Dublin City Hall.. and Lego
- This topic has 25 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 1 month ago by
GrahamH.
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February 20, 2006 at 11:27 pm #708455
Morlan
ParticipantThe Dublin City Hall made entirely out of Lego can be seen at the exquisite Ballyfermot Leabharlann.
Designed and built in 5 months from 381,238 LEGO bricks by F Jones of LEGO UK Ltd for the Dublin Millennium 1988. And no, it’s not for sale.
I must say, they have really put a lot of work into this.. I never knew one could achieve such detail with LEGO bricks.
Looks like that legoman is having trouble getting up that hill.
Yes! They’ve included the entrance hall.
I told you it had to be see to be believed. Amazing, isn’t it?
The Reflecting City exhibition is currently showing at the leabharlann too. Might be worth popping your head in if you’re in the area. This thing below is on display along with about 4 or 5 others.
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February 21, 2006 at 1:13 am #775335
GrahamH
Participant😀 😀 😀
Brilliant!
That is really fantastic – the dentil course bricks are ingenious! That is by far the most important aspect of any Lego model (apparently :)) – choosing what bricks to use that will best reflect the character and scale of what you’re trying to replicate. And to think this was all done when the building was as black as coal!The scale and proportions of the building as a whole are simply superb – from a distance its near-on perfect.
And as for the pediment from afar – magnificent! Just a shame the windows look like PVC… -
February 21, 2006 at 8:27 am #775336
Shad_23
Participantok, I must say that’s an incredible piece of work.. I wonder if the exhibit has any lego tips and tricks…
Because the scaling looks awesome…
Is there any idea of the time frame in which that took? -
February 21, 2006 at 11:55 am #775337
Anonymous
InactiveI am having flashbacks to my youth here. I remember seeing that when it was first built. It was at the ‘lego exhibition’ and I think it was part of the Dublin 1988 Millenium celebrations. I have a photo of it from the time somewhere!
Thanks for posting it Morlan
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February 21, 2006 at 12:18 pm #775338
Anonymous
ParticipantFantastic,
plastic swipe cards of the City for its creator
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February 21, 2006 at 7:14 pm #775339
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February 21, 2006 at 7:23 pm #775340
Paul Clerkin
Keymasterwhat a great job – both the model and as a career
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February 21, 2006 at 7:24 pm #775341
GrahamH
ParticipantPity bright green bricks only came later – they would have been perfect for the dome:
I must admit to having attempted a few Dublin buildings in my time, the Custom House being the only vaguely successful one – ‘successful’ in terms of the resources of a 13 year old and their broken up sets you’ll understand 🙂
I’d post the sole surviving picture, but…well, y’know… -
February 21, 2006 at 7:30 pm #775342
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February 21, 2006 at 7:42 pm #775343
GrahamH
ParticipantNot quite on Lego, but as part of Dundalk’s ‘retail park’ :rolleyes: currently being developed, a large model park is planned, apparently to be one of the best of its kind in Europe. I’ve heard that major Irish buildings will feature, but it all may come to nothing…
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February 21, 2006 at 7:47 pm #775344
Paul Clerkin
KeymasterI used to work for a firm and we built a number of scale models for a model park in Wicklow including Russborough, Longford Terrace in Monkstown, and Bolands Mill…
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February 21, 2006 at 11:49 pm #775345
Paul Clerkin
Keymastera city of biscuits
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4733304.stm -
December 6, 2008 at 5:48 am #775346
Global Citizen
ParticipantThat is fantastic, the detail and scale are faultless. Well done to everyone who put it together, (even the quantity surveyor).
Is it still on public display somewhere? I’d love to see it.
Or (rant coming up) did my neighbour’s 5 year old brat get his grubby little hands on it and turn it into a spaceship, robot or some other hideous creature along the lines of Hawkins House.
All of us who loved Lego as kids will know what I mean. Our architectural masterpieces were torn to pieces and lost forever by that same neighbours brat (they’re everywhere) when our back was turned.
And all becuase of those distracting threats eminating from the kitchen downstairs. “Your dinner is getting cold”. -
December 6, 2008 at 9:52 am #775347
jimg
ParticipantAh Global Citizen, you’re looking at it the wrong way. It was a vital life lesson on the ephemeral nature of the successes we achieve through our powers of actualization and how our innate idealistic reaction against authoritarianism is triumphed by the the fundamental demands and appetites associated our physical manifestation.
I must admit I was somewhat in the brutalist school when it came to Lego. Form was secondary to function. Then when technics appeared that was the end of my architectural phase. I gave up building houses and other buildings and dedicated myself to mechanical projects. Before that the only way to build stuff with moving parts was with Mechano but jeezus what a frustrating experience that could be.
I’ve a vague memory of GrahamH and a lego model of the Late Late set?
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December 6, 2008 at 10:53 am #775348
GregF
Participantahhhh, that model is really cool ….good one!!
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December 7, 2008 at 9:02 pm #775349
jackwade
ParticipantI remembering seeing this on the Late Late toy show when I was a kid. Think there was a competition to guess the number of bricks used? Anyone else remember?
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December 9, 2008 at 10:16 am #775350
Rory W
ParticipantIf you look very carefully there is a lego GrahamH taking a photo and shaking his head at the state of the lego pavement 😀
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December 9, 2008 at 10:45 am #775351
GrahamH
Participant -
December 9, 2008 at 7:18 pm #775352
Adolf Luas
ParticipantAnyone here ever see The Late Late Show hosted by that well known Southside squatter Pat the Plank all made, remarkably, in Lego?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kTZSw-5g1Y -
December 9, 2008 at 11:39 pm #775353
Anonymous
Participanti think the unassuming poster immediately before you may have seen it once or twice 😉
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January 1, 2009 at 10:56 pm #775354
GrahamH
Participantannnnnnyway…
I’m regretting this already, but in the spirit of New Year frivolity, I unearthed some prints of some distinctly dubious childhood recreations of Dublin buildings. The Custom House as I recall took over a whole corner of the bedroom.
Gandon must be rolling in his grave.
In retrospect, I seem to have carried out a Francis Johnstonesque filling in of the arcades. How very tongue-in-cheek. Clearly additional floorspace is an equally pressing concern in the Lego world. Not a disastrous attempt for a 12/13 year old though. As with most of these models, the whole facade was floodlit with 12v bulbs, with an extra powerful flood for the cupola :). Others were dicreetly hidden behind the balustrade. I remember being especially proud of the clock, which was back-illuminated in green. Alas the compose -> flash -> live-with-it process of an automatic camera didn’t quite do it justice :(. The woeful dome was a dodgily painted Mullerice pot.
Hopefully this one can be made out without a caption.
Again, severely constrained by the Great Brick Shortage of the mid-90s. A Neil Jordan-like artistic licence was taken in respect of O’Connell Street. And I don’t care what anyone says – plastic Victorian municipal planting is far more gracious a foil to the GPO than a rank of 7Up taxi bikes :). The innovation in this case was that Hibernia, Fidelity and Mercury were individually illuminated (if just a tad out of proportion lol).
And a stripped Big Ben (must be the Lego recession), dating from goodness knows when. It’s only worthy of remark for that marvellous wallpaper.
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January 2, 2009 at 11:08 am #775355
dc3
ParticipantGrahamH wrote:annnnnnyway…Gandon must be rolling in his grave.
QUOTE]I doubt it, he has had far worse provocations over the years, including the Loop Line Bridge.
Earlier forms of building blocks are “blamed” for encouraging Frank Loyd Wright into the field of architecture, of course so perhaps the Lego generation are not the first to learn from the blockwork. Are Lego roofs more watertight, I wonder and what did Zaha play with as a child?
It is indeed a fantastic model, and thanks for reviving this thread, I missed it the last time it was around.
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January 2, 2009 at 12:02 pm #775356
urbanisto
ParticipantHmmm lots and lots of lego bricks of the same colour….no just making do with the odd blue foursy or a few red twoseys…..you must have been rich!
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January 2, 2009 at 3:44 pm #775357
fergalr
ParticipantGrahamH, I get the distinct impression that you had indulgent parents when growing up as a child.
Or an indulgent father perhaps. One who was on the receiving end of many a wifely glare as the violin or piano in the corner – invested with so many maternal dreams of filial greatness – gathered dust…
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January 2, 2009 at 4:22 pm #775358
urbanisto
ParticipantYou also seem to be way ahead of your time having anticipated the GPO plaza 20 years before it happened…. a visionary no less!! 😀
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January 2, 2009 at 4:36 pm #775359
GrahamH
ParticipantOkay if I’d known this was to turn into a psychoanalysing session, I’d never have posted! Indulgent parents indeed – says the PD from Howth 😉
The reason the brick colour was so uniform is that every birthday and Christmas for a decade equalled Lego – inevitably town sets. So quite the collection of white hospitals, restaurants and police stations built up! A shame tan brick wasn’t widely available then – the perfect Ardbraccan limestone substitute. Tsk.
Although the purist wouldn’t allow it either way of course…
Anyway the point of this is to encourage others to post about their earlier architectural ambitions, so come on! (and with a particularly uncomfortable focus on jimg).
Oh and a remarkably astute observation on Irish built heritage conservation.
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