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.

Perfect home for a melancholy samurai

Some beautifully sinister and gloomy Japanese-style micro architecture on display from Tim Schwalfenberg. With it’s moody black and silver color scheme and wonderful levels of detail, this fortress could be a piece of concept art from 47 Ronin. (And that’s intended as a compliment – although the film as a whole might not have lived up to expectation, it looked very pretty indeed).

The fortress walls are impressively detailed and the curved roof is an obvious highlight, but it’s the neat little bridge and the base which add the finishing touches of brilliance. This could be the first set in a new LEGO theme of Fantasy Architecture. (If LEGO were to launch such a line they could literally take all my money. All of it.)

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A wonder of the ancient world

Sometimes a unique color palette really makes a LEGO creation stand out. That is exactly what’s happened with jaapxaap‘s most recent build. And considering that scholars disagree on where and when the Hanging Gardens were built (and if they ever actually existed in the first place), no one can argue that the famous gardens weren’t surrounded by beautiful tile work in blues, white, and gold. My favorite details in this stunning build are the bas-relief animals sculpted into the walls and the SNOT (studs not on top) lintels.

Going Dutch

Some great Dutch architecture modelling here from Brickbink. This scene is a near-perfect recreation of an Amsterdam street; all it needs is a canal and it would be spot-on.

The color blocking of the buildings and the windows are excellent, and the brickwork around the gable-end roofs really catches the eye. As ever though, it’s the details which make a model pop, and there’s a feast of them on display here. The piano lifters are the obvious stars of the show, but I love the little basement windows at street level, and the crate of bric-a-brac is a nice touch. I’m assuming the build is set around Konigsdag – “King’s Day” – when the Dutch sell their second-hand goods out in the street in front of their homes.

40 Wall St built with LEGO trumps the real thing

Following on from his recent adventures in London at the Houses of Parliament, Rocco Buttliere is back on the other side of the ‘pond’. Rocco’s latest build in his 1:650 Architecture series is 40 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan.

Rocco tells us that 40 Wall St is a 927ft, 70 storey skyscraper, completed in 1930. It held the title of World’s Tallest building for less than a month before the Chrysler Building took the title (albeit after a bit of arguing). The building was designed by lead architect H. Craig Severance in collaboration with associate architect, Yasuo Matsui.

The view of the other side of 40 Wall Street shows the number of setbacks required to form the building. Rocco tells us, “The dramatic massing due to the density of setbacks on the major block of 40 Wall St, is a result of the 1916 Zoning Resolution. This ordinance required the footprint mass of the building to diminish accordingly as the height of the building increased.” In other words, as the skyscraper goes up, it needs to get smaller – seems like a good idea to me too…

Apparently this creation had been on hold until LEGO Architecture Venice 21026 was released as it provided the sand green quadruple convex slope which tops the gabled roof. Did you spot the screwdriver at the top?

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it

Not all LEGO creations are built with the goal of becoming world-famous masterpieces. Some models are created simply to share a couple of neat building techniques. This is one special category where you can come across some particularly brilliant exhibits, which have nothing to do with huge dioramas or horribly complicated mechanisms, but which still demand your attention. And Jonas Wide‘s Oleander house is exactly that kind of build.

I imagine most of us have tried building a shabby brick wall at least once. About 10 years ago it was a fairly difficult task. But with the arrival of dark red plates and bricks with masonry patterns, even a beginner can now manage some authentic-looking walls for their town or fortress. But Jonas throws some multi-layered techniques into the mix, to make it look as if the wall gradually deteriorated over the years. Simply beautiful, isn’t it?

A brick-built home: incredible LEGO modern kitchen

Tim Schwalfenberg is trying to fool us with this kitchen photograph, which appears to be a gorgeous modern kitchen in an upscale home decor magazine. Look closely, though, and you’ll notice that it is completely LEGO. There are lots of great details here, but I like the train wheels for barstool cushions, and the tiled backsplash, which just looks perfectly realistic.

And if you enjoy large-scale modern home interiors made of LEGO, then you’ll definitely want to check out Littlehaulic’s builds:

Modern kitchen and dining room
Modern bedroom and den
Full beach house interior

First look at summer 2016 LEGO sets from London & Nuremburg [News]

Toy Fair in New York City in mid-February is usually the first time each year when LEGO unveils its planned sets for the summer and fall. However, Toy Fair NYC is preceded by industry events in London and Nuremburg, where often LEGO puts small signs banning photography next to some of its new sets while showcasing them at a public event. This tactic is apparently proving particularly ineffective this year, as numerous photographs continue to emerge from both shows, such as the LEGO Technic 42056 Porsche test car set revealed earlier this week (in that video, the LEGO rep is clearly pointing things out to the camera, so they’re obviously ok with some photography).

TBB and other LEGO news sites like FBTB will have full, professional coverage of New York Toy Fair in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, here are a few highlights from London and Nuremburg, given LEGO’s apparent change in policy and public unveiling schedule.

Brickset has just posted box photos (photos of boxes, not the official high-res box art) for a number of summer 2016 LEGO sets. Making the rounds of news outlets this week is 60134 Fun at the Park, a LEGO City minifig-oriented set that features a minifig in a brand new LEGO wheelchair, a new LEGO baby, and the hotdog bun first noticed in the forthcoming LEGO Angry Birds sets — plus a whole bunch of useful new minifigs.

Click through to see more summer 2016 LEGO sets

The Temple of Heaven, resplendent in perfection

Alex Hui brings us this gorgeous replica of the Temple of Heaven, a 15th-century structure in Beijing which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Alex has masterfully recreated the intricate ornamentation on the Daoist temple’s walls, helped by the massive scale he employs. Although it doesn’t look it, the base of this model is around four feet in diameter, and the temple is almost as tall. Below is a picture of Alex posing with his creation.

A warm day in a villa on the Spanish Riviera

Really, I’ll take anywhere that looks like it has temperatures above zero degrees. No complaints from me if it’s a place as lovely as Gabe Umland‘s Spanish villa. His architecture and location is complemented by several small details, like the vines, hanging planters, and telescope on the balcony, to give the scene a lived-in feel.

Where water and earth meet

Water is quite fascinating, really. It has the power to create and destroy. It has carved the earth over the centuries to create the world we see today. It continues its slow work each and every day.

A bit philosophical for a Saturday morning, but for that, I look to Anu Pehrson who posted this absolutely lovely seaside village. With her build, she focused on how water interacts with stone to create arches and the curves of the coast, which she’s accomplished beautifully.

The University of Chicago Lab Schools’ Gordon Parks Arts Hall in LEGO

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools is a private school affiliated with its namesake. Donors recently provided funding for a new arts wing designed by architects FGM and Valerio Dewalt Train. As a thank you gift to the donors (Mellody Hobson and her husband George Lucas), the school commissioned alumnus and faculty member Dave Kaleta to build a LEGO replica of the new facility.

Since the gift was planned to coincide with completion of the building, Dave was given access to blueprints and even the building site itself. Even though the gift was intended for the Lucas household, Dave tells me that he resisted requests to include a minifig Yoda somewhere in the display, since the donors themselves had insisted that the new building be named in honor of American photographer Gordon Parks (1912-2006).

See more photos in Dave’s album on Flickr, along with his build notes and description of key architectural details.

LEGO Architecture 21027 Berlin & 21026 Venice [Review]

In addition to 21028 New York City (which I reviewed here a couple of weeks ago), LEGO has also just released 21027 Berlin and 21026 Venice as part of a trio of new city skyline sets.

In contrast to the $60 price tag for NYC, both Berlin and Venice retail for $29.99, and I’ll be reviewing these two smaller sets together today.

Read the full review after the jump!