3d sketch

MOC: The Rotunda Concert Hall

Saturday, 23rd December 2017 By Caz

I’ve been wanting to build a round structure for a while and looked around online for various tutorials on how best to do so. One method involves stacking 1×2 bricks and 1×1 cylinders alternately, with a little twist at each placement. I made this rough 3D sketch a few weeks ago, from random bricks in my collection, just to prove the concept.

I was really wondering how best to put a roof on, and this was an early attempt to cover the top, but I was far from happy with it. Then I broke it all up and put the bits back into my parts bins.

However, today I was noodling around with the bits I got from the PAB wall at Leicester Square the other day. I remembered my sketch and thought I could use all those 1×1 trans red round plates and pink 1×2 plates to make something for my Micropolis city. Sure enough, it works just as well with plates as bricks – and by having a double stack of 1×2 bricks and 1×1 cylinders on the bottom, that gave the structure a nice lobby type area. I imagine the auditorium is in the round with seating raked up the sides of the curved walls.

MOC: Rotunda Concert Hall - Front — MOC: Rotunda Concert Hall – Front

The roof was still an issue until I found the bag of 1×2 curved slopes (11477) which I had picked up in November’s haul. A little bit of fiddling and I had an intricate retractable roof which we have to imagine fully covers the cylinder when closed.

I christened this MOC the Rotunda Concert Hall, and with a little bit of landscaping around the sides, it makes a lovely little 1/4 block module.

3D Sketch: Lever Court

Saturday, 2nd December 2017 By Caz

I had another browse through Tom Alphin’s book, The LEGO Architect again today. This 3D sketch is an expanded version of the model he shows of Lever House in New York City, which was built in the Modernist style.

I like the elevated area above the columns but made the floors above so that they were sitting on the diagonal to give a bit more interest.

I feel there is more mileage in this one, so I might have another go at doing something with it in LDD, where I won’t run out of 1×2 trans clear plates to realise my vision! Watch this space.

3D Sketch: Art Deco Cinema

Wednesday, 22nd November 2017 By Caz

I’ve been reading Tom Alphin’s excellent book The LEGO Architect, and wanted to make one of the models from it with my Architecture Studio bricks. I love the Art Deco period, so this Cinema build inevitably caught my eye:

3D Sketch Art Deco Front — 3D Sketch Art Deco Cinema Front

It was a nice build, which looks really nice from the front, but as is, it’s only really a façade. Looking from the back I think it will need a bit of work!

3D Sketch Art Deco Rear — 3D Sketch Art Deco Cinema Rear

It’s slightly too wide to fit on a single Micropolis quarter-block base, but with a proper deeper rear it will fit nicely on two quarters with room for a parking lot too. I will have to have a play with LDD and see what I can come up with.

3D Sketch: Semi-Detached Houses

Monday, 20th November 2017 By Caz

The design for these houses was taken from an exploded diagram in the glossy book which accompanied the Architecture Studio (21050) set. I build two, mirror images of each other, as a prototype for future houses in my Micropolis layout. I think they worked out quite well.

3D Sketch - Semi-Detatched Houses — 3D Sketch – Semi-Detatched Houses

After a bit of fiddling about, I realised that I could get four of these onto a baseplate, with a little gap around each one. Take a look at the Virtual Micropolis: Four Square module.