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.

Weather forecast for tonight: dark

A snow-white plain background is taken by many builders as an essential part of presentation. However, Ryan McBryde uses artistic light to create the dismal mood of a dark night hour for his weather station tower.

Coupled with a good perspective, such a lightning scheme makes this fairly straightforward model look especially impressive. Of course, the sand green bricks and rocky tower base have no small share in creating the menacing atmosphere in this picture. Moreover, we have no idea what is inside the tower, so perhaps we’ll wait until dawn before revealing all the secrets of this creepy place…

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The procession: an elegant church edifice

We recently featured a wonderful mosque from brickbink, and now he has come up with an amazing church! Although the diorama only presents the façade of the structure, it is so full of simple details that you don’t even notice the overall smaller footprint. The grand clock, stained glass, worn-out stucco, and pilasters all add up to an impressive build. The roof work, stairs, and floor tiles are simple yet effective additions to the scene and the result is made very charming with carefully selected minifigures.

There’s no arch in architecture

Air, light, work, sports, hygiene, comfort and efficiency: these are the guidelines that governed the design of Villa Cavrois. This massive home in France was built by Robert Mallet-Stevens between 1929 and 1932, and is considered part of the International Style of architecture. The mansion has a storied past: it was occupied by the German Army during World War II, and most of the custom-built furniture was sold off in the 1980s. But now it’s a historical monument, open to the public for viewing. If you can’t make it all the way to northern France, at least you can ogle this model from Swedish builder o0ger, whose rendition is reminiscent of the LEGO Architecture theme.

Cleveland’s Harkness Chapel recreated in LEGO

Ohio builder Zachary Lewis is known for creating incredibly detailed and accurate LEGO models of real-life buildings, such as the suburban house we highlighted last fall. His most recent build, the interior of Cleveland’s Florence Harkness Memorial Chapel, is a prime example. Zachary has perfectly captured this historic landmark’s neo-Gothic interior. I can’t get over the beautiful wood paneling surrounding the stage. And of course, everything from the wooden rafters down to the carpet on the floor is spot on. Don’t believe me? Check out photos of the actual building on Flickr and see for yourself.

I love livin’ in the city

I’ve got nothing against the classic brick and brownstone facades of yesteryear. But I am a sucker for the hyper-modern apartment buildings that are springing up in urban areas all across America. This model by lisqr hits all the right notes: assymetrical design, complex vertical plane, and surprising color choices. Each minifig-scale balcony is individually detailed, firmly linking the form to a human cityscape. Plus, cats. Just one question: how much is the rent?

Rooftop chase across an Eastern marketplace

Maarten W‘s diorama brings us a fabulous slice of Middle Eastern market life, with an added dash of adventure. There’s a great sense of activity and the hustle and bustle of commerce at the base, and then an exciting rooftop chase going on above. I wonder what treasure the stolen map will lead our intrepid thief to discover?

That wall behind the snake charmer is a lovely detail and there’s just enough texture on the fortifications to avoid “big tan wall” syndrome. This is the latest in the recent spate of Middle Eastern-themed creations we’ve covered, including this beautiful mosque, also built by Maarten. I hope this trend continues.

Amazing LEGO Arc de Triomphe in French tricolor

The famous monument Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile stands in Paris as an iconic memorial to French soldiers, and LEGO builder Brian Yu has recreated it splendidly in brick, awash in the French tricolor. Brian’s model makes great use of greebling and the undersides of basic plates to mimic the relief sculpting on the arch, and the result beautifully tricks the eye into seeing finely sculpted details.

Still planning your vacation? Go visit the Riviera!

Inspired by the cover of a book about a South European town, Andrew Tate created this very pearl of Mediterranean architecture. A mixture of European and Oriental elements and colors, a beautifully designed wedding shop and a careful cast of minifigures deserve the highest mark. With some minor changes one could even imagine this diorama as part of LEGO’s modular building series, providing city center residents with a view of the bay and a small yet neat quay.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian architecture in LEGO: The Dorothy H. Turkel House

We have seen a few Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in microscale among the LEGO Architecture series, but this time we have a minifigure scale representation of a Usonian house. Michele must have worked very hard to create this magnificent diorama. The house itself perfectly matches the original building, and there’s even a party going on! We all love parties here at The Brothers Brick! Make sure you check out close-up photographs as there are endless details. It’s also worth paying attention to the vegetation — each part of the diorama features a different kind of plant.

Her Turkel House album on Flickr gives a good insight on building large models. She has shared the full building process starting from the foundation of the house through final decoration.

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque has been among the most important landmarks in Istanbul ever since it was built in the 17th century. Turkish builder Artizan skillfully captures the details of the mosque in microscale. The mosque’s many domes and semi-domes are smoothly crafted into LEGO form. The balconies and spires on the minarets are also perfectly represented.

Artizan also built the Hagia Sophia and you can see both buildings side by side on his Flickr stream. Also check out his digital rendering of the Ortaköy Mosque!

Fortress city is a desert jewel

Greg Dlx brings us a fabulous desert city, with a beautiful set of gates in an impressive wall. The color scheme catches the eye, but it’s the details evoking the architecture of the Middle East which encourage you to look closer. The sand dunes created with curved tan pieces are also a lovely touch.

When opened, the gates allow access to a nicely-built section of the city itself. I like the way the stables and other buildings follow the curve of the main wall.

After our recent post mentioning a relative lack of Islamic-style architecture in LEGO, this answers the brief. Let’s see even more of this kind of building please.

Old-school classroom is a classy build

Time for a building lesson from LegoJalex. His 80s-era school classroom model is just fantastic. From the blackboard, through the TV on a trolley, to the overhead projector and pull-down screen – the details are immediately recognisable to anyone who went to school before the digital age.

The pictures on the walls, the bags with books, and the caps hanging on chair backs – these all create the impression of a peaceful classroom about to be invaded by noisy kids fresh from the playground break. Check out some of the nice little building touches too – the horns as pieces of chalk, and the grille tiles for bunched up curtains. Beautiful stuff.