MOC: Modular Apartment

[L@go]

B-RM-1C

Hello again, fellow Eurobrickers!

So, after having a go at 16x32 (Modular Pharmacy) and 32x32 (Modular Scooter Dealership) I decided to have a go at building a modular - wait for it - on an 8x32 baseplate. With a complete interior. So, as you'd expect, I was asking for trouble, and obviously it'll get a bit tight when you only have a six-wide space to work with, but where there's a will...

I designed it in MLCad, and ordered the bricks through BrickLink as I usually do. I was prepared that it would look a bit tall and narrow when photographed on its own, and not as a part of a modular street, but it fits in quite well.

The exterior design is a bit of a mish-mash, with a garage on the bottom floor, a big round window on the first floor and a top floor that's... different. The things I'm most happy with are the stairs leading to the first floor entrance, and the round window with the flower box underneath it.

And the interior, of course. I'm quite pleased with that, especially a couple of details. I'll show you some pictures and explain as I go along. First a couple of overview shots:

On the ground floor there's a garage with room for a Small Car, here in bright orange version. Obviously, there's no parking allowed at the garage doors. Note the storage rack with the surfboard - the owner of this apartment, let's call him Joseph, is a guy who's very much into sports and leisure activities.

The first floor, with the round window (with yellow curtains) and flowerbox. There wasn't really any room for regular Lego flowers, so I wanted to do it the Creator way, but swapped the round 1x1 plates representing the flowers for plates with 'petals', and I'm happy with the way this turned out. It seems TLC is doing the same with the new Pet Shop.

The contents of the garage. You can see the wooden workbench and a fire extinguisher attached to the wall, a fishing rod, a barrel full of leisure gear (baseball bat, tennis racket, and some custom BrickForge golf clubs). On the wall to the right are the car's winter tires (with black steel rims, obviously).

By the entrance on the first floor there's a tiny kitchen. Here's the fridge, a knob for Joseph to put his bag on, a decorative golden plate, and a dark green and yellow rug on the floor - I've used those colours extensively on the interior features. I think they go well together.

Further into the living room there's a small coffee table with a lamp, and a comfy dark green chair. On the wall there's a copy of Joseph's best friend's best-selling record 'Brick Fever'.

The kitchen is my favourite part of this MOC. Here you can see the stove, some shelves, a tiny kitchen sink, a wall-mounted cupboard, a couple of wine glasses ready for use, and the ventilation shaft leading to the outside wall. Underneath the stairs leading to the top floor you can just make out a part of the stereo set - there are also a couple of small speakers there, and a flatscreen TV mounted to the wall.

The top floor is occupied by a bedroom, but there are also a couple of shelves with a lamp and a trophy of some sort, and the wall shows another of Joseph's interests: Antiques. Oh yeah, this guy is full of surprises.

To the right, the bed with bedclothes in... you guessed it: Dark green and yellow. It's cramped in here, but still enough room for some furniture. There's a lamp and a clock attached to the wall, and on the other side there's a cupboard with a boomblaster on top. And I managed to cram a toilet into that cube to the left - Joseph even fits on the seat... as long as he removes his fluffy hair first. A small design flaw...

Joseph is greeting his friend the DJ, who's paying a visit. And speaking of the haircut - the DJ borrowed it from Joseph before he was famous, and now it's his trademark.

And here's the original MLCad construction image. Because I don't have a huge parts collection, designing my MOCs digitally first and then ordering the bricks suits me fine, although modulars (especially that huge scooter dealership) tend to get veeeery expensive.

Hope you like it! It was fun to have a go at designing something so small, but I wanted to go a bit larger for my next project, which I'm finishing after my next BL order. It's a white modular bank, again in 32x32 - and it fills the baseplate all the way out to the back, so that's also a very parts-exhaustive and expensive building.

Constructive comments on the Modular Apartment are most welcome!

You can find quite a few more images in my Flickr account, and please have a look at my other MOCs while you're there.

[mrblue]

well, what to say? I'm happy to be the first who post... but, you left me speechless... I can only say WOW !!! beautiful, outside and inside too, with genius ideas for the furniture. includinv the toilet (with the door) and the stairs to the upper floor make this creation jumps to an higher level! I never liked the fact that lego didn't include these details in many buildings, but we have to consider also the play feature, but in my mocs, I jalways tried to include stairs, inner walls and so on, but your moc goes beyond my imagination! thumbs up! very good job!

is there a way to have the mlcad file?

have a nice lego day

mrBlue

[Fuzzylegobricks]

Very nice work L@go! I like the garage it is really detailed, the stairs out back really

do look like stairs behind a apartment (not too fancy, not crummy). A bit too cramped for me

but maybe a little friend named Harry Potter could live there (it was in one of the movies).

Great little/big creation and keep building!

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Another terrific group of MOCs 'L@go'. These definitely have an apartment feel to the. Wonderful details throughout. I love the kitchen appliances and the garage. Very impressive work

[Legoist]

One of the best interior decoration job I've ever seen!

[The Yellow Brick]

Now this is certainly different Nice work 'L@go'

The interior is just amazing. The fact that you've managed to fit all of that detailed furniture in it is amazing.

Really nice work.

[lightningtiger]

AWESOME work 'L@go', the interior is just fantastic and I agree the kitchen is mindblowing. By the way what part are you using over the black 1x1 round plates as stove burners/hotplates ?

Keep up the cool work and Brick On 'L@go' !

[cimddwc]

All those detailed interiors you managed to put into this small space... really amazing!

[L@go]

I'm overwhelmed by the response :) Thank you, guys! It's really inspiring!

It seems most of you are impressed with the amount of details in such a small space, and that was of course the main challenge here, but it's all a matter of planning and being creative.

is there a way to have the mlcad file?

I'll see what I can do - but there might be some unofficial files used here, so that could give some unexpected results if opened on a computer with a different parts library...

A bit too cramped for me but maybe a little friend named Harry Potter could live there.

I agree - I'm not sure I would want to live there, either, but trying to get it all together was a fun challenge. And this guy Joseph seems to be quite happy with it, actually, despite his haircut - you'd think he'd prefer more space around him ;)

By the way what part are you using over the black 1x1 round plates as stove burners/hotplates?

It's not very mysterious at all, actually, it's a trans-clear 2x2 tile. There are a few available on BrickLink, but I didn't realize how rare they are until now - I have a 6590 (Vacation Camper) in my old collection back at my parents' place and knew that the caravan used one as a window in the roof, so I had seen it before, but according to BL that is actually the only set it has ever been used in.

[Pazoozoo]

Very nice!

[tedbeard]

This is fantastic and will really add to any layout. I especially love the refrigerator in the kitchen and that you managed to include a toilet in such a small space. The best part for me may be the garage. It looks like a real garage with the odd collection of junk so many of us are familiar with in garages and basements.

[alois]

I like the design of the round window on the second floor, with the flowers in front of it. But the interior is also great.

[Man with a hat]

Wow, amazing how much detail you got in such a small building. I didn't know you could get so much interior in such limited space.

Apart from that I really like the back side of your building with the stairs to the entrance. Well done!

[Freddie]

I agree with all of the above. This is a very nice building, and the interior is nothing less than impressive, with a lot of unique solutions that could be expected in a flat of such size. I've tried to design one of similar size, and know how difficult it can be to fit in a believable interior, not to mention the stairs!

Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to build one of my own now that you've inspired me.

[XimenaPaulina]

Wow, for such a small and cramped interior space I'm really impressed on how you packed this with fantastic details inside L@go! The external design may be simple but still beautiful, it's just the interiors take this on a higher level. Great job!

[L@go]

Thanks again, guys, I'm delighted that you like it! I'll consider doing another one, to make the numbers add up (16+8=24, not 32) in my modular street. But I'm going to need some more inspiration first, as it'll have to be different from this...

This is fantastic and will really add to any layout. I especially love the refrigerator in the kitchen and that you managed to include a toilet in such a small space. The best part for me may be the garage. It looks like a real garage with the odd collection of junk so many of us are familiar with in garages and basements.

Thank you! Yes, I'm quite happy with the garage - but with 8x32 there really isn't room for anything bigger than a 3177... on the positive side, that does leave a bit of space length-wise :)

I like the design of the round window on the second floor, with the flowers in front of it. But the interior is also great.

Thanks - that window was one of the main ideas I had for this building, and it worked out quite well.

Wow, amazing how much detail you got in such a small building. I didn't know you could get so much interior in such limited space.

Apart from that I really like the back side of your building with the stairs to the entrance. Well done!

Thanks again! Well, fitting stairs was always going to be the biggest problem with so little space. So I realized the best thing to do was put at least one set of stairs outdoors...

I agree with all of the above. This is a very nice building, and the interior is nothing less than impressive, with a lot of unique solutions that could be expected in a flat of such size. I've tried to design one of similar size, and know how difficult it can be to fit in a believable interior, not to mention the stairs!

Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to build one of my own now that you've inspired me.

And another thank you :) - please build your own and show us what you end up with! I'm sure somebody's built a modular on this kind of baseplate before, but I've never seen one, so I decided it was about time.