I find myself wanting to to grab a café au lait, a good book, and sittng on the patio outside Carson Hart’s French Café. True Carson’s building has no rocket engines, pew-pew lasers or cyborg co-pilots, but the amount of other awesome details more than makes up for it. I have always appreciated the amount of brilliant detail that builders put into such creations, and Carson certainly does have a lot of fantastic finishing touches.
Oh wait, maybe there is a cyborg co-pilot onboard…
Here are two similar creations built by Softa Rae. Original one is a few years old, while IIIB is just completed. It was build as a commission for some very lucky girl – it will be used as her doll house! Doll and the dogs are the only 3 non-LEGO elements in this build – all other 17.000 are pure LEGO. III and IIIB have some differences, the main one being the color – while III uses sand blue, IIIB is medium blue. Here you can see older one next to her other model, Victorian V.
Both models feature a full playable interior – house opens up for you to play. If you still haven’t seen her work, be sure to check out all of her houses, new and old on MOCpages, or her website.
This gorgeous and serene Fish Cannery (those are words not often heard) by Nathan shows off some great techniques and a good sense of artistic style. The color palette Nathan’s used is perfect to create the sense of calm, cold silence in this building based off architecture in the easternmost town in the United States.
The archaeological purist in me had initially passed this up because it’s white (versus the tan-hued limestone and weathered brick of the real thing), but the Internet has convinced me that this LEGO Colosseum by Ryan McNaught — whose equally epic Saturn V rocket we highlighted earlier this year — is too epic to ignore.
Ryan’s Colosseum is split into modern and ancient halves, with a ruined structure on the left and a shiny new amphitheatre populated by entertained Romans on the right.
His scene is completed by a LEGO version of the nearby Arch of Constantine:
Check out lots of photos (many with great little scenes of daily life in modern and ancient Rome) in Ryan’s photoset on Flickr.
Dave Kaleta‘s 1007 Mountain Drive drew a lot of attention at Brickworld 2012. This creation has both an intriguing overall design as well as individual fascinating details such as the swimming pool, porsche and more that you can see on Flickr.
Almost shockingly, I have managed to build something. I’ve been having quite a lot of fun lately playing with Neo-Classical architecture in microscale, and the recent abundance of good microscale pillar pieces, like the telescope piece, are conducive to that. Anyway, here’s the Temple of Ehlonna, goddess of the Forest, who makes her home in a great ancient tree.
Heath Flor builds a replica of Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. It took Heath almost a year to plan and build it, and he used between 20 and 30 thousand bricks to complete it. This is his largest project so far, and I must say it was truly worth the effort! It is simply amazing. With large projects like this, it is not only the beauty of the model we need to admire, but also all the time, effort and patience needed to complete it.
The stonework technique on this Lifeboat Station by Derfel Cadarn is wonderful, especially when combined with the architectural features like the archway and roof design.
My friend Gordan Grguric just finished his long term project – Home Insurance Building in Chicago. Built in 1884, it is considered to be the World’s first skyscraper – you can read more on the topic on Wikipedia. As the building was demolished, Gordan used old photographs and postcards to reproduce it in LEGO bricks.
Model counts more than 80.000 bricks, and is completely modular – separates into 60 segments for easier transportation. It will be displayed on Brickworld in Chicago for the first time, so if you’re near, be sure to visit.
Hatshepsut, a women who held the position of Pharaoh in the 18th Dynasty, built a mortuary temple fit for any king. She took power at the sudden death of her husband, Thutmose II, and stepped into history. She assumed the role of Pharaoh and left her mark, which later was struck from the record like Akhenaten and Nefertiti some 200 years later.
Matija Grguric has brought her temple to life. Deir el-Bahari is in western Thebes, and was inspired by the funerary temple of Mentuhotep II. Hatshepsut herself was buried nearby in the Valley of the Kings, and believed to have been lost to the sands.
Edit: This creation, along with the others in his Civilization series, are now available for your support on CUUSOO!
I had the privilege of visiting Korea three times while growing up in Japan, but unfortunately I was too young to remember much. Which is a shame, because I would love to have seen the Sungnyemun, or “Gate of Exalted Ceremonies,” in Seoul. LEGO recently announced that this gorgeous structure — sadly destroyed by fire in 2008 — will be released on June 1st as part of the LEGO Architecture series.
Here’s the full press release:
Sungnyemun has stood in the heart of South Korean capital since 1398 as one of the most complete examples of Joseon Dynasty architecture. It is listed as the country’s foremost National Treasure.
“Sungnyemun survives as a symbolic marker of a lost place in time,” says the architect and designer of many of the LEGO models Adam Reed Tucker. In capturing the essence of Sungnyemun in LEGO bricks Adam looked at the aesthetics rather than engineering, especially the use of colours, patterns and materials that define the ‘spiritual DNA’ of a culture.
Construction of Sungnyemun started in 1396 and was completed two years later. Further alterations and renovations continued over the next 600 years. In 2008 the wooden structure was completely destroyed by fire and it is expected that the restoration – using traditional hand tools – will be complete at the end of 2012.
LEGO Architecture products feature well-known buildings, and the work of important architects. Aimed at inspiring future architects, engineers , designers and architecture fans around the world, the range contains a booklet featuring step-by-step building instructions prefaced by history, information and photographs of each iconic building, its design origin, its architect and its architectural features.
The LEGO 21016 Sungnyemun will be launched officially at the Danish Pavilion during the EXPO 2012 exhibition held in Yeosu, South Korea. It will be available for purchase from June 1 in LEGO brand retail stores, LEGOLAND Stores and online at http://shop.lego.com/. The product is designed for ages 12+ and includes a booklet with facts and history about Sungnyemun. Recommended retail price is $34.99 in the US and €34.99 in most European countries.
Mihai Mihu completed a series of creations depicting the 9 circles of Hell. While staying true to the theme of poetic justice served to the sinners, Mihai portrays the punishments through his own interpretations. The recurring architectural elements and portrayal of the sinners tie the scenes together in a way that’s easy for the viewer to transition through. In this short interview, the builder talks about his project and the individual circles of Hell.
TBB: Tell us about your 9 circles of Hell project.
Mihai Mihu: It all started last year with a contest on MOCpages (The 2011 MOC Olympics) where I was challenged to build a MOC in just two colors. I decided to approach an architecture theme for the entry as it was in my comfort zone. While building and the things progressed, the lack of colors made the MOC look lifeless. It was then when I had the idea to transform it into an underworld scene and I named it Limbo.
After the many positive comments that I received, I thought and then decided that it would be great to continue this MOC as an artistic series and I saw a great opportunity to display my skills and my love for design and architecture.
The whole project took me 7 months to complete, with about 2 to 3 weeks for the development of the ideas, design and building of each circle.
TBB: What is your approach to depicting each circle?
MM: The concept of the 9 circles is the work of maybe the first true master of fiction Dante Alighieri. It’s such an interesting idea, and I’ve been meaning to make a re-imagining of the hell depicted by him.
I didn’t read the Divine Comedy, only the small descriptions of the circles I found on Wikipedia and on other websites. I didn’t want to be much influenced by the original descriptions because I wanted to give a whole new fresh approach for each circle. I thought more about the significance of titles and from then on it was only my imagination.
TBB: Tell us about each of the creations.
MM: I. LIMBO
A place of monotony, here the souls are punished to wander in restless existence while they moan helplessly in echoes between the ruins of a temple.
II. LUST
Surrounded by erotic representations, those overcome by lust are forced to watch and experience disgusting things, ultimately being condemned to drown in the menstrual river.
III. GLUTTONY
The circle itself is a living abomination, a hellish digestive system revealing horrific faces with mouths ready to devour the gluttons over and over for eternity.
IV. GREED
This pompous place is reserved for the punishment of the greedy ones. The hands of the damned are popping out of the walls and are trying to grab the riches around them or to drag the new arrivals in and feed on their lust for wealth.
V. ANGER
In this depressing place the souls are trapped in the swamp, they can’t move and they cannot manifest their frustration which is making them even more angry. Here I wanted to approach a theme more about feelings and emotions. The weeping statue represents those who turned their sadness into anger.
VI. HERESY
The giant demon watches closely over his fire pit, dwarfing the damned that are dragging the new arrivals in the boiling lava. Those who committed the greatest sins against God are getting a special treatment inside the temple where they are doomed to burn for eternity in the scorching flames.
VII. VIOLENCE
A place of intense torture where the horrific screams of the damned are eternally accompanied by the hellish beats of drums. There are lots of elements here to convey violence like the suicide statues on top of the ruined citadel, the hanged souls or the river of blood.
VIII. FRAUD
In Fraud the Demons enjoy altering the shape of souls, this is how they feed. In this process, the soul manifests its true fraudulent nature and reveals the cheats and tricks that it has committed in life. This is also the place of the cries and lament of a chained Titan who betrayed Zeus.
IX. TREACHERY
Lucifer lies here chained by the Angelic Seal which keeps him captive in the frozen environment. All the souls who are cast in Treachery are first processed by the flying demons at the temple where the Judas coins are.
TBB: Which build is your favorite and which circle would you least want to be in?
MM: My favorite build is Greed, because it has a really special feel to it. I like its majestic look and the powerful emotional contrast it expresses. It’s beautiful but sinister at the same time.
Gluttony is the circle I would least want to be in. It’s always freaked me out, it’s disgusting, chaotic and vital, definitely not a place to get stuck.
