Calgary's New Central Library (approx. 100,000 pieces)

[Ben]

For the past 15 months I have been working on a model of Calgary's New Central Library. The model is huge -- 288 studs wide, 128 studs deep, 66 bricks tall and approximately 100,000 pieces. The interior of the building is populated with books, chairs, computers, tables, and a cafe. Over 330 minifigs call the model home. While the Lego model is now complete, the actual building won't be done until sometime in 2018.

A couple of pictures follow at the end of this message. Additional pictures are available at http://www.bensbricks.ca/ncl.php#ncl. Let me know what you think!

Ben

[StClair]

Wow! That's a beautiful building! You make it look effortless! Is that stickers on the windows creating the white lines?

[Ben]

Yes, the white lines on the windows were done with stickers. I'm happy to say that someone else was responsible for working out the pattern for them and applying all 660 of them to the window panes. I just had to insert them into the frames in the correct order.

[backbencher]

That's gorgeous. Which program did you use to model it? Have any issues? How long did it take you just to order all the additional required pieces?

[Ben]

I didn't really do any computer-based modelling before I started building. I started with concept art drawings that were provided to me. From there, I took measurements from the drawings (typically in a paint program so I could get something accurate to a pixel) to determine how wide, deep and tall various aspects of the building were supposed to be. Then I marked the points on the base plates and worked out smooth curves between the points by trial and error.

Did I have any issues? Getting parts to push together was a little bit problematic at times. I built each of the floors in 4 sections. All of them were constructed as 3 layers of overlapping plates. Pushing the fully assembled floor down onto the bricks below it was quite challenging on the right side of the model above the tan coloured section. I also had a little bit of difficulty with this in other places. The only other real problem I had was that my table was too small -- I actually had to build an addition on to my table to accommodate the last 10 inches of the model.

Ordering pieces was time consuming, and white 1x4 hinge plates and 1x4x6 window panes were expensive! I didn't keep track of the time that I spent ordering, but it was substantial. Shipping times for things ordered from online PAB were also annoyingly long (Bricks & Pieces and Bricklink were far faster). However, there were places where I was really fortunate with what I could get locally. Several times my local Lego store had just the right parts available like tons of 2x12 gray plate, various shapes of white bricks, other gray plates, 2x2 gray tiles, brown and red chairs, and flowers, among others. While it takes time to pack the cups, it was really nice to be able to get some items immediately.

[dr_spock]

Wow, great job. Was it a commission?

[Ben]

Yes, it was commissioned by the Calgary Public Library Foundation (the fund raising arm of the Calgary Public Library).

[tankm]

Wow... great piece of art !

[winbrant]

Awesome job Ben. Have yet to see this in person!

w.

[grommom]

It's beautiful, they must be very pleased!