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.

TBB cover photo for August 2020: A station worth visiting

This month’s cover photo, from Pieter Dennison, is a model of the Dunedin Railway Station in New Zealand. From the tower to the topiary garden, this scene captures all the nuance found in the Dunedin Railway Station, reportedly, one of New Zealand’s most photographed buildings. If you’d like to learn more about this build, read our previous coverage of this LEGO Dunedin Railway Station that Pieter spent five years building.

Submit your LEGO creations featured across TBB social media for a month! Check out the submission guidelines share your builds today.

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Here is New York City, from a brick’s eye view

The view of New York City from the street level comes with a mixed bag of emotions: excitement, curiosity, and for some natives and tourists, claustrophobia. The beauty of its skyline however, when observed from a bird’s eye view, can turn the metropolis into a piece of art like a LEGO sculpture. A new brick-built model of Manhattan, designed by Axcit is awe-inspiring in its overall scale of 144 cm (56 in) long, down to the details of the many landmarks he was able to fit in the model. In a Reddit post of his masterpiece, Axcit drew hundreds of comments. Between compliments and requests for building instructions, what took the cake were the differing opinions on its authenticity, flying like a typical New York debate of where to get the best pizza (sans NY accent).

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A bold and daring trio of Art Nouveau buildings

Come see the latest Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) additions on the New Century City Block III. Each unique in its color, flair, and technique, Eero Okkonen has spent two years working on the buildings, drawing inspiration from real-life buildings and researching how the Art Nouveau movement has found its way into Finnish architecture. I’d say it was two years well-spent!

Click here to have a detailed tour of the block..!

Your guide to the 113 new LEGO sets now available for August 2020 including the Nintendo NES, Grand Piano, Star Wars and more [News]

August has arrived and that means new LEGO sets! LEGO has launched 108 new sets and items available today. In addition to new sets like the Nintendo NES and Super Mario lineup, Ideas Grand Piano, Star Wars 501st Battle Pack and LEGO Art, fans in the US and Canada can finally celebrate the summer arrival of Harry Potter, Creator 3-in-1, City, and Ninjago waves that you’ve waited so patiently for. Nearly every LEGO theme has some new sets–it can be a lot to process!– so we have your complete guide right here detailing each and every new set and item. [EDIT: It appears that LEGO may have delayed the US & Canada release of some of these sets until September. We’ve asked for clarification.]

LEGO is also offering two free gifts-with-purchases at the start of August. The first is 30385 Super Mushroom Surprise, free with purchases of LEGO Super Mario sets more than US $40 through August 16th or while supplies last.

The second freebie is LEGO is also 40414 Monty Mole & Super Mushroom Expansion with in-store purchases of the 71360 Adventures with Mario Starter Course through August 9th or while supplies last.

See the entire August 2020 wave of new LEGO sets now available

How to build a swell little well! [Instructions]

Former LEGO designer Tiago Catarino continues to deliver fun techniques in his free tutorials! I’m a big fan of this little well. It’s simple and easy to build, yet the unique roof design gives it character. The best part is that you can put it into a number of settings and decorating around it would be seamless. Of course, it’s probably best suited to a medieval square, don’t you think?

Click the link below to watch the video and see how it’s done!

Watch Video!

At least it wasn’t just whitewashed

A limited color palette can be tricky to work with in a creation. I’ve done LEGO builds where I only used one color, and it was challenging. Cab ~ here has limited the palette in this cathedral to just three: light bluish grey, transparent red, and transparent yellow. The back-lit stained glass is beautiful, each window unique and telling part of the Easter story, according to the builder, if in an abstracted way. The vaulted ceiling, held together by interior flex tube, looks great, too. It does look a little bland with only grey, however, or maybe just incomplete; so perhaps now that the masons have finished their part, the rest of the artisans can get to work adding paintings, gilded ornaments, and tapestries to outfit the cathedral for its intended purpose, glorifying God.

Like church architecture? Check out some more churches and cathedrals in the TBB archives.

Epic LEGO Forbidden City uses over 80,000 bricks and took over 700 hours to design & build!

Yes, you read the title correctly. Rocco Buttliere has used around 84,000 LEGO bricks, to be more precise. In addition to 300+ hours of building to recreate the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, Rocco also spent 400+ hours designing it first. If that doesn’t blow your mind, it should. That is one giant build of one of the world’s most spectacular architectural sites. Like his earlier LEGO diorama of Ancient Rome, Rocco built this one for a commission for a museum, and boy, does it belong there. The overview picture hardly does it justice, as it all blends together into a blur of flame orange, dark red, and grey, but zoom in and there are as many marvels as in the real deal. Fancy a tour? It’s not forbidden to look at this one, even for a commoner like me.

Check out the details of this incredible build

Living in the lap of luxury in a million dollar home made with 10,000 (digital) LEGO bricks

Builder aukbricks is known to the community for making amazing architectural creations that are rendered with LEGO parts but using only parts that exist and in its corresponding colour as well. Technically that means it is possible to build everything that you see here with real authentic LEGO elements. The cost at which to build it in its entirety with bricks is another thing altogether. It won’t cost you a million dollars for sure, but nevertheless this design is really what a million-dollar home looks like. In fact, I’d say it’s a steal at a million dollars if it really existed anywhere on this planet. There’s more than meets the eye with a beautiful facade but a fully furnished and designed interior that makes this a total standout effort and creation.

Click for a tour of the million-dollar home

Who will take the ring to Mustafar?

As evil armies spread across the land, a young boy from a farming town journeys to strange places on a quest to defeat the mighty villain. Accompanied by a group of friends and gifted a glowing blue sword, he soon finds himself in the company of a weird little creature speaking in odd sentences, before ultimately defeating evil by casting it into a giant pit. That’s the backdrop for this mighty tower, which LEGO builder CRCT Productions calls The Emperor’s Eye or Vader’s Barad-Dûr.

The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars share a lot of similarities, but perhaps none so visually striking as the resemblance of Darth Vader’s Castle to the architecture of Sauron, and this nifty little microscale diorama shows the resulting mashup. The best part is the Force-blue glowing eye between the spires. The squared-off base works well to counterpoint the jumbled lava rocks around the foot of the tower, and there are some great parts hidden if you look closely, such as chain links and robot arms.

TBB cover photo for June 2020: The General Store with Everything

This month’s cover photo, from Andrea Lattanzio, brings us this blast from the past with an incredibly detailed LEGO general store. The diorama is littered with items you might find at a remote general store, and luckily Andrea provides a close up look at the details (see below). Candy machines, phone booths, tools, and gas, this general store has you covered no matter your needs.

Here’s that closer look at some of the items you’ll see surrounding the general store. The water tower is a clear standout, but some of the other details like the power pole, the cable holding up the chimney pipe, and the cat going after that bird nest. This entire scene is a delight to take in.

Want to see your own LEGO creation featured across TBB social media for a month? Check out the submission guidelines and submit your photo today.

Stay safe and keep up with The Brothers Brick by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter or Pinterest. And for extra goodies, follow us on Instagram, Flickr, or subscribe to us on YouTube.

Your guide to the 130 new LEGO sets now available for June 2020 including the Technic Lamborghini and more [News]

Summer 2020 has arrived, and LEGO has launched 130 new sets and items available today. Fans of Technic, Creator 3-in-1, City, Friends, Architecture, Hidden Side and more have a lot to choose from. The new Technic Lamborghini is also available today as well as a slew of exclusive polybags not previously available from LEGO’s online store and a Hogwarts Students booster pack. Nearly every LEGO theme has some new sets–it can be a lot to process!– so we have your complete guide right here detailing each and every new set and item.

Because LEGO releases summer waves at different times across the globe, the majority of these sets are available now in the UK. You can see the complete list of all 130 sets and items after the jump. Sets with a Red Indicator are currently available in the US and Canada as well (61 in total). The Americas will get access to the rest of the sets later this summer.

LEGO is also offering a free gift-with-purchase of 40409 Hot Rod with purchases more than US $85 | CAN $85 | UK £85 through June 21st or while supplies last. You can check out our review of 40409 Hot Rod to see if you want to add it to your collection.

See the entire June 2020 wave of new LEGO sets now available

Well established and always ready for customers

Do you ever find yourself looking at a shop and wondering how it’s still standing? How is it that among all the fancy branded stores, these little guys continue chugging along? It has to be the people like Hoang H Dang‘s grandfather who keep these small businesses alive. No matter what country, it’s little shops like these that are the lifeblood of communities. Even if the walls are cracked and the electricty is sketchy, the magic is in the connections shopkeepers share with their patrons. This LEGO build is a lovely tribute to the nostagia of that little Vietnamese store. And this article goes out to all the small businesses that are still chugging along, even through these rough times.

If you’d like to see more stuff by this builder, check out this fishing boat, and a Vietnamese home ready for the Lunar New Year.

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