Posted by
Dan
at
10:48 PM
| Name of Model: St. Basil's Cathedral |
| Created by: Arthur Gugick |
| Found at: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/228643 |
Details:  20 inches by 20 inches (64 studs square) is a pretty small space, particularly if you're trying to build sprawling landmarks. It is, however, apparently enough space to capture the grandeur and distinctive architecture of St. Basil's Cathedral. Part of Moscow, Russia's Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, the cathedral was built in the 1500's and was secularized in the 1920's. The unusual domes - bulb-like shapes that look more like onions than anything you'd normally see on a building - are naturally difficult to capture in LEGO form (and their colors only add to the challenge). I have a feeling that the Dome Creator software wasn't able to handle this one.
Beyond the domes, there are also some great techniques used to create details on the sides of the building. The bottoms of plates show outwards so that their undersides can form the texture of the walls. Wheel wells do a surprisingly good job of providing the arch shape found on the smaller spires. Hinge plates give several places angles to create octagonal and round-looking spires. A row of plates with clips allows for fence elements to face two different directions and still be connected firmly to the structure. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: Mont St. Michel |
| Created by: Arthur Gugick "torgugick" |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10321180@N08/tags/france/ |
Details:
 The Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France is one of seven landmarks that Arthur Gugick deemed unbuildable. In spite of that, though, he has built it and it came out well (and quite small). The technique for the water is closer to what he's done for mosaics before - round pieces on a solid background to allow for more color. The village in the front features a surprising amount of variety at this scale - lots of little roof pieces make the distinctive roof lines. On the cathedral itself, we see large amounts of hinge pieces used for the architectural details. There are only 4 photos of this model (which comes in at a mere 64-studs square at the base, and is only 20 bricks tall), but they're all worth a look - even with little space and relatively simple techniques, there's a surprising amount of detail snuck into this model. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
11:26 PM
| Name of Model: Cathedral St Macario |
| Created by: Romas |
| Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=344924 |
Details:
 This large gothic cathedral - built entirely in the rare shade of light grey discontinued in 2003 - is simply stunning. The imposing size of the whole thing (it's quite large even though it's built to roughly "minifig scale") is impressive, but the architectural details are just as spectacular. The techniques here aren't generally too difficult to grasp, but if you're interested in a good look at how this was done, you can look at some of the other folders Romas has uploaded to Brickshelf - he uploaded many work-in-progress photos during the 3 years it took to build this. A brief interview (in Portuguese) with the builder recently found its way online - here is an English translation (courtesy of Google). |
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20 inches by 20 inches (64 studs square) is a pretty small space, particularly if you're trying to build sprawling landmarks. It is, however, apparently enough space to capture the grandeur and distinctive architecture of St. Basil's Cathedral. Part of Moscow, Russia's Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, the cathedral was built in the 1500's and was secularized in the 1920's. The unusual domes - bulb-like shapes that look more like onions than anything you'd normally see on a building - are naturally difficult to capture in LEGO form (and their colors only add to the challenge). I have a feeling that the Dome Creator software wasn't able to handle this one. 
