Weblog
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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Welcome to Legodelphia!
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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A Changing SkylineHi! Thanks for visiting Legodelphia!
I'm currently spending the summer at Temple University's main campus, and I've had more time to explore Center City than I ever had in my life.
It bothers me that Philadelphia is experiencing so much skyscraper growth right now, because that only makes Legodelphia appear less accurate, as it lacks the city's newest features.
Two buildings I would like to include in Legodelphia are the new Murano building on West Market, and the Residences at Ritz-Carlton building behind city hall, both of which are under construction. Other additions I would like to include are the Inquirer Building at 400 N Broad Street, and the municipal court building at 1801 vine street, (adjacent and identical of the Free Library). I imagine I would wait to make these additions when (and if) the American Commerce Center is built, because if that is constructed, as the city's new tallest building, I would most likely be compelled to add it to Legodelphia. In that event, would also build the Cira Centre South complex proposed near 30th Street Station.
Murano
2101 West Market Street
The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton
1460 South Penn Square
American Commerce Center
This is proposed for 18th and Arch St in Center City. It would clearly rise above all other structures.
Above Photos from Phillyskyline.com
Update Proposal:
The above structures would go in the locations specified in the image below, if the additions were to be implimented at all. This addition plan depends mostly on whether or not the American Commerce Center and Cira South are approved for real-life construction. (Inquirer Building and 1801 Vine ommitted from image)
Monday, May 12, 2008
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Spotlight on Building #33,
the little orange columned structure at the end of the Lego Franklin Parkway.
To better illustrate the buildings I will be discussing in this section, I have provided links to professional photos, all of which lead to Phillyskyline.com. The photos to which the links lead are all by the amazing photographer Bradley Maule. Brad's attention to detail in all of his photos were a great help to me as I built Legodelphia. With pictures of virtually every major building in the city before me, I was able to make Legodelphia's features resemble the real city.
The photos of Legodelphia below are all my own.
When Legodelphia was first built and sent to the Franklin Institute in 2005, it was much smaller than it is now. In fact, it was less than half the size it is now. It represented Center City only, between the Delaware and Schuylkill and from Chestnut St in the South to Vine Street in the North. At that time, there was no Delaware River, no Ben Franklin Bridge, no 30th Street Station and no Cira Centre. As much as I would have liked, there was simply not enough space to complete the entire length of Philly's Benjamin Franklin Parkway, so in the model, the Parkway terminated at what would be Logan Square/Circle. However, I placed a "representation" of Logan Circle much closer to where 16th Street would intersect the Parkway so it would look more "centered." That location was be about three blocks East of where the park actually exists in the city.When Legodelphia was expanded in 2006, I relished the opportunity to branch north and extend my Lego Parkway. I carefully designed it to cut through the city at about a 45 degree angle, making sure it formed a direct connection between City Hall, all the way to the not-yet-built Museum of Art, dissecting Logan Square (which I moved to a more accurate location) on the way.
Building the Philadelphia Museum of Art was a real challenge, and in all honesty, second to the Ben Franklin Bridge, it was the most difficult building to recreate. It had to resemble the real Museum, which meant I had to try to utilize my very slim supply of orange bricks. I had no idea how I would make the columns, and the fact that the museum is positioned on a 45 degree angle in reference to Market Street made it all the more challenging, because Legos cannot be placed in such an angle.
Using my imagination, as I did from the very first brick laid in the entire model, I obtained a few strange little pieces which I later found are used as the bars of the jail cells in Lego's Police Headquarters playset (item #7744). I discovered that these jail house "bars" made excellent Corinthian Columns not only for the Museum of Art, but also for the Academy of Natural Sciences (building #29), the Franklin Institute Science Museum (#30), and the Free Library of Philadelphia (#31).My Parkway was astounding, and added such a Philadelphia feel to my city that it couldn't quite capture before. Looking from the perspective of the Art Museum, the entire city seems to part like the Red Sea, making way for an unobstructed view of Legodelphia's City Hall. To the East of City Hall's Tower, the Ben Franklin Bridge, Aramark Tower and Loew's Hotel are prominently visible. To the West stand Verizon Tower, Comcast Center (origional version), the former Blue Cross Tower, and the Commerce Square twins. Behind the Art Museum I placed a few small pines to represent the southernmost tip of Fairmount Park. A little further north would be Boathouse Row. The Parkway was a huge success, and I even impressed myself.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
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IT'S COMCASTIC!!!
Especially in blue. Yes. This is the one. This is what I had in mind.
It might seem obvious to build it blue, since the building's glass has a blue tint to it in real life, but the reason I hesitated to build it this color is because I was afraid it would blend in too much with it's neighbor, One Liberty Place there. Because these buildings are the tallest in Legodelphia, I thought it might look weird to see so much blue in the skyline...
Plus, Lego blue is different than the blue in the real Comcast Center, so I figured, why not just go all-out and make it a totally different color?...I actually built Comcast Center now in yellow, green, and red, but after much thought, I realized blue just represents it best. So I finally built it in blue. And to make sure it would look okay in my Lego skyline, I even built a "replica" of Legodelphia's Liberty Place and placed the towers next to each other. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the two buildings look very natural next to one another, despite them being built in the same color.
