Category: Brick Architect

Articles related to the Brick Architect website itself.

(This includes welcoming new contributors, highlighting new or improved website functionality, reflecting on past content, and future possibilities.)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

The robots are not coming for your LEGO…

In the interest of transparency and to further the important discussion about the long-term role of AI technologies in our society, I have added an AI Policy section to our About page. As always, we would love to hear your thoughts about our approach, or additional AI technologies we should consider that align with our goals and values. The following is an excerpt of our Artificial Intelligence Policy.

Here at Brick Architect, we take pride in creating in-depth LEGO content that is written by humans, for humans. We also recognize that a number of Artifical Intelligence (AI) technologies can help us create better content.

Our Goal: Even with the introduction of advanced generative AI built on neural network architectures (such as ChatGPT), we will continue to write our own stories and complement them with great photography. If we decide to include AI-generated images or text in future articles, they will be clearly marked.

We are currently using AI technology in the following ways:

  • Image Editing
  • Text Editing
  • Summarization
  • Translation
  • Transcription

Lastly, as more and more content from around the web is replaced with AI generated content, we aim to continue offering rigorously researched articles written by humans. We’ve always include links to source material when appropriate, but we will make a greater effort to include more citations to reputable sources that help us write the best content possible.

As always, we would love to hear your thoughts about our approach, or additional AI technologies we should consider that align with our goals and values.

How are you using AI? Leave a comment or email me at tom@tomalphin.com — Thanks!

Spring Cleaning—What’s New?

While Staying at Home to slow the spread of COVID-19, I’ve make a ton of small improvements to the Brick Architect website.

First of all, I want to recognize that COVID-19 presents a very real threat to our safety and way of life. My thoughts are with everyone on the front lines fighting this virus, everyone working critical jobs to support our communities, everyone whose livelihoods are at risk, everyone who is nervous for the safety of family and friends, and everyone who is struggling in these ambiguous times.

I’ve been able to work from home for the last six weeks… relying on walks, bike rides, and gardening to keep me busy. I’ve been less motivated to create new content, but I have made a ton of smaller improvements throughout the website.

Updates to existing content:

Visual Improvements:

  • A subtle studded light gray background is shown on large displays (over 1200px wide).
  • Articles with a ‘Featured image’ appear borderless on the Homepage, Category Archives, & Author Archives. (Before this change, the left edge of the image was aligned with the text.)
  • A description for each category is now shown on the respective Category Archives. (A “show all” button was also added to upper-left corner of the Archive Pages.)
  • Updated pages for The LEGO Architect, additional resources, and the 9 foreign-language editions to fix bugs and increase consistency with the rest of the website.
  • The Table of Contents is less distracting and works better on smaller screens. (It is only shown on long articles/pages.)
  • For comments without an avatar, I replaced the generic image with the silhouette of a LEGO head.
If something looks funny, or you have an idea to make Brick Architect even better, please email me at tom@tomalphin.com!

Secure access to Brick Architect website.

Brick Architect added a security certificate to make browsing the website more secure.

Lock icon.

Visitors are automatically redirected to the secure version of this website located at https://brickarchitect.com (The “s” stands for secure.)

Benefits of secure websites:

  • Ensures the content you read and text you enter on the site remains private.
  • Instills confidence that you are accessing the genuine Brick Architect site.
  • Signals to new users that Brick Architect is a top quality website that is willing to invest in the latest technologies.
You should see a small “lock” icon to the left of the address bar indicating that the page is secure. If you find a page which shows an “!” icon instead, please let me know by emailing tom@tomalphin.com

Welcoming contributor Jeannie Jonas

Please help me in welcoming Jeannie Jonas to the Brick Architect team!

Jeannie Jonas

Jeannie is a lifelong LEGO devotee, joining us from nearby Portland, Oregon.

In addition to a lifetime collecting and building LEGO, Jeannie has collected a diverse set of skills and interests which include degrees in Architecture and a degree in Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu. She is involved in a local LEGO User’s Group, and organizes the Architecture theme at Bricks Cascade, Portland’s annual LEGO convention which takes place in March.

Brick Architect Website Improvements

I’ve made some improvements to the Brick Architect website. It should look great on your PC, Tablet or Phone!

Brick Architect runs on WordPress, which can be customized using themes. Because there are so many different devices and web browsers out there, I can’t test every possible configuration.

Noteworthy improvements:

  • Support for short articles (asides), which are displayed in their entirety on the homepage rather than requiring you to click to see the whole article. (This post is an aside.)
  • Updated header image, which is now indented correctly on small screens.
  • Improved Author byline, with photo of author shown on both homepage and articles.
  • Categories are now shown on homepage and articles, but only on large screens.
  • Font sizes scale more predictably to larger and smaller screen sizes.
If something looks wrong, please send a screenshot and description of the issue to tom@tomalphin.com. Thanks!

Welcoming contributor Amy Alphin

Please help me in thanking my ever-patient wife for supporting my LEGO hobby!

Amy Alphin

Amy is an elementary school teacher who has built the occasional LEGO set over the years, and keeps a large bag of LEGO bricks in her classroom to help her students survive rainy day recess (which is pretty common in rainy Seattle.) She loves to travel to see natural beauty and visit historic landmarks, and is slowly learning to appreciate architecture too.

Welcoming contributor Alexander Holroyd

Please help me in welcoming Alexander Holroyd to the Brick Architect team!

Alexander Holroyd

Alexander is a Seattle-based mathematician and a life-long Technic freak. He is fascinated by mechanisms in all their complexity and simplicity, especially when applied to kinetic art and mechanical computation, and of course, especially when implemented in LEGO. He is our fifth writer.

Welcoming contributor Christine Coste

Please help me in welcoming Christine Coste to the Brick Architect team!

Christine Coste

Christine is our third writer, joining us from New Zealand. She was re-introduced to LEGO through her two daughters, whose fondness for LEGO Elves, Friends, and Disney Princess sets has brightened her LEGO color palette considerably. She works as a town planner and with her husband’s background in Architecture and a shared interest in history she has had the opportunity to visit many of the world’s greatest landmarks.

Welcoming contributor Lydia Nelson

Please help me in welcoming Lydia Nelson to the Brick Architect team!

Lydia Nelson

Lydia is the mother of 5 kids, and she enjoys building models from the LEGO Creator and Architecture themes. Her creative focus is to re-create LDS Temples using LEGO bricks, a project that has grown to include over 50 models! We’re excited to help her get started with blogging by writing articles for Brick Architect. She is our second new writer and I’m excited to have her joining us.