Marion Weintraut flexes some architectural might and probably more than a few LEGO bricks with this stunning Ruyi Bridge. I’m in awe of its intricate waving construct; a feat that doesn’t look easy. It’s a delicate and beautiful structure that would look handsome as a display at any architectural firm. I would probably be too frightened to traverse such a dizzying structure had it have been real. Well, I should hang on tight and have a sick bag at the ready because, as it turns out, it is!
At first glance, this beautiful scene of steel, earth, and water looks like a photograph! It owes this to Lysander Chau‘s keen eye and clever LEGO building techniques. Truly, this bridge and the surrounding scenes are made up of nearly 53,000 LEGO pieces! The scenes come from Lysander’s imaginative mind, but the bridge itself is modeled after the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong. While the build lives in a digital landscape, it still considers the constraints of reality. For example, the weakest part of the bridge, the middle, is supported by the cruise ship’s tallest point. No doubt there’s room inside the cruise ship to add light bricks, or a lighting kit, to make the New Year’s message shine! And that water! It’s rendered with such detail I can almost hear the waves lapping around the boats and land.
What’s that off in the distance? Cecilie Fritzvold has created a beautiful view of a distant bridge, or maybe a nearby view of a model train set. It’s hard to say for sure, but this stellar mix of textures and techniques is certainly satisfying to look at. I love how the fence along the left side of the scene, and that second lamp post, drop down to create the illusion of a hill leading down to the bay. The bridge itself also merits a closer look, being constructed from the rather unusual Large Figure Part Shield Holder with Axle. (That choice of part was no accident, as this is one of Cecile’s entries into the latest Iron Builder contest, which focuses on creative use of that very element.)
Making bridges out LEGO can be a challenging task. Check our our archives to see how other builders solved that problem.
When I think of building with LEGO, the first thing that comes to mind is building with bricks. Jessica Farrell has taken that to the next level, and built a bridge out of bricks, that themselves are built with LEGO bricks.
And these brick-built-bricks ain’t your standard sized bricks either – they’re all kinds of odd shapes, cobbled together to build a bridge with character. Some have moss growing on them, there are even weeds poking out through the cracks. The vast array of different parts used give the bricks and bridge a quite amazing texture. Underneath the bridge you’ll find your standard bridge-hider-under, an ugly troll, ready to eat whatever goats go trip-trapping over his bridge. Luckily both sides of the river are quite lush. I really like the healthy-looking lime and green grass, as well as the custom-cut lengths of flextube for reeds and bulrushes.
What do you get when four of the most talented castle builders out there collaborate on a series of LEGO builds? It’s a bit like alchemy, because the result is solid gold. Well, Grant Davis, Simon Hundsbichler, Marcel V., and Markus Rollbühler teamed up to show the life of a postman, carrying the mail across every bridge in the realm to make sure each and every citizen receives their letters on time. Each build is different in every detail, except the postman himself, but they are all scaled and shot to mimic the others, with the result that the builds complement each other perfectly. I’d love to have these framed on my wall, side by side, because these are not just LEGO builds, but art.
At a time when chaos seems to be the order of the day, builder Jaap Bijl reminds us that we can still find moments of serenity if we only look for them. At first glance I thought this was a real photo but upon closer inspection it proves to be an incredible work of LEGO art. Just looking at it gives me a sense of peace and calm. The first thing I noticed was the lovely sideways built water in sand green and olive green. The lily pads and plants with a few yellow flowers peeking out and an adorable yellow duck are a perfect accent. The surrounding landscaping is a nice mix of textures and colors that bring focus to the central cherry blossom tree. To provide detail on the bridge, the builder has utilized Technic bushings and axle connectors that appear to be strung like beads onto a flexible tube. The small temple is full of detail and has a roof that utilizes a similar construction method to the bridge. I love the cleverly built Buddha statue with his large belly created by a simple 2×2 round tile. Add in a few animals and a solitary minifigure to complete the picture and you have a model that transports you to an entirely different world where quiet contemplation reigns.
We have featured artistic builds by the enigmatic builder why.not? on the Brothers Brick before. Her builds tend to focus on horror and mystery with an emotional sub-theme. The latest one mostly falls into these categories, but… A man has fallen into the river in LEGO City! Now I know it might be a coincidence, but this meme is huge right now. If this is a commentary on how powerless and alone a single person feels in the city, it makes for a great art piece. But if this is a full-effort build dedicated to a LEGO meme, I respect it too. Because memes are the purest form of contemporary art.
The build is presented to be open to interpretation and is in its essence a full LEGO scene of a minifig falling off a bridge. The focus seems to be on the aforementioned bridge, as it is the only element that is not monochromatic. The forced perspective is achieved with different scales of buildings, a small bridge in the background and a tapering curved river bank. I like the cold colours used that evoke a depressing and suffocating city atmosphere, but I wonder if it would not look better with a vivid coloured minifig, directing the attention immediately to itself.
True story; due to an epic storm, nearly 30,000 bath toys were lost at sea, many of them “rubber duckies” (they’re not really made of rubber). While unfortunate, this event lead oceanographers and beachcombers on an odyssey to discover these wayward bath toys around the globe, thus proving that the oceans and currents are truly connected. You may read about it yourself in this book. I wonder if one of these yellow duckies has washed up on Anthony Séjourné’s otherwise serene bridge diorama. The ducky is comically outsized leading me to believe it’ll either destroy that bridge kaiju-style or at the very least cause a massive clog. Either way, it has made my day.
With Avengers Endgame recently hitting theatres and climbing its way to being the highest grossing movie of all time, many fans have taken time to look back and appreciate the earlier films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For some, this comes in the form of re-watching the movies in order, but hachiroku24 was inspired to build the scene from the first Avengers movie where they all assembled for the first time.
I’m a big fan of displaying minifigures grouped together how they appear in film. I’m always more impressed when they’re posed as they are on screen, and their environment is well-built. While this little vignette is beautiful just the way it is, the bridge is so well done I would like to see more of it. The structure looks quite sturdy, so I imagine it could be repeated as a full bridge, and I’m loving the simple-yet-elegant use of headlight bricks as the railing.
Taking us back to Qing Dynasty China, ElviN has built a historically accurate version of the iconic Double Dragon Bridge. The diorama is packed with the comings and goings of day-to-day life: there’s a peasant fishing in the Nanpan River; a platoon of soldiers marshals a criminal across the bridge; whilst at the other end a farmer waits to herd his cattle over to the other side.
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There is so much about this little scene that stands out as awesome. Regularly featured here on TBB, excellent master builder Tim Schwalfenberg does it again with his River Crossing. He says, “You can’t really have a train without some sort of track to display it on,” so he built one. The textures and colours of the rocks and foliage are impeccable. The intricate detail that has gone into the iron framework of the span across the turbulent rapids is amazing, and the brilliant red engine leaps out from the subtle textures of the natural colours and contours on the cliff face.
Remember that giant record-breaking ferry built in Copenhagen, Denmark not so long ago? Now we finally got just the right bridge for that ferry to pass under! LEGO Certified Professional Duncan Titmarsh and the rest of his team at Bright Bricks have brought to life one of the most ambitious LEGO projects we have ever seen.
With almost 6 million bricks (5,805,846 pieces, to be precise) this bridge became the biggest LEGO sculpture ever built — 500,000 bricks bigger than the previous record, the life-sized LEGO X-wing revealed in New York’s Times Square as part of the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon promotion. This bridge is about 13 meters (more than 40 feet) high, and can easily fit two heavy Land Rovers on its deck.
The culmination of the building process, which took 5 months, was a spectacular opening show. It featured some of the most prominent British celebrities, including Bear Grylls (in the picture above), sailing Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie driving the new SUV under the bridge, and the British equestrian star Zara Phillips. Some of the most impressive shots are in the video below.
The Bright Bricks team has also posted a great little animated “making of” video to their YouTube channel.