Ye Olde Falling-Water

After a long, long bout of the Lego equivalent of “writer’s block”, I came up with this: My answer to Phillip’s request that I build something “in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright”. Even after I started building it, there were long periods of time when I’d set it aside. I just wasn’t inspired to build. Then, I had a burst of energy and finally finished it. It isn’t exactly in the style of Wright, and it predates him by several generations, but I like how it turned out – very much.

The nagging question is: How does that cow get in and out of there? This house makes clever use of its limited space and free-flowing layout through the use of sliding panels, hidden doorways, and recessed stairs. After a string of cow thefts in the area, one such hidden doorway was incorporated into the barn. Where that doorway is located is, of course, a secret.

Space-saving Condos

My urge to build virtual apartment buildings in Lego Digital Designer continues. Here, I went for high-tech condos in a crowded urban environment. I like this building a lot. Sure, a minifig wouldn’t have much room for more than a futon, toilet, chair, and a flat-screen TV, (dinner out every night!) but that is what I was going for.

I’m not so sure this is recognizable as a condominium building – at least, by itself. If I had actually put a chair and futon inside, maybe it would be more apparent. Or, if it were surrounded by other buildings, perhaps. Still, I am very satisfied with this.

Neighborhood Church

Here is yet another building created in Lego Digital Designer. This time, I built a church based loosely on the church I attended for several years. The challenge I gave myself was to make it look like a church without using any obvious religious symbols. I think I met that challenge very well. In hindsight, I wish I had built a little more detail into it. I like it, but it is not one of my favorite architectural creations.

A Cozy Home

I have decided that Lego Digital Designer is especially well built for architecture. There are a lot of bricks available, and with architecture, there (usually) isn’t a lot of need for placing pieces at odd angles (which I find difficult to control in LDD). This time, I set out to build a house typical of the ones I see in Seattle, with a front porch, chimney, and Asian influences. The trickiest part of the house was the roof. I wanted to make an upper window on the side, like on the front and back, but could never match up  the angles. Eventually,  I had the house done to my satisfaction, and began building a yard. I haven’t yet learned how to build a tree that looks like a tree, so I added bamboo – a lot of houses in Seattle have bamboo in their yards (because of that Asian influence). Lastly, I added the stone wall in front, because a lot of houses in Seattle have them.

There’s something about that stone wall, though – and I haven’t figured out what, exactly – which, combined with the tropical plants, makes this house look rather South American to me. And, if it’s in South America, the fireplace is a bit of an anomaly. That’s OK with me, though – I like this cozy home.

Busy Apartment Block

I am really getting into constructing buildings in Lego Digital Designer. It’s not as much fun as the feeling of feeling the bricks coming together, but I like having the endless box of bricks that LDD offers me. With this apartment building, I wanted to build on a grand scale, with lots of details, and I succeeded. (It even has a dumpster!) On the other hand, in real life, this would be a smallish apartment building – either several small studio apartments, or a few one-bedroom apartments. On the other hand, this thing would cost  $580.19 (according to LDD) if I were to build it with actual Lego bricks.

Overall, I am very happy with this creation.