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.

The energy of tomorrow, yesterday

Steampunk is an always present theme in LEGO fan creations, and it pairs well with many different motives, from aircraft to architecture. Andreas Lenander adds to the latter with his recent build named Department of energy, a part of a larger collection of steampunk creations.

Department of energy - ruins of San Victoria

The building is a prime example of classic 19th century western architecture, with quite an interesting rooftop – a part often neglected. It appears as though the numerous technical additions were built on top of an older building in a time of disproportionately fast technological advancement. The multiple steam exhausts give a lot of character and the little touch of digital editing for the mysterious shine is a cherry on top.

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.

Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a go-kart.

We’re used to seeing towering skyscrapers and other massive creations in Micropolis layouts. But sometimes, the most eye-catching city block in a layout is the smallest one. Tammo S. demonstrates this truth with his most recent LEGO build, a micro go-kart racing facility. Utilizing the new macaroni tiles for twisty roads, roller skates for karts, and half-sunken grille tiles for a chain-link fence, Tammo has created an adorable place for thrill-seekers of all ages.

Micropolis Kart Racing Circuit

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.

Mystery awaits in a rediscovered Mayan temple

Even though this ruined Mesoamerican temple by Jonas Wilde doesn’t depict any particular site, it’s clear Jonas was inspired by the amazing Mayan structures of the Classic Maya era (250-900 AD). Jungle foliage drapes itself over the building, while palm trees sprout from the platform. The composition of this LEGO build is stunning, with the scene built on a platform that includes cutaway views of earth and stone, and a variety of heights that accentuate the detailed flora.

Temple in the Jungles of Celestia

See more of this fantastic archaeological treasure

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.

If these castle walls could talk

Nothing says foreboding fortress like a castle’s huge main gate and portcullis.  Construction of this particular LEGO castle by Benjamin Calvetti began in July 2016 and, after utilising around 10,000 bricks, it is finally completed. Benjamin’s castle is around 20” inches (50cm) wide and seems to be emerging straight from the rock.  The best part of this castle is that despite being freshly built, it has all the hallmarks of an aging building — some moss is growing in places, damage to the stonework and the odd slightly alarming large crack.

Click to see close-up views of the castle

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.

Oriental abode built to embrace luck, joy, and beauty

There’s always a splash of grandeur in detail with buildings from ages long ago. Perhaps inspired by a flashback of an oriental abode, this build by Jennifer Lee has transported us to ancient times. The home is adorned and detailed with red and gold. Red, in Chinese culture, is a symbol of good luck, joy, and happiness, while yellow or gold, in this case, is considered the most beautiful and prestigious colour.

See more details and photos of this Asian home

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.

Stylish jungle living

Tropical living has never looked more appealing than in Sarah Beyer‘s stylish LEGO creation — Cocoa Jungle Cottage. This house manages to look completely at home amongst the surrounding foliage with a colour scheme of natural tones — simple enough to let the striking striped wall stand out as a signature design feature.

Cocoa Jungle Cottage MOC (I)

Don’t miss the smart-looking rooftop terrace with its awning made from tan garage-door sections. Looks like I good spot to wile away the hours with a Mai-Tai or two…

Cocoa Jungle Cottage MOC roof terrace close-up

Click to see more images of this stylish jungle house, including its full interior

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.

Sagrada Familia completed at last

The Sagrada Familia is a famous Catholic church located in Barcelona. It was designed by a Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi. Sagrada Familia is a huge architectural project with colourful, mathematical design elements, and Gaudi knew it would not be completed within his lifetime.  Construction began in 1882 and it is anticipated that completion will actually be around 2026! Koen has built a microscale LEGO model of the completed Sagrada Familia that looks like an official LEGO Architecture series model. The use of inverted ice-cream cones is inspired.

Sagrada Familia

A view from another angle shows another feature I particularly like, Koen uses the scroll brick as a nice decorative component of the doorway. Koen has cleverly managed to balance the simplicity required in microscale with the hugely complex design of this particular structure.

Sagrada Familia

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.

Enchanting citadel of the skies

I bet you’re taking a second, or even a third, close look at this magical floating castle to analyse how it all holds up. LEGO wizard jaapxaap must have dreamt of this one night and woke up to make it a reality. The colour choices of white and gold,  plus the bright blue of the domes and trimming helps provide an additional subconscious cue, elevating it into the skies above the clouds. A brilliant idea turned into reality with the execution of beautiful engineering.

CCC - Fantasy Castle

CCC - Fantasy Castle

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.

Musicians will be bricking it when playing at this amazing LEGO concert hall

The University of Colorado Boulder has an ongoing project to construct a LEGO version of its campus, built by a team of LEGO builders. Imagine Rigney has just finished building a LEGO version of the Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, where dozens of major College of Music performances take place each season. The auditorium is over a century old, and its Neo-Gothic architecture style has been nicely captured in LEGO bricks

Macky Auditorium, CU Boulder, Colorado

Click to see the inside of the concert hall

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.

LEGO Architecture 21039 Shanghai skyline [Review]

Heading into 2018, LEGO’s city skyline series is growing again, with LEGO Architecture 21039 Shanghai available on January 1st from the LEGO Shop Online (and available now in some local LEGO stores). The set features many iconic buildings on the Huangpu River, including the Chenghuang Miao Temple, Longhua Temple and Pagoda, HSBC Building, the Customs House, Radisson Blu Hotel, Oriental Pearl Tower, World Financial Center and the Shanghai Tower. The Shanghai skyline contains 597 pieces and retails at $59.99.

While the set is technically the second largest Architecture skyline set by piece count (one less than 21028 New York City), Shanghai is largest by any other measure, ranking as the tallest, widest, deepest and heaviest of the skyline series so far.

Click to read our full review of the Shanghai skyline.

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.

Koffee at the new LEGO café on the corner

If your minifigures need to stop for a coffee during their busy mini-day, they should look no further than this new coffee house, Kahunka Koffee. Built by Andrew Tate , this is a larger, grander interpretation of the retired, iconic modular set 10182 Cafe Corner. Andrew also built a subtle stone face into the main entrance on the corner in recognition of his favourite LEGO theme – Pirates, hence the name Kahuka Koffee. I always like when street scene details are added, in this case, a delivery truck as well as some relaxed coffee-drinkers enjoying the outside seating.

Kahuka Koffee

Andrew admits that he has only built a ground floor interior, but the brown and tan colour scheme perfectly reflects shades of coffee. Perhaps the flight of stairs hints to some further building work to be done on this model.

Kahuka Koffee

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.

A new beauty born of decay

When I first looked at this picture, I thought to myself that someone really needs to clean up the weeds on their mansion, but then with some quick research it turned out there is nobody to do the cleaning. Château Nottebohm is an abandoned castle in Belgium, which has been uninhabited for over half a century. While the landscape looks more like a savannah than a temperate forested plain, Marion has definetely done justice to the mansion itself.

Château Nottebohm 05

On the outside the building seems to contain no large bricks whatsoever, achieving intense chaotic textures characteristic of decaying buildings. Textures like these feel more at home in larger creations, but Marion has managed to make them look good even at this small scale. There are complex shapes achieved with more or less legal techniques, for some of which I am not even sure they can be done without cutting bricks, so purists beware! For a better understanding of some of these techniques, I suggest anyone interested to look at the work in progress photos, like this example here.

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.