Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Dharkan]

I don't like corner buildings. They end up too symmetrical. And don't we have 3 corner buildings already?

I'm hoping for cool designs like Green Grocer, Parisian Restaurant and Pet Shop. Please no more Town Hall-like buildings.

[rollermonkey]

I don't like corner buildings. They end up too symmetrical. And don't we have 3 corner buildings already?

Takes 4 corners to make a block...

[badbob001]

Takes 4 corners to make a block...

The Haunted House can be made into a corner building:

From thread: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=94604&st=25#entry1882486

[Sammael]

That's not a corner building - it's a regular building that's been placed at a corner.

[legotrainfan]

I was just about to start a new thread to ask what the Haunted House looked like as soon as it was turned into a modular building. Thanks for sharing that picture! I'd love to see more pics of that kind. I am sure there are more people who have rebuilt it and use it as a modular building now.

[nesquik]

Grand Emporium is still available in the online LEGO shop.

Because stock is still available. Products are not produced around the clock, they enter cycles of production based on demand.

[badbob001]

That's not a corner building - it's a regular building that's been placed at a corner.

The HH is uniquely suited to be placed at a corner due to the two entrances. I don't think you can simply place any other regular building at a corner. Once I have mine built, I'll see if I can build the wall on both sides of the corner.

[Dharkan]

Takes 4 corners to make a block...

Well do we desperately need a block right now?

[rollermonkey]

If the goal is to build a city... Yes. Not counting the building around geographical features, that's typically how they work outside of European city medieval centers.

Once a block has 4 corners you can add as many or as few straight buildings between them as you'd like. Even if all you want is to do both sides of one street, you'd still typically need four corners to cap both ends of the street.

...and frankly, even though HH is a very nice building, it belongs in a residential neighborhood, not a downtown core.

Edited June 18, 2014 by rollermonkey

[LegoSjaak]

i'd rather see an inverted corner, but as this might be not so attractive from the outside, (and thus may not be a good seller) this will be never done bij TLG....i guess....

[golfman]

I believe at this time maybe it would make sense to have a Modular Police Station.

Nevertheless for 2015 I wouldn't mind seeing a habitation Modular, all with apartments for instance.

[Transparency for Effect]

An apartment building/flat could be potentially interesting.

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

i'd rather see an inverted corner, but as this might be not so attractive from the outside, (and thus may not be a good seller) this will be never done bij TLG....i guess....

This would be awesome. I think it would spur a new wave of city set ups if done correctly. (And we know they will do it correctly!)

An apartment building/flat could be potentially interesting.

That would be awesome! I have a bunch of people that have no where to live at night!

I believe at this time maybe it would make sense to have a Modular Police Station.

Nevertheless for 2015 I wouldn't mind seeing a habitation Modular, all with apartments for instance.

Imagine the stories they could tell with the set also, the crazy cat lady across the hall, the people playing music late at night up stairs and so on...

[Moebius118]

That would be awesome! I have a bunch of people that have no where to live at night!

^ This right here.

I own a Lego city full of homeless people where about 2% of the population actually have homes. Truly they are the elite of the elites.

They might as well release a under the highway or bridge set complete with makeshift shanties, flaming barrels, cots and mattresses.

Shopping carts.Tents.

Unrelated note,

Is there any chance a regular (primary or secondary) school might be possible for a modular? Is there multistory city schools that could fit the architectural profile?

[Herky]

what is the feel that TLG could do 2 modulars a year instead of just one? I think they have the talent in designers to do it, just not sure if they would want to do that many since the price point is higher, would like to see it, the only issue I see is they might run out of ideas, at some point I would like to see a lower priced city park made, fountain in the middle, cool stuff done on the park like trees, flowers and such, maybe a dog catching a Frisbee, something like that

Edited June 20, 2014 by Herky

[badbob001]

Whatever building LEGO decides to produce needs to at least look interesting from the outside. The existing townhall is pretty generic enough looking to be easily converted to a school or police station. Here is the town hall essentially converted to an apartment building in the Lego Movie:

(from this thread: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=92364)

[Blakstone]

That would be a great next modular and they could leave it as a subtle tie-in The LEGO Movie.

[Colossus]

I'd buy Emmet's apartment building as.a modular in a heartbeat.

[Fritzy]

I'd buy Emmet's apartment building as.a modular in a heartbeat.

As would I! Especially if it included a Double Decker Couch.

Any chance this (or a variation of it) could happen in a third wave, or would that be unheard of?

[Montana]

So this and the Persian restaurant essentially capture the look of how I think cities cafés and restaurants and grocers should be designed like. My "dream town/city" if you will.

Firstly what is the art style of the modular town street sets based on? I hear words like Art Deco thrown around in custom creations but not a peep on real world basing a for these?

Is there any cities or towns in the world designed with rows of modular buildings like Green Grocer... I have a faint childhood memory of the appearance and have been in love ever since.

I really want to live in an apartment over a cafe/grocer/restaurant like in this lego town street! It would be a major dreams become flesh!

If anyone can help out here or at least point me in a searchable terms direction for the googlefu it would be appreciated.

More generic terms have given me absolute zed results so highly specific is preferred in this case.

(I.e. "Mideval Village Inn with thatched roof style towns in the world like in <insert fantasy/LotR movie>" turns up no results of actual cities towns or villages with said architecture and traditional lifestyle. So it would need to be MUCH more specific)

[bjorn77]

Does anyone kow who this guy, "Mugen", is, who made this alternate hotel version of the town hall? I'd love to know if there's building instructions for it. I'd gladly pay a few bucks.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=539095

[Faefrost]

So this and the Persian restaurant essentially capture the look of how I think cities cafés and restaurants and grocers should be designed like. My "dream town/city" if you will.

Firstly what is the art style of the modular town street sets based on? I hear words like Art Deco thrown around in custom creations but not a peep on real world basing a for these?

Is there any cities or towns in the world designed with rows of modular buildings like Green Grocer... I have a faint childhood memory of the appearance and have been in love ever since.

I really want to live in an apartment over a cafe/grocer/restaurant like in this lego town street! It would be a major dreams become flesh!

If anyone can help out here or at least point me in a searchable terms direction for the googlefu it would be appreciated.

More generic terms have given me absolute zed results so highly specific is preferred in this case.

(I.e. "Mideval Village Inn with thatched roof style towns in the world like in <insert fantasy/LotR movie>" turns up no results of actual cities towns or villages with said architecture and traditional lifestyle. So it would need to be MUCH more specific)

There is no single style or geographical basis for the modular buildings. They pull from a variety of sources. The general feeling they give is that of a first half 20th century town / small city. Say circa 1930's - 1950's in the US, with some broader spread elsewhere. Generally what is viewed as the Steam to Diesel transition era by Railroaders. When Main Street was still the hub of town life and Shopping Centers, Malls and Big Box stores had not yet been invented. The only real world places that would mix all of the styles and types of buildings found in the Modular series in one street would typically be something like a Disney Theme park. But at the same time they are all very good at communicating the idea of a main Street and giving people comfortable queues from all over the world.

Of the current buildings

Town Hall is a pretty common example of a classical Town Hall or Courthouse and has attributes common to both North American and European buildings of this type.

Fire Brigade has a very New York City or NorthEast US look and feel, from the first half of the 20th century.

Grand Emporium seems to have a sort of London feel to it. Channeling something like Harrods.

Palace Cinema is very distinctly a US California Faux Chinese look and feel.

An Art Deco style would be something like this.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/10585

That very 1930's modern feel with lots of sweeping curves. The buildings seem to have that same "streamlined" feel as the cars and trains of the era. New York Cities Empire State Building and Chrysler Building are probably two of the better known examples of Art Deco.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Faefrost

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

Does anyone kow who this guy, "Mugen", is, who made this alternate hotel version of the town hall? I'd love to know if there's building instructions for it. I'd gladly pay a few bucks.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=539095

That does look nice. I'd be interested in it also.

[wondermonkey]

Does anyone kow who this guy, "Mugen", is, who made this alternate hotel version of the town hall? I'd love to know if there's building instructions for it. I'd gladly pay a few bucks.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=539095

I built his alternate train station from the town hall. Very happy with it, and it he made instructions, but there are hundreds of pictures of each step. I can imagine he's not dying to do that again. If he puts instructions for this up, I'd probably tear apart my train station to build the hotel. And if he ever reads this, thank you very much for all the work you put into making it public.

[TheLegoDr]

That is really neat. Although I would immediately change most of the front bricks to the palisade bricks like on the official Town Hall. It looks too boring without the texture.

I had some ideas for changing the Town Hall, but it was still going to be a town hall, just have a different layout. I think it was going to take 32x48 in size though and be not as tall as the original.