Category: Interviews

Featured Models / Interviews / LEGO Architecture Series / Skylines

April 5, 2017

LEGO Skylines Interview and Guide, Blocks Magazine #30

Learn more about the LEGO Skyline series in Issue #30 of Blocks Magazine. I wrote three articles which teach you how to build your own LEGO Skyline.

Exhibits / Featured / Interviews

September 2, 2016

‘Brick by Brick’ by Adam Reed Tucker

This exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL features models of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Disney Castle, and more.

Urbana LEGO Model. (Photo by Carlo Sese.)

Featured Models / Interviews

December 17, 2015

Urbana, by Architects Orange

I am really excited to share this great story about how Serafin Maranan of Architects Orange collaborated with LEGO Artist Christina Griffin Hull to build a beautiful LEGO model of his firm’s latest project....

Featured Models / Interviews

October 27, 2015

National Congress of Brazil / Unity Temple

My upcoming book The LEGO Architect includes 50 different LEGO models by 38 different LEGO artists. I’m excited to talk with many of the artists featured in the book and share their stories here....

Featured Models / Interviews

September 7, 2015

Oklahoma Landmarks

I am excited to share the collective works of LEGO artist Ricardo Montoya, who is re-creating the landmarks of Oklahoma in a minimalist style. His interest in LEGO was rekindled by the LEGO Architecture...

Maggie's Centre (2013) in Newcastle, UK, by Cullinan Studio. LEGO Model by Steve Mayes.

Featured Models / Interviews

August 31, 2015

Maggie’s Centre Newcastle

We can thank LEGO Artist Steve Mayes for creating this intricate LEGO model of Maggie’s Centre Newcastle. His LEGO model warrants a deeper look, but first, what is Maggie’s Centre? Maggie’s Centre is a...

Featured / Featured Models / Interviews / Uncategorized

July 30, 2015

Bauhaus Dessau

I am excited to share another great LEGO Architecture creation: The Bauhaus Dessau. The building was designed by the influential early Modernist architect Walter Gropius. LEGO Artist Gary Garvin didn’t just build one LEGO...

Featured Models / Interviews

July 19, 2015

LAX Theme Building

I am excited to share one of the most unique new LEGO Architecture models proposed on the LEGO Ideas site, the iconic ‘Theme Building’ at LAX Airport (1961) in Los Angeles, California by Pereira...

Featured / Featured Models / Interviews / Uncategorized

April 28, 2015

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wingspread

One of my great joys in seeing large-scale LEGO re-creations is when the LEGO artist gives us a chance to see how it is built. Unfortunately, this is not very common, and usually limited...

3 hours ago by tomalphin The Rotunda, University of Virginia (1826) in Charlottesville, Virginia, by architect Thomas Jefferson. The building’s design owes a debt to the Pantheon in Rome, as well as Andrea Palladio’s I quattro libri dell'architettura (The Four Books of Architecture), which documented rules of architecture based on Greek and Roman classical architecture. Palladio is generally cited as the founding force behind Neoclassical architecture. — #UVA #Virginia #rotunda #therotunda #jefferson #thomasjefferson #architect #architecture #neoclassical #palladian #charlottesvilleva #universityofvirginia — Photos June 21, 2017 © Tom Alphin.
1 month ago by tomalphin ‘Spiral Staircase’ — Dubuque County Courthouse, 1891, in #Dubuque , #Iowa , by architect Fridolin Heer. This courthouse has an attractive, eclectic Beaux-arts style exterior. Hidden around back you will find this emergency exit. — #Architect #Architecture #Design #SecondEmpire #Baroque #Style #ArchitecturalStyle #Courthouse #Ornate #Decorative | Photo December 30, 2016 © Tom Alphin
1 month ago by tomalphin Royal National Theatre, 1976, in London, UK by architect Denys Lasdun. The building has a fairly narrow base, with upper floors cantilevered over a broad patio. A closer look reveals strips of wood grain on the building’s exterior; called ‘board formed concrete’. — #London #UK #England #Royal #Theatre #Architect #Architecture #Design #Modern #Modernism #Brutalism #BetonBrut #Mondrian #Thames #River — Photo February 18, 2017 © Tom Alphin.
2 months ago by tomalphin Don Mee / On Hing Building, Victoria, Canada, 1891. — Victoria’s #Chinatown began as miners moved to BC in 1857 for the Fraser Gold Rush. Nowadays, in Chinatowns around the world, you will find dragons, gates, pagodas, lanterns, and neon lights. Is this a sincere representation of #Chinese architecture or a caricature? If you want to learn more, this ‘99 Percent Invisible’ podcast explores the history of Chinatowns: http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/pagodas-dragon-gates/ — #Marketing #Branding #Architect #Design #Architecture #BC #Canada #Victoria #Vancouver #GoldRush #Pagoda #Dragon #Neon #NeonLights #Restaurant — Photo November 4, 2016 © Tom Alphin.
2 months ago by tomalphin The #Gherkin (officially ‘30 St Mary Axe’), 2003, in #London , #UK , by Architect #NormanFoster . The building’s popular name comes from the Pickle-shaped view of the building’s top. By looking at the building’s base, the rigid triangular structure is clearly visible. — #Modernism #HighTech #Architect #Architecture #Futuristic #Futurism #Pickle #City #Building #Design —Photo February 18, 2017 © Tom Alphin.