domes and part of a minaret tower. There is even a tan pair of short minfigure legs which serve as a building. Overall, this build is certainly a nice assemblage of small pieces forming a much bigger picture.

Germany’s famous Aachen Cathedral in LEGO microscale

When construction began on the Aachen Cathedral around 796, its builders could hardly have imagined that someday it would be translated into a miniature LEGO version. But Jochen Haas done a beautiful job translating the final resting place of Charlemagne into bricks. When I first saw the large dome in the middle, I thought Jochen’s technique of using a series of curved slopes at intervals was an interesting effect, but left it with an unfortunate ribbed look. But apparently I’d forgotten what the real cathedral looks like, because a little quick research shows that the real dome is actually ribbed as well. In fact, the whole model feels as though it could be an official LEGO Architecture set–and if you want to build this one yourself, for once you’re in luck, because Jochen has actually created free instructions, though you’ll need to provide the parts yourself.

I’ll take mine on the rocks, please

There are some LEGO builders that I would just love to hate, since they seem to be living the perfect LEGO life, and Markus Rollbühler would be at the top of my list; he’s one of the most talented builders out there with about a billion social followers, he has an enormous and perfectly organized collection, and he even works as a set designer for LEGO, the (pipe) dream job of every aspiring LEGO talent. But Markus is impossible to hate, because he is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, super humble, always offering advice and help when asked, and available to even the most rookie builder. How could I hate a guy like that? I can’t. Instead, I admit that he’s one of my personal favorite builders, regardless of what genre he tries his hand at. In this case, it is a delightful little lighthouse.

Markus shows of his skills by building a compactly small round tower out of tiles, pairing that with a ramshackle hut with a teal roof (got to love teal, right?). Markus is famous for his cheese slope roofs, and really his ability to make a roof out of virtually any piece (see Ninjago City Gardens, a set he designed, if you doubt the truth of the statement). He is also well known for his foliage, and this tree made from yellow feathers does not disappoint. The color scheme is just about perfect, as is the composition, and the building techniques are on point…in short, it’s enough to make one green (or even teal) with envy, except that the builder is just too darn nice.

A little light amidst a lot of dark

Is it a Tim Burton movie set? Is it a miniature fit for a museum about Medieval times? No, it is another fantastic creation from Ralf Langer. Ralf always surprises us with his super realistic medieval Tudor-style buildings. His creations are filled with tons of interesting techniques which he kindly reveals in tutorials not long after posting a creation. His latest model is called ‘A light in the dark’.

As far as I can tell Ralf didn’t use any special lighting to make the archway light up. He created the effect by using a range of yellow tones amidst a lot of grey, dark grey, dark brown, and black. The effect looks stunning. Another effect Ralf managed to get across beautifully is the calm after a storm. The streets look like they are covered in puddles. This is achieved by using chain link for the pavement. The puddles are made with black brick shapes which are placed between the chain links. The difference between the textured chain links and the smooth bricks really looks like rain puddles.

2 modular buildings are always better than 1

What is better than one LEGO modular building? Two LEGO modular buildings and make it a corner building! Kale Frost show us what an upscale Birch Books might have looked like. Kale stayed true to the official set design for most of his creation. He did however add a few little touches to make this creation truly stand out. Complete with a signboard in the shape of a book to emphasize that they are selling books inside. The lettering above the entrance also is a nice touch and it is executed very well using the new curved 1×1 slope. I do wonder what the S would look like had the curved 1×1 slope been used there as well. He further added a brick-built pillar box which goes great with the British vibe of the building. Now, all we can do is wait for an upscale version of the 107 house next to the Birch Books.

Moroccan Riad Courtyard

Some people do not mind having studs showing in their creations. Some people strongly dislike having studs showing in their creations. Some people, like Andrew Tate, decide to have the studs showing with a purpose. In this latest model by Andrew, the studs are meant to represent the tiles on the wall. The effect sure is stunning. I am also a big fan of mixing the different shades of blue. LEGO has been pushing out a lot of softer colors ever since the release of LEGO Friends. And it sure is nice to see these colors getting incorporated into non-Friends builds. When it came to the flooring Andrew decided to go full studs-not-on-top which means that most of the floor is held on by gravity and willpower. It must have been quite the challenge to lay this intricate floor pattern. There are a lot of details to discover and this most definitely is a creation that deserves to be zoomed in on.

Breaking ground and building models

Of course on Instagram and Flickr or wherever else LEGO collections and cities are shown off, one can find plenty of completed modulars and cars, maybe even some small construction vehicles, but Fuku Saku presents us with a highly detailed model of a construction site complete with a skeleton frame of a building and some great vehicles.

Saku’s vehicles are pretty detailed and are comprised of both large and small parts; an interesting part used in his dump truck would be the battle droid arm utilized on the truck’s backend. Overall both trucks make use of bricks and wheels in addition to a lot of slopes and tiles to achieve a smooth and completed look. The building frame behind the vehicles is notably comprised of many different types of plates but also includes bricks and tiling. In any case Saku’s model is a break from the usual completed buildings.

Beautiful on the outside and on the inside

I had to look really good to see that this model by Tong Xin Jun is built and rendered digitally. The fact that only existing colors were used certainly helped fool the eye. This cute little house is complete. It comes with its own vineyard and wine cellar, and what more could a person ask for during a pandemic? The brick build base makes this model look very polished. Creating a difference in texture between the path towards the house and the lawn adds to the feeling that the lawn is filled with autumn leaves. And have you seen those roof dormers? The best thing about this house is that it is fully furnished from the basement to the attic. And the furniture wasn’t an afterthought. It is designed beautifully. Sometimes a fan of LEGO uses a part in a way it was not designed for, but it just makes sense. The round 2×2 tile with wood grain pattern used as a cutting board/charcuterie plank is an example of this.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your…long chain of bricks

A classic fairy tale gets the LEGO treatment with this towering six foot tall brick-built minifigure-scale structure created by Martin Harris and inspired by the Disney film Tangled. Not only do we get the famous tower in this work, we also get a nice landscape – the forest in which Rapunzel was tucked away, complete with colorful trees and a nice riverbed utilizing many nature-inspired elements including flower pieces, plants, and tree-limb elements in varying colors.

Continue reading →

A peaceful house in the Greek countryside

Γεια! — That’s “hello” in Greek, which is what I would say if I were visiting this Greek house in person. Built by creator Toltomeja, the Greek House is a fantastic portrayal of typical dwellings in Greece.

My favorite part about the house is the white walls and stairwells. It’s such a classical look. The tile flooring on the patio is very well done. I appreciate the variety of colors used to indicate foot traffic over the years. An additional sign of the house’s age is the vine work growing up the side of the stairs.

This was a gorgeous LEGO model to look at. If it was a submission on LEGO ideas, I would definitely throw in my support!