sonicstarlight

MOC: Bricklyn Borough Courthouse

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Hello all!

This MOC has been a very long time in the making! I started planning this build when I was still finishing up my townhouses based on the other buildings from the Diagon Alley set, well before it was announced that the next official modular would be a Town Hall. It underwent several major changes along the way - I had originally planned to have it only be 32-studs wide and actually had almost the entire exterior built before I decided the proportions were all wrong and redid it as a 64-stud wide creation. It was also to be 3 stories when it was the smaller footprint, and had things like holding cells and a jury box, but I decided it didn't need to be a criminal court and I think everything worked out for the best.

When I learned that the Town Hall would be launching this year, I was very scared at first that my build would look too much like it - thankfully once the pictures came out, I saw they are indeed very different.

Without further ado, here it is. The building is based on a bunch of courthouses throughout the United States, but not one more than any other. I did draw some inspiration from Borough Hall in Brooklyn, where I live, so the name is an homage to that.

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On the roof are two large skylights - one over the courtroom and one over the judge's chambers.

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A detail of the pediment. I am normally an advocate of the separation of church and state, but Moses was just too perfect of a fit not to use. I thought the handcuffs made pretty good scales of justice, and I like the duality of the whole concept.

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A perspective view of the front.

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The back is not my greatest work, but it's functional. I originally planned to do a flat roof, so once I decided to make it pitched I ran into a little issue with the overhang.

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Time to go inside. Here is the ground floor.

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I was tired of doing square patterns, so I decided to make some hexagons for the main lobby. I originally had something more elaborate and far less stable - after sneezing and seeing the pattern go everywhere, I went with something a little more sturdy. The elevators are loose in the shafts and have ceilings that can be removed to reveal tiled floors, but they don't move through any mechanism nor do the doors open.

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On the left is a large conference room. The two smaller rooms in that wing are a bathroom and a payphone - truly a relic of a forgotten time before cell phones took over.

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On the right are offices for the clerks, court reporters, and the like. I'm actually pretty proud of that copier - I need to take a better picture of it. There is also a little homage to Mike Judge in here (it didn't even occur to me how appropriate his name was until I just typed that :laugh: )

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Moving now to the second floor. The balcony around the atrium is a bit tight, but I really wanted it to be a double-height space.

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On the left is the courtroom. Since there is no jury box, this would handle things like small claims or family disputes.

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On the right is the judge's chambers. She has a bunch of little statues and trinkets to make the space her own. The stairs connect down to the offices below, which, when coupled with the fact that I have two elevators, makes my build much more code compliant than the Town Hall. :classic:

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The third floor is really more of a mechanical floor for the elevators and a way to let more light down into the atrium - those balconies are not accessible to the general public.

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Since this building is so wide, I didn't want it to be too tall. Here it is next to the Fire Brigade and Pet Shop to show that the two wings are actually shorter than typical modulars.

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And finally, here it is with my first MOC, the Modular Market Village...

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... and my most popular MOC, the Galaxy Diner and Empire Theater.

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Thank you so much for looking. Comments and questions are always appreciated! :classic:

Edit: Forgot to mention there are more photos on my flickr account.

Edit 2: For those who prefer Brickshelf, the folder is now live - click here to go to it. I kept the images pretty high resolution when I uploaded.

Edit 3: For those who expressed interest, here you go - click here to vote for this creation on CUUSOO.

Edit 4: For those who are also fans of my diner and theater as seen in the last photo, you're in luck - click here to vote for that creation on CUUSOO.

Edit 5: A few more details of the interiors added below.

Here are the elevator cabs - the ceilings are removable but the doors normally aren't. Those doors are the only thing that holds the elevators in place.

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Here are some shots of the ground floor offices, courtroom, and judge's chambers.

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And finally, a shot of some of the smaller details, a few (like the phone) not very visible in the other photos.

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Edited by sonicstarlight

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What a brilliant job!!! I am so fond of the hexagonal tiled floor default_wubnew.gif

The interior is exceptional and the exterior mind blowing... Simply Excellent! The justice figure is also awesome... Can't stop watching the pics as there are so many details...default_classic.gif

BRAVO

Edited by SwissBrick

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That dome is really well made! so is the flooring of the lift lobby!

that must been some amount of white bricks u used in there!

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Absolutely brilliant. I have to agree, the photocopier is superb. But then so is everything! Beautiful :wub:

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Really really awesome. You have really outdone yourself on this. I love how you manage to cram in so many details on the interiors of your MOC's.

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This is unbelievable.

It is huge and has a lot of details. I don't think I have seen them all yet.

But the handcuffs for scales are perfect. It makes the building recognisable as a courthouse.

And in the interior the lift and those hexagonal floor patterns: Amazing!

Ok, now I need some more time to see it all.

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This really is quite fantastic. While I'm sure everyone would prefer this to the Town Hall set, I doubt many would pony up the 700 or so dollars needed to buy that parts count.

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That really is fantastic. The sheer scale of the building is impressive. I don't think I would try and tackle a project that is 64 studs wide. Very intimidating! I can't decide if I like it better than your theatre/diner combo though. The theatre/diner is just so unique!

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WOW!!!!! That is gorgeous! lovely work. and it looks great up against the Fire Brigade. I so wish I had the talent or the time to build something like that. Or that LEGO would do one like that.

Again fantastic work it is very beautiful model.

Thank you for sharing with us

Charlie

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AMAZING! A thing of beauty, this is. The interior is one of the most detailed I have seen on this site. That floor is just awesome. I'm glad this isn't the real Town Hall, because I wouldn't be able to stop myself crying at not being able to afford it. The picture with the diner/theater is the best of the bunch, definite drool worthy picture.

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It is all droolworthy! :drool: The building itself is wonderful, but what I find staggering is your intricate interior detailing (aided, obviously, by your perfect knowledge of what's supposed to be found in such a place). Very smart and effective technique for the dome of the clock tower, as is the entire octagonal structure. As to the interior - my favourite part has to be judge's chambers - I'm really loving her desk lamp and library...

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CUUSOO this NOW. I don't care that I'd have to save up for it like the falcon, I would do it! And I think if this would be rebuilt with TLC to be more piece conscious, it could fall into a reasonable price point. Something like a "double CC" extra-exclusive set.

While it is not based off a popular franchise or famous landmark, I think it would sell on the beauty alone. It has one of the cleanest facades, incredibly well designed interiors, and is a very fitting size for the modular street considering the building type. Most of the time these buildings end up being too big and out-of-place, but this fits in perfectly.

Sincerely, this makes me want to remake my city to fit something like this in there; it's just so beautiful :wub:.

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It's just amazingly amazing! The exterior is wonderfully designed, it fits very well to be wider than the usual modulars. The statue and the scales of justice are brilliant addition to the facade. On the other side, the interior is even more amazing than the courthouse's architectural style. My favourite is the hexagon tiled floors, but there's so many little things that caught my eye (the statues in the judge's offices, photocopier, the elevators...). It's simply put: a fantastic MOC.

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I cannot not compare it to the new town hall set, and this building wins in almost every aspect, but mostly in the overall architecture. You managed to capture the essence of a neo-classical building nearly perfectly. The only problem with releasing this as a set (or putting it on Cuusoo) would be the large quantity of bricks needed...

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This is incredible! That must have been so much work for you.

I would've loved the official Town Hall set to look more like this but I totally agree with your arguments regarding the base plate - a 32x32 Town Hall was bound to look squished and out of proportion. I especially love the tall columns ... and everything else :)

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There's just so much to like about this :wub_drool:. At first I thought it was way too big to fit in with the normal modular size, but after seeing your pictures of it together with the other buildings, I actually think it looks better with them than the official Town Hall that just dwarfs the other buildings with it's massiveness. Good call making it shorter, it does the trick of making it fit in :thumbup:. Also, your interior details are pure genius. Loving the hexagonal floor (I wonder what your initial design looked like though :laugh:), and the elevators are spot on.

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Wonderful, excellent, awesome, er what else can I say......'sonicstarlight', that's what I call raising the bar in modular designing. :moar:

The exterior is fantastic, very early 19th Century USA inspired. :wink:

Now the interior is the best part of the whole creation, detail and action a plenty ! :excited:

Brick On 'sonicstarlight' ! :excited:

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