Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[jonahtron]

2 hours ago, hikouki said:

I have to say, and this will be a bit off topic, that I am beginning to have some negative feelings for that Friends line - we don't get Disney princesses because they have them there, and if they are also what's keeping certain themes in the Modular line, then I will go on a rampage! LOL

I think an office space would be a great idea! Although I do not think they would allow that now that there is the Daily Bugle.

I think a Video Rental would be more for adults. I have not seen one in years! I do not think kids and teens these days would have an idea.

Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.

Conservatory of Music. Or a Dance Club - poor ballerina was crammed in a small space at Assembly Square! Music Store with Recording studio.

How do minifigs repair their buildings if they don't have a handyman shop/ hardware store?

I like the idea of an office building, though I can't see what they'd add to the interior that we haven't already seen in the many business focussed offices, its usually just a phone and a computer/typewriter.

Regards to the Video store, I read somewhere a while back that Jamie thinks that the street is set in modern times, but with older buildings/ some buildings repurposed with a mix of architecture styles. Though by this logic all the old banks should be wine bars and the video stores would be vape shops... 

Hardware/handyman store would be really fun, There's a space on the street for that style of building you tend to only see in the states, the kind of 'mom and pop corner 'drug store' which sells a bit of everything. A bit like this MOC from a while back..

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40618978@N03/27573702761/in/photostream/lightbox/

Thinking outside of the types of business, it might be good to see them show us some styles of architecture we've not seen. Do we have anything in the Nouveu style? 

[jonwil]

I want a building (modular or otherwise) in either brutalist or googie/raygun gothic.

 

 

[jonahtron]

11 minutes ago, jonwil said:

I want a building (modular or otherwise) in either brutalist or googie/raygun gothic.

 

 

That would be fantastic, a Jetsons vibe would be fun. I'm happy to have more colour in the street also

[jonwil]

Have we had any buildings that use either dark green or dark blue as main colours?

[Rick]

I am surprised we haven't seen a post office yet. It could be a grand old (corner) building with little play features for receiving, sorting and delivering letters and packages and include a postal vehicle (either included or as a GWP) or postal workers on bikes.

[Shiva]

3 hours ago, jonahtron said:

I like the idea of an office building, though I can't see what they'd add to the interior that we haven't already seen in the many business focussed offices, its usually just a phone and a computer/typewriter.

Regards to the Video store, I read somewhere a while back that Jamie thinks that the street is set in modern times, but with older buildings/ some buildings repurposed with a mix of architecture styles. Though by this logic all the old banks should be wine bars and the video stores would be vape shops... 

Hardware/handyman store would be really fun, There's a space on the street for that style of building you tend to only see in the states, the kind of 'mom and pop corner 'drug store' which sells a bit of everything. A bit like this MOC from a while back..

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40618978@N03/27573702761/in/photostream/lightbox/

Thinking outside of the types of business, it might be good to see them show us some styles of architecture we've not seen. Do we have anything in the Nouveu style? 

For me, it looks more as if somewhere between 1920something, to late 1950something, or very early years of 1960something. Has there been a single computer? Most stuff look like oldschool typewriters and older types of cash registers.  10312's cash register, it, on the other hand, might look a bit more modern? BH 10297, has a black and white thick TV.  Downtown Diner 10260, with the electric guitar, seems as one of the most modern places.

What I can not remember seeing, is a clothes shop? Well, 10211 Grand Emporium, does have wedding clothes and something else tho?

[Hippocampe]

2 hours ago, jonwil said:

Have we had any buildings that use either dark green or dark blue as main colours?

It would be a good idea with black and white accents. I wanted to build a MOC appartment building in these colors with modified bricks (with groove, profiled brick, palisade brick) but not much to be seen at PAB. 
I will eventually buy the JC to complete the collection; I’ll wait for the GWP pizza van. It won’t be of my favorite ones, but it should fit well near Town hall, detective office or Fire brigade. Could someone post all the abbreviations for the previous sets, I kinda lost track…

[jonahtron]

57 minutes ago, Shiva said:

For me, it looks more as if somewhere between 1920something, to late 1950something, or very early years of 1960something. Has there been a single computer? Most stuff look like oldschool typewriters and older types of cash registers.  10312's cash register, it, on the other hand, might look a bit more modern? BH 10297, has a black and white thick TV.  Downtown Diner 10260, with the electric guitar, seems as one of the most modern places.

What I can not remember seeing, is a clothes shop? Well, 10211 Grand Emporium, does have wedding clothes and something else tho?

I wonder if there is much thought put into the idea that even though this is an adult line, they won't do commercial buildings for business types that plain don't exist anymore?

I think all of the commercial properties that they've released are business that could exist in a modern era, but just have a retro style to them. Detectives office being borderline!

 

 

 

[Kalahari134]

2 hours ago, Shiva said:

For me, it looks more as if somewhere between 1920something, to late 1950something, or very early years of 1960something. Has there been a single computer? Most stuff look like oldschool typewriters and older types of cash registers.  10312's cash register, it, on the other hand, might look a bit more modern? BH 10297, has a black and white thick TV.  Downtown Diner 10260, with the electric guitar, seems as one of the most modern places.

What I can not remember seeing, is a clothes shop? Well, 10211 Grand Emporium, does have wedding clothes and something else tho?

There was a computer in Town Hall.

[antp]

4 hours ago, jonwil said:

Have we had any buildings that use either dark green or dark blue as main colours?

The ground floor of the Green Grocer had some dark green (but really a little, so not really a "main" color.

And some dark blue for the entrances of the Café Corner.

The Market Street had 2 medium blue floors and 1 dark blue floor.

Edited December 17, 2022 by antp

[Shiva]

Kalahari134, yeah, there is one. And the screen looks like a flatscreen too. That is by far, the most modern thing I seen in any of these modular buildings.

Bigger photo. https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/10224-1/10224_alt3.jpg

[FrkW]

I must say I much prefer the ambiguous old school feel with nothing really dating the city. A video rental or arcade would ruin that for me. Never got the Diner either. 

[Silverhurst]

I could certainly see the tailor in this set leading to a clothing store somewhere down the line.

[Maple]

6 hours ago, Rick said:

I am surprised we haven't seen a post office yet. It could be a grand old (corner) building with little play features for receiving, sorting and delivering letters and packages and include a postal vehicle (either included or as a GWP) or postal workers on bikes.

I agree. Very surprising to me. And if LEGO wants to continue the more than one thing in a modular, the post office could be delivering mail to a house next door.

[Aanchir]

Honestly, modern (post-1950s) elements have been present in the Modular Buildings for longer than a lot of people seem to recognize. Namely, I don't think upright, glass-front refrigerated coolers like the ones in the Green Grocer existed until at least the 1970s. Electric drip coffee makers like in the Pet Shop likewise weren't invented until the mid-1950s (the earliest ones had two glass chambers, unlike the Pet Shop coffee machjine), and weren't popularized for home use until the 70s.

So while the computer in the Town Hall is definitely the most overt post-1950s design feature in the early years of the Modular Buildings Collection, it was neither the only nor the first instance of such.

That said, the Modular Buildings Collection as a whole has focused on pre-1950s architectural styles. Even the "Streamline Moderne" architecture featured in the Downtown Diner and Corner Garage sets was most popular in the 1930s and 1940s.

2 hours ago, FrkW said:

I must say I much prefer the ambiguous old school feel with nothing really dating the city. A video rental or arcade would ruin that for me. Never got the Diner either. 

I mean, "penny arcades" with coin-op amusements like pinball machines, fortune teller machines, strength tester/love tester machines, Skee-Ball alleys, target-shooting games, and so forth were around long before modern "video arcades". I think the former would make plenty of sense as part of a modular street, particularly since they'd be less reliant on printed or stickered "screens" than video arcade cabinets. But you'd have to figure out what to do with the upper floors of the building, since neither style of arcade would typically take up multiple floors.

[Kalahari134]

That reminds me of the amusements arcade in St Ives. There was a shooting gallery where when you hit the target, the pirate mannequins would squirt water at passers by.

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by Kalahari134

[hikouki]

I have always wondered for quite some time now if we will ever see Asian-inspired buildings or colonial architecture. Classic example would be the ones you see in Singapore:

https://www.insightguides.com/destinations/asia-pacific/singapore/historical-highlights/colonial-architecture-in-the-civic-district

However, a recent blogpost here seems to say that they would like to keep the plurality of meanings and representations in the Modular line:

https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/jamie-berard-interview-10312-modular-jazz-club-and-legos-modular-building-series/

Jamie was asked in that interview about having some darker skin tones and he explained that the yellow somehow represents the idea of assigning 'any skin tone' and that the buildings are not really set at a specific location or time.

 

 

[brimbolet]

The modular line is obviously European and US inspired. A third Asian influenced setting would be a bold move (colonial period !) but I'd really like to see that in the future.

[BrickFit26]

22 hours ago, Maple said:

I agree. Assembly Square is 1.5 wide and I think would be perfect with a farmers' market in the middle. The Friends Taco Truck and market stands is a wonderful set.

Hopefully a 1.5 wide modular soon. Just 4 more long years to find out.

13 hours ago, jonwil said:

I want a building (modular or otherwise) in either brutalist or googie/raygun gothic.

 

 

I'd love to see something in Gothic architecture.

11 hours ago, Rick said:

I am surprised we haven't seen a post office yet. It could be a grand old (corner) building with little play features for receiving, sorting and delivering letters and packages and include a postal vehicle (either included or as a GWP) or postal workers on bikes.

An excellent idea that's been long overdue.

[jonwil]

I would love to see a building with an optometrist in it (probably on an upper floor). You could have a double sided head where the faces are the same except that one side is wearing glasses. (Showing the before and after of the eye doctor visit). We got a dentist and a vet so an optometrist isn't out of the question...

 

[Shiva]

Optometrist and post office maybe? jomwil and Rick.

[PGBQW]

45 minutes ago, jonwil said:

I would love to see a building with an optometrist in it (probably on an upper floor). You could have a double sided head where the faces are the same except that one side is wearing glasses. (Showing the before and after of the eye doctor visit). We got a dentist and a vet so an optometrist isn't out of the question...

 

I love this

[Hippocampe]

And a pharmacy

[Lyichir]

Optometrist and pharmacy are the kinds of buildings that'd work well as "one side" of a modular (since they don't necessarily need the full floor space of a multi-story building). Hardware store is another. There was a lovely Ideas proposal at one point that I think paired a hardware store with an under-construction building, which feels like exactly the kind of story-starter that works well for modular buildings—the workers could dip into the hardware store to restock during a job.

I also disagree with the folks who think there have been too many restaurants, since there are so many kinds of restaurants and they don't all need a full baseplate to themselves. A Chinese restaurant or a New York-style deli would both work well as small "take-out" restaurants.

[hoppa]

Imagine the outrage come reveal of a modular with one unfinished building.

"For THAT price? And you don't even get two buildings for it"

"Light blueish grey is the wrong color for concrete, it should be exactly what I want it to be, will not buy it for the first time since 1734"

"In the real world it would never happen, construction so close to an existing building with no safety measures. Lego dumb "

Edited December 18, 2022 by hoppa