Tag Archives: Modular

LEGO released 10182 Cafe Corner in 2007, setting a new standard for large-scale modular buildings. Since then, LEGO has continued to release new structures in the modular building series — 10190 Market Street, 10185 Green Grocer, 10197 Fire Brigade, 10211 Grand Emporium, 10218 Pet Shop, and 10224 Town Hall as of 2012. Meanwhile, LEGO fans have adopted the “Cafe Corner standard” and built hundreds and hundreds of beautiful buildings that fit with the official sets. See some of the best here on The Brothers Brick.

Holey moly this is one cool sports shop!

Welcome to a sporting goods store that sells itself before you even walk in! The look is inspired by a real store in Japan, but in LEGO it can’t be more gorgeous. What’s even better is that this render, created by Aukbricks, is actually completely buildable, with all the parts existing in their appropriate colors.

Sporting Goods Store

But if the outside isn’t beautiful enough, the inside is incredible. The zoom-worthy photos will make you fall in love even more. Every detail is perfectly placed, and essentially covers every bit of minifigure sports equipment LEGO has ever made. Even the brick-built equipment is perfect, from the treadmill to the ping-pong table. And I’m a big fan of the frogs used to create a rock wall on the third floor.

Sporting Goods Store

If you love this you should also check out Aukbricks’ Friends kitchen and family house. And for something totally different, she even made a giant minifigure!

10264 Corner Garage revealed as 2019 LEGO Creator Expert Modular Building [News]

LEGO has revealed the latest entry in their popular Creator Expert Modular Building series, the 10264 Corner Garage. The three-story building is a 1950s-style car workshop and gas station along with an animal clinic and top-floor apartment.

The set comes with 2,569 pieces including six minifigures, five animals, a tow-truck and a scooter.  The Corner Garage will retail for $199.99 USD from LEGO when it goes on sale January 1, 2019.

UPDATE: Read our hands-on review of 10264 Corner Garage.

Click to get a closer look at the Corner Garage.

Come see this Victorian city block, love

Welcome back to The Brothers Brick, Łukasz Libuszewski, and thank YOU for welcoming us back into your magical miniature world. This time Łukasz has plunged us straight back into the Victorian era with a modular-style street mashup that would fit right at home with LEGO’s own Creator Expert series…if it time traveled about 150 years.

Victorian Street

There are details here for even expert-level builders to appreciate. Look at how the repetitive use of common clips, rails, and minifig utensils add dimension around window and door frames; there are very few flat surfaces to be found. The most mind-blowing parts usage for me was the side by side white modified 1×2 tile w/ handles used in the middle building’s windows.

What also really impressed me when checking out this model is that Łukasz drew his envisioned city block back in May before bringing the model to the real world for us to enjoy.

corner building

Łukasz has been featured on TBB a handful of times, notably for his gorgeous cars and modular-style work. A particular favorite of mine was his city Bike Shop.

LEGO’s Ninjago City is expanding with 70657 Ninjago City Docks [Review]

If you’re like me, you didn’t give The LEGO Ninjago Movie a lot of thought. Sure, The LEGO Movie was great, and The LEGO Batman Movie was surprisingly ok, but a movie based on LEGO’s 7-year-old homegrown Ninjago theme? Our own Dave Schefcik gave it a warm — if not exactly glowing — review, though it wasn’t the box office success that LEGO and Warner Bros hoped for. But unquestionably the film’s highpoint for fans like me — that is to say, adult builders —  is that it brought us the absolutely stunning Ninjago City. As I reviewed that set last year, I was struck by the cyberpunk city’s incredible detail and gorgeous techniques. And now, although at first glance it seems an odd choice given that The LEGO Ninjago Movie’s short-lived hype has all but disappeared, LEGO is adding to Ninjago City. 70657 Ninjago City Docks will be available August 1 for $229.99 USD, and features 3,553 pieces and 13 minifigures.

Click to read the full review

It’s not the beauty of a building you should look at, it’s the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time

Taking a break from creating stunning LEGO characters, Finnish builder Eero Okkonen has assembled an equally-stunning, 360-degree city block filled with gorgeous early-1900s modular buildings. Each of the four buildings (“Grand Hotel Masaryk”, “Olofslott”, “Louhi” and “House of the Brick Wall”) has its own unique style and charm. But the block as a whole still feels very cohesive.

New Century City Block II

Eero says he began sketching the design for his creation after a train ride from Helsinki to Tampere. His design incorporates Finnish Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) elements and tries to avoid 90-degree angles wherever possible.

Click here for more photos of Eero’s LEGO city block

Mad Scientist modular laboratory complete with mad interiors!

There has been a wave of custom modular LEGO buildings featured here on The Brothers Brick recently, such as the excellent Guild Hall by O Wingård. But to find a modular building with so much character, and full interior details as well was just too much to pass up. This inventor/mad scientist lab by Filip Olin has a ton of great details, so let’s jump in!

House of the Inventor Exterior 1

One of my favorite exterior details is the use of skeleton legs — in both black, for the railing, and tan for architectural accents on the wall. No workshop would be complete without pipes, and this model features a number of black and grey pipeworks, including one with sludge pouring on the landscaped ground level.

See more detailed pics after the jump

A somber Guild Hall for somber Victorian gentlemen

This amazing modular building by O Wingård strikes a unique mood. The builder’s minimal use of color, those imposing pillars, and tall windows give this model a distinctive Victorian feel. Not to mention the double chimneys. The real hero of this model is the elaborate statue over the door, and the distinguished gentleman keeping watch on the porch. You can almost hear the gaslights sputtering and flickering. The only thing this building needs is some London fog to really set the stage.

While the building and the lone minifigure strike a somber mood, a LEGO French bulldog lends a touch of whimsy to the scene.

Sweet modular Dentist office

This wonderfully detailed corner modular by o0ger features a dentist’s office as well as a sweet shop, so you can get your ice cream and get your teeth cleaned all in one stop. There are so many great design choices to call out here. Each building has a well-integrated color scheme, from the lime green plus yellow-green stripes on the sweet shop to the brown and rust-red of the dentist’s office.

Cavity Corner - Front

Both buildings also feature some excellent architectural details, especially around the windows and doors. The details of the dentist office roof window are particularly interesting.

Continue reading →

Paris cafe makes a stunning microscale debut

Rebuilding Creator modular buildings in microscale presents LEGO builders with many challenges, from recreating key architectural details using completely different parts to matching colors that may not exist for the needed elements. Simon NH has created a stunning replica of one of my personal favorite modular building sets, 10243 Parisian Restaurant making good use of some new parts, including the 4×4 quarter circle tiles.

Micro Parisian Restaurant

A palace fit for a minifigure queen

Royal palaces are normally buildings with amazing architecture, plush interiors and rich decoration, and this LEGO palace is no different. Built by Johan Keuterink, this huge modular palace has a few similarities to Buckingham Palace, not just in its Neoclassical architecture style, but also the two Royal Guards that the Queen has lent to protect the entrance! Although the Baroque details will not be to everyone’s taste, the aim is to impress visiting heads of state, and Johan’s palace should certainly achieve such an aim. I love intricate exterior street lights and the front door with some suitably impressive gold handles.

Modular Palace

Johan has taken the time to ensure that his palace has a lavishly decorated interior — Donatella Versace would feel at home in this house! The throne room is an example of the extensive details inside the palace with vast chandelier, patterned floor, and more gold than Fort Knox.

IMG_2562

Buying a round may render you penniless

When creating this digital LEGO model of three different buildings, Łukasz Libuszewski was inspired by the beautiful architecture of Prague. On the right, we have the pub on the ground floor and a museum showing the old town on the first floor. There is a handy cashpoint just outside the pub, so no excuses about running out of cash when it’s time to buy drinks. There is also a slightly abandoned looking tenement building on the left — it’s definitely in need of repair. Access to the lookout tower is via the central steps, but take care as those shadowy stairs look a little eerie to me.

OTP

A view from the rear shows some of the interior design with the old town layout in the museum and some cosy looking tables and chairs all set up in the pub below. I particularly like some of the architectural details such as the tan stonework around the window at the back of the pub and the use of the Elves keys in light blue grey within the look-out tower.

OTP

While this build is a digital build, it has been beautifully crafted and, although there a few elements that do not exist in LEGO’s official collection, it looks build-able ‘in the brick’

Love is what makes a house a home ...but a fully furnished one helps too!

If this is home, I’m sure it’s always going to be where I’m going to spend most of my time. A three-storey modular with a single color tone of tan bricks, but with excellent build features bring out the best in this grand looking architectural build. The beauty of this home does not end there, as builder Vincent Kiew invites you to explore the heart of what makes a building a home. While most modular builds may feature the external facade, I have a soft spot for builds that take the extra effort to imagine what life would have been like for a minifigure family.

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Click to see more of the inside of the home