Tag Archives: Ben Vijle

A mini copy of the giant model of a nano iron crystal

The latest landmark build by Ben Vijle is a peculiar LEGO creation. You see, it’s a 1:600 copy of the world-famous Atomium located in Brussels, Belgium. And while the Atomium itself is an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times, Ben’s model is roughly 275 million times larger than an actual crystal. I bet this is the biggest LEGO iron molecule you’ve ever seen!

Atomium, Brussels

And it’s not just remarkable for its scale; it is also full of brilliant building techniques. The whole venue is an excellent example of how to decorate and present a LEGO architecture creation. Obviously, Ben had tons of fun devising all the various trees along the alley, and I’m applauding the genius use of minifigure hair brushed in green. It’s such a neat build, and I wish we got something similar one day as an official LEGO set.

A place of inspiration for knowledge, culture, and innovation

Beyond the books, libraries provide a place for community building and collaboration. Builder Ben Vijle saught to commemorate ‘De Krook‘ city library in Ghent, Belgium with this 1:500 scale model. This architectural beauty uses brown grille plates to mimic the steel beam facade that stands out on the river bend. The stacked levels provide a home for the businesses and organizations which collaborated for the library initiative. Ben uses sideways building techniques to achieve the thin profile of each level without any unnecessary gaps. The builder certainly had an eye for detail when modeling this relatively recent addition to the city.

De Krook, Gent

As you can see, this microscale build features the river, nearby roadway, and the various levels of greenspace integrated into the riverbanks by the library. The brown grilles continue beyond the building structure to the bike path and footbridge. A red blade, bone, and needle hidden in the walkway peak out as Ben’s version of the sculpture of a man and woman by De Krook’s entrance. The printed 1×1 crosswalk tiles from the LEGO Architecture Tokyo set and the clips as bike racks by the road are also simple but awesome little details.

De Krook, Gent

Don’t miss Ben’s lovely microscale renditions of other Belgian landmarks: Ben Vilje LEGO on TBB

This glorious microscale build portrays some famous Belgian landmarks

LEGO builder Ben Vijle has designed this incredible microscale cross-section of an area in the city of Ghent, Belgium. The model features the Belfort tower, the Stadshal canopy building and an assortment of shops. The structures are placed on a square stand with textured brick pieces representing roads and pavements while providing the implication of cobbled streets. The most prominent section of the diorama has to be the Belfort tower. The tower has an intricate appearance, thanks to the variety of tile pieces featured in the structure and printed round tiles from the Ninjago sets that serve as clock faces.

Belfort & Stadshal, Gent

The adjoining structure to the tower was originally used as a hall to sell cloth. Claw pieces represent arched windows and adds to the building’s grandeur. Next to the cloth hall there are a variety of unique looking shops. An interesting selection of pieces are used along the street; one of the shops has an ice cream cone piece as its roof while another uses hockey sticks to create columns. Looks like there is even a sushi restaurant along the way if you get hungry.

Belfort & Stadshal, Gent

The other landmark of this build is the Stadshal, which has a triangular design and is presented in brown. The building is used to host markets and concerts and overlooks a small park which has some nice details such as the angled grill pieces used as steps. Across from the Stadshal, there are a few more buildings; one of structures even uses handcuffs to create some of the upper details of its roof.

Belfort & Stadshal, Gent

This is a professional-looking build and would make for a fantastic microscale set. The attention to detail and the interesting variation between the buildings make this an outstanding city scene.

Check out more of our articles on microscale LEGO builds.