I was pleased to notice that Pierre Fieschi has given us all an insight into the design of his GAHNN Sniping Dreadnought. It’s great to see how he’s evolved the shape and colours using what looks like a mix of computer aided sketching and LEGO bricks.
When I first saw this bookend by Deborah Higdon I was suitably delighted by the cute design and well-crafted microscale train. And then I noticed the book.
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/
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.
It would appear that Mobile Frame Zero has been inspiring LEGO mecha models published outside the usual channels. Heliodelic pointed me to MittenNinja’s gallery and his excellent micro mecha designed for the game. There’s some great designs there.
Matsumoto Castle is an unusual castle in Japan that has striking black walls instead of the more familiar white walls of Himeji or Osaka castles. Blake Baer captures many wonderful details, from the red balcony to the slats on the black walls.
Thanks to reader Jake for making sure I saw this.
Rob (dasnewten) solidifies his place among LEGO builders as the “master of angles” with this excellent microscale frigate inspired Studio Nue and Kazutaka Miyatake.
This microscale combat cruiser by Jon B. (Heiwa71) has a solid balance of colors and details to satisfy a spacer’s cravings for a SHIP (which I have not seen many original concepts as of late). The hangar bays are my favorite spots on this creation. The full gallery can be found on MOCpages.
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.
Mike Yoder has his own corporate entity reminiscent of Black Mesa from the Half-Life universe and Weyland-Yutani from the Alien franchise. North Central Positronics is a shadowy, semi-military organization with heavily defended bases on earth and a full-fledged fleet in space. Mike’s latest addition includes a pair of cargo barges, a pilot ship, and several heavy fighters.
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.
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.
