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.

Have a cup of joe at this down-to-earth coffee house

This LEGO coffee house build comes to us from Isaac Snyder for this year’s Eurobricks event. The task? Building a house with significance to the builder. In this case, Isaac draws inspiration from a local coffee shop. Let’s take a closer look at the house, starting with the outdoor furniture. Check out the chairs with the tables! Some nice usage of brackets for the chairs’ seats and back, paired nicely with those plates with shafts. That’s something I really adore with builds of this scale–the parts usage ends up being really creative to imply/represent what the builder wants for the model. There are more techniques at work here too, like the brickwork. Using those half curved 1×1 tiles throughout the textured and plain bricks gives more depth and shaping to what would be flat walls otherwise. Excellent build all around from mine eyes.

Terra Cotta Coffee House

A cottage and a Vespa to call your own

I don’t know why but I’ve had a thing for little abodes lately. This LEGO cottage built by Erek Weidner is a little slice of perfection. You have an apple tree, a wee French Bulldog, a shiny red Vespa, and a tiny cottage to call your own. The butterflies, ladybugs, and squirrels are just icing on the cozy perfection cake. What else do you need, really? I imagine a good strong Wi-Fi connection would make this place perfect. The lawn is a little bit unruly but I think the sheep will have that settled pretty soon.

Little Cottage - Front

There Lived a Hobbit...

To build a delightful LEGO version of something truly iconic and remarkable you got to be more than a good builder. And if you you going to do so in under 101 bricks, you got to be Mbricks. His hobbit-hole is an amazing masterclass in organic shapes. Take a closer look and you’ll notice how each and every piece either carries a specific shape or forms one along with other elements. And if you are really attentive, you might notice an alligator tail — a famous garden decoration popular with hobbits!

There Lived a Hobbit...

A mathematical work of art from Escher (no, not that one)

If I say “Check out this twisty building by Escher”, you’ll probably picture upside-down stairs and ceilings that turn into floors. But MC Escher didn’t build with LEGO bricks (probably). Instead, I’m talking about Jakob Escher. Now I don’t know that the inside of this building doesn’t have staircases that lead only to themselves, but I do know that I would love to live here! This is the latest in a series of builds in Jakob’s own galaxy far, far away. There are hints of Star Wars here – Kamino and Endor spring to mind – but also some real-world inspiration, and heaps of creativity. The colours in particular remind me of Oriental architecture. The geometry is what really gives this the wow factor though; circular living quarters connected by trapezoidal corridors. MC Escher was renowned for his use of mathematics in his artwork… I think this creation would definitely have piqued his interest!

Life in a galaxy far away

Shack up for a long cold night

Is it just me or is there something kinda thrilling about staying indoors? This LEGO creation by Joe (jnj_bricks) has me wanting to pack a good book, some hot chocolate, and maybe a few board games to spend the night in this cozy cabin. Sure it’s a breathtaking winter wonderland outside but there’s blankets and a fireplace on the inside. Plus you really can’t dig into six hours of playing Eldritch Horror if you’re outside building a snowman now, can you? I mean, sure, you should probably admire the amazing build techniques and snowy textures on the outside but the inside of this stunning little cabin; that’s where the whiskey is at. Am I right or am I right?

Cold Nights

Some towers have spires and some towers inspire

There’s magic waiting to be revealed in every LEGO piece, and builders like exis- (or like you, dear Reader) bring it out. In this case, the build itself is quite magical, being a mage tower of sorts. The black roofing and crenellations create a forbidding–or foreboding–presence. However, the tan of the rest of the architecture balances it out. Perhaps this hints at the risk vs reward of entering such a place. Looking closer, you’ll see wonderful details abounding throughout the build. I really like the use of minifig legs for details in the base floor windows. I do recommend taking a trip over to the builder’s photostream to take a look at the wonders that fill the tower’s interior. There’s even a brief video showing off some cool play features.

01_MTower

A beachfront property clad in brown and nougat

LEGO builder Sarah Beyer definitely has a style when it comes to house design. And every time, without fail, I’m left agape staring at yet another architectural wonder, one more take on her core modern look. This beachside house is gorgeous with its brown, black, and medium nougat coloration. I feel like I can make out every slat of wood in this build, thanks to some great tile and plate work. The beams sticking out over the patios are fantastic, especially when paired with the simplistic modern windows trimmed in black. And the landscaping is divine, especially the small irregularly-shaped pool to the right. It’s a difficult design to create in bricks, much less have it feel at home in a build full of right angles. But Sarah pulls it off quite well! Be sure to check out all the details inside and out on her Flickr page.

Farview House MOC. Bird's view.

Travel through space and time with this diorama of Uzbekistan

The LEGO fan community spans the whole globe, and I love traveling vicariously through builds like this one from the well-traveled Lasse Vestergård. This creation allows us to travel to Uzbekistan – admittedly not a place that was high on my destination hit list. But isn’t it beautiful? It depicts the historic city of Bukhara. The blue decorations of the Mir-i-Arab madrasah make use of a lot of flower pieces, depicting the well-preserved paintwork of the real building. And if you thought there were a lot of flowers here, try and work out how many 1×2 plates and 1×1 studs are used in the Kalyan Minaret next to it! My guess is, er, a lot. It’s a tried-and-tested method of making round towers, but the considerable height makes it look like brickwork here, to great effect.

LEGO Creation of the Week (#10): Dracomata by Michael Kanemoto and king box by Pan Noda

Every week readers of the The Brothers Brick Telegram channel choose the Creation of the Week: one project that impressed all of us the most. This week it’s a tie! Dracomata by Michael Kanemoto and king box by Pan Noda both conquered hearts of our readers, getting equal amount of votes.

Meanwhile, the new vote is already on! Join our Telegram channel to follow all the best LEGO creations, latest news, and, of course, vote for your favorites. See you there!

Raise a glass to a clearly important profession

I learned today that a glazier is someone who cuts and fits glass in windows and doors, demonstrating the educational application of LEGO with this colorful build from gGh0st. This workshop build is gGhost’s entry for the Bricklink Designer Program, and it’s an awesome entry! The design of the workshop is amazing with the color palette, the round windows throughout, and the colorful clips used within the roof. I do think it’s pretty cool to use the bar with ball piece for the texturing of the roof, something I’ve not seen before in a build. Notice the use of the transparent pieces along the midsection of the workshop and even the sign–small details that really contribute to the beauty of the profession. This is a great addition to any medieval village!

Old Glazier's Workshop

A bold color towers above the rest

It’s not very often you get to have bold, beautiful colors like pinks and lavenders in LEGO Castle-style sets or builds. This is what brought builder Ben Cossy to construct this amazing scene! Wanting to experiment with non-traditional colors for a castle build, Ben chose the color palette of pink and lavender for the tower and surrounding landscape. The whole scene has a great flow and movement, from the lower areas to the tower’s top. Browns and tans help with the color blocking of the tower, keeping the greys from dominating. There are some really cool building techniques at work in the build here, and Ben kindly goes over it all in a video. I recommend checking it out if your interests lie in the details behind the scenes.

Ametis Tower

I just can’t contain myself!

You have to admit, container homes have been a hot topic as of late and I’ve admittedly watched a few guided tours of them on Youtube. Are they well insulated? Can I still have a vast LEGO room if I lived in one? What about an art room? And a crafts room? These are all questions I don’t yet know the answers to but it doesn’t make me any less intrigued. Tong Xin Jun may be able to answer those questions for me. This little container home looks pretty fabulous. It’s a simple two-story affair with an inviting front porch and a covered stairway chock full of neat build techniques.

Container House II

Around the back, the panels are removed to see how container living might look from the inside. That cozy sofa and TV just might be calling my name.

Container House II (Interior 2)