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.

New LEGO Architecture Set: 21013 Big Ben [News]

Lego’s Architecture sets seem to be coming in rapid succession lately, with the Sydney Opera House announced just back in February. Now Lego has announced their latest set, 21013 Big Ben, giving some well-deserved microscale attention to a famous landmark previously only seen in the cartoonized world of Cars 2.

Big Ben, one of the UK’s most recognizable buildings and a global symbol of Victorian London and the Gothic Revival style, has been recreated as the latest set in the LEGO® Architecture series.

Big Ben, officially known as the Clock Tower, has stood at the north-eastern corner of the Palace of Westminster in London for more than 150 years. It was designed by the unlikely team of Classical architect Charles Barry and Gothic Revival pioneer Augustus Pugin and completed in 1859.

Big Ben is the fourteenth model in the LEGO Architecture range, which uses the LEGO brick to interpret the designs of iconic architecture around the world. It is the first model to be designed by Rok Zgalin Kobe from Slovenia who joins Adam Reed-Tucker as a LEGO architect.

“The most challenging in creating this model was representing the richness of 19th century Gothic Revival architecture in a scale usually more appropriate for modern or contemporary architecture of smooth surfaces and clean lines,” said Rok Zgalin Kobe.

Charles Barry won the competition to build the new Palace of Westminster in January 1836. His initial designs were without the clock tower that would become known as Big Ben. As his own style was more Classical than the increasingly popular Gothic Revival, Barry asked for assistance from Augustus Pugin, a leading light of the movement that left its indelible mark on the Victorian era around the world. The design of the interior of the palace and the clock tower are thought to be his work.

LEGO Architecture products features well-known buildings, and the work of important architects Aimed at inspiring future architects, engineers and designers as well as architecture fans around the world, the range contains a booklet featuring step-by-step building instructions that is prefaced by exclusive, archival history, information and photographs of each iconic building, its design origin, its architect and its architectural features.

The LEGO 21013 Big Ben is 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 Big Ben. Recommended retail price is $29.99 or €29.99.

For more information about LEGO Architecture visit http://architecture.lego.com/

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Microscale World Trade Center Memorial

Spencer R. is known for his beautiful and accurate microscale architectural landmarks. His latest microscale World Trade Center Memorial makes an impression with the blue-tinted glass buildings that seem to reflect the sky.

Captain Smog’s Bank Gets Robbed

Captain Smog, purveyor of much Steampunkery, is back with another delightful model. This time the Imperial Bank is being purloined by surly burglars driving a crazy mono-wheeled mechano-drill. They’d best keep their begoggled eyes peeled for the gilded-age Batman, though!

Green Goblin’s explosive rampage

Thorsten (Xenomurphy) captures the action from an explosive battle between Spider Man and the Green Goblin. What may be more impressive is the construction of the building, which in addition to the graffiti on both sides, also features tiles used in place of plates to create the texture of a real brick wall. Visit MOCpages for close up views and the technique for the brick wall.

Microscale Burj Al Arab

The Eurobricks Architecture contest seems to be drawing out quite a few fantastic entries, including this notable depiction by Spencer R of one of the world’s most high-class hotels, the Burj Al Arab. With a design inspired by a ship’s billowing sails, the seventy floor Burj Al Arab is located in Dubai, which is also home to the real-life counterpart of an official LEGO Architecture set, the Burj Khalifa.

Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahari

When I visited Deir el-Bahari, our Egyptian guide told us an easy way to remember the name of the pharaoh who had the colonnaded temple built for herself near the Valley of the Kings and Luxor. “Hot sheep suit,” he said. “You know, hot, like the sun, with a suit made from sheep.” The weather forecast placard in the hotel lobby had informed us it was going to be 45° C (113° F) that day. Standing there in the blazing desert sun, it was hard to imagine wearing a wool suit. And today, it’s hard to forget how to pronounce Queen Hatshepsut’s name.

Similarly unforgettable was her mortuary temple, here recreated wonderfully in LEGO by Harald P. (HP Mohnroth).

See many other wonderful LEGO models of historical structures in Harald’s LEGO Architecture set on Flickr.

Via GodBricks, so you can’t blame me for necro-posting — which is sorta appropriate for an Egyptian model, I guess.

The Great Wall Made Small

Flickr user lisqr has built this wonderful microscale model of one of the most impressive architectural feats in mankind’s history, the Great Wall of China. While the real Great Wall was several thousand miles long, lisqr employs a nifty series of connected vignettes to capture the wall’s serpentine path.

801 Grand Ave. towers over Micropolis

Chris Hettinger (iNeedMoreBricks) has reproduced Iowa’s tallest building in LEGO. Chris’s model spans all 45 floors of the original, and is built from 2,774 LEGO elements.

Mont Saint-Michel in micro

We’re having a fairly architectural day here on The Brothers Brick, so I thought I’d join in with this wonderful LEGO rendition of Mont Saint-Michel in France, by Spanish builder nxtorm. His microscale version is complete with walls, homes, the abbey, and lots of greenery.

Check out all of nxtorm’s photos on Flickr.

Thanks for the tip, Henrik!

We study mathematics here

Jason Allemann (True Dimensions) is an alumni of the University of Waterloo. And apparently his time there was spent peering at the Mathematics and Computer Science building (in which he had only one class) as he has recreated it beautifully in LEGO. It’s microscale, but it’s a very big building.

Check out the trees.

Stunning Modern Architecture

I’m not generally a big fan of minimalist architecture, but occasionally I find myself surprised when viewing a particularly elegant example, such as this minimalist home by flickr user LegoManiac/oLaf. The colors complement each other remarkably well, and the shape of the Lego brick lends itself so well to this aesthetic. The design of the wood deck, with vertically oriented brown tiles, is genius, and take careful note of the pool, which is really filled with water.

New Architecture Set: 21012 Sydney Opera House [News]

LEGO has unveiled their latest addition to the Architecture line, the instantly recognizable Sydney Opera House. Probably the most recognizable building south of the equator, and now something of a national icon for Australia, the opera house was designed in 1957 by then-unknown architect Jørn Utzon, who hails from Denmark, much like our favorite toy company.
The new set looks fantastic, capturing the aura of the structure, if not precisely the detailed curves of the shells. The set will have 270 pieces, and will be available March 1st for $39.99 or €39.99.