26 replies to this topic

[MetroiD]

B-OV-17B



A month or so ago, Asya came up with the idea of building a florist for our future town layout. Thrilled by the idea, I made a Divco delivery truck, after which we started building our first ever modular town structure.




The architectural style of the building is modern baroque, which will help fit in much easier amongst all the other structures from different architectural periods we have in mind. Despite that, the "baroque" element was kept as a more subtle note, since we did not want to end up with a structure that would be way too gaudy to house a flower shop. It is however featured in the baroque-ish name of the building, Fleurs du Loutres, which translated from French should sound something like Flowers of the Otters... (do correct me if I'm wrong please, I never did manage to quite master that language!)




Obviously, the structure is intended as a corner building, and in the future we are planning on adding to its sides and creating a little inner sort of courtyard area which will then be used for a gazebo or a small park - hence the arch and the narrow tunnel.




She sells seashells... not. She sells flowers actually. And both she and her colleague are mighty happy doing that! Joe the delivery boy is also more than happy to drive his restored trusty Divco delivery truck around, so I guess the foundations for a succesful business have indeed been laid.




Even though he's a charming young man, Joe is also a bit absent-minded. The mediocre (at best) top speed of his Divco is a perfect match to Joe's wits, but the girls always make sure he's safe. Despite that, today's new flower arrangement has obviously caught his attention and I can just hear Helen here callig after him, "Hey, Joe, careful with the stairs, you're carrying one of our best bouquets!"




It's early in the morning - the flower store has just opened for customers, Asi is busy attending to her flowers, Joe is starting on his first delivery course for the day, the mailman is halfway done with the morning mail... And a sigfig who bears some uncanny resemblance to yours truly here has finally decided it's time to rise and shine. His girlfriend is already making sure that the flowers are looking fine and healthy, and I guess you can tell she's also taken care of the household... Dishes are washed and the laundry is done. Bliss!



The building is 100% furnished, however I am not quite satisfied with the quality of the interior photos that I've managed to take so far. I'm planning on shooting some more and then I'll post a few pics of the interior. For now, let me just tell you that the house itself consists of a bathroom, kitchen + dining corner + bedroom. Nothing too grand really, but then again it's all you need really :]



Oh, and I'll also do a close-up shot of the mailman with his mail delivery bike. It might be a bit weird that flowers are to be delivered using a minitruck in our town, whereas mail is delivered using a bike, but what can you do... we're environmental-friendly... well sort of. In any case, I think the mailman is perfectly happy with his bike for now.



MOCpages
Brickshelf

Edited by Phred, 06 January 2012 - 06:38 AM.
Fixed broken images.

[Ricecracker]

Great job, as always! I'm really loving all the subtle design elements, and the seashells (Which apparently, she doesn't sell) are great little details. I also think that the use of the Fabuland basket is great, and really blends in nicely with the rest of the building. The vines creeping up the side of the building are also a wonderful little touch that you two have added. Keep up the great work!

[MetroiD]

Thanks mate! The vines were actually a last-minute touch which wasn't really planned but we thought they'd make a perfect solution to the problem of having an absolutely naked ugly exterior wall there. Decorating it in any other way or adding another window + seashell + arch combination was impossible, since that would have ruined the small kitchen corner behind that wall, so the vines came up naturally as the best way to go.

Once we add another building to the side of this one, the vines will disappear from this one's "back" side and transcend to the next building. I already look forward to that :]

[Ricecracker]

Asya & Bobby Otters, on Apr 8 2009, 03:07 PM, said:

Thanks mate! The vines were actually a last-minute touch which wasn't really planned

Aren't all the best details added that way?

Quote

Once we add another building to the side of this one, the vines will disappear from this one's "back" side and transcend to the next building. I already look forward to that :]

I was wondering about that, and now I have an answer without even asking a question!

[Erdbeereis]

Beutiful MOC Otters!

The design elements on the exterior are superb; I especially like the clams. Add to that the superb interior and you get a fantastic creation.

I love it!

[Eilif]

Beautiful, I  love it!  The tunnel is a nice touch, and I especialy like the turret on the third floor and the flower cart. your sink with dishes and the washing machine on the second floor are also very well excecuted.  

I see you used the same yellow flower brick/decal as I did.  I got mine in a mixed batch, do you know what set it came from?

[Freddie]

Beautiful. Just beautiful. There's lots of little details that I like here - the arch-decorations, the vines, the wall decoration on the wall opposite the flower shop and the solution for the entrance to the flat, with the tunnel and that.

Very nice indeed. Lots and lots of eyecandy, just the way I like 'em*.


* - Statement not limited to buildings!   

[Athos]

I'm not sure I like the yellow. It seems too bright for the more muted colors of the CC style sets. I'm also not sure I like the plated roof, when all the other sets [primarily] use sloped bricks. I also think parts of it are a little flat (specifically, the part above the first floor, but below the windows on the second, it needs something more there). The awning over the main door could use a little more support, maybe two poles on either corner.

I really like the seashells and the angled corner.

Steve

[Deemo]

I love the architecture of the building.  The ivy climbing up the walls is a nice touch.  Good job!

[Erdbeereis]

Athos, on Apr 8 2009, 03:44 PM, said:

I'm not sure I like the yellow. It seems too bright for the more muted colors of the CC style sets.

I think that's what makes this special. It looks like a seaside village building or something. It doesn't need to perfectly match TLG's sets.

One thing that might look nice and add a different dimension to the top floor would be to make the windows stick out one or two studs, so it's more prominent.

[Ralph_S]

Little nit-pick: I don't think it conforms to the modular buildings standard, which makes it hard to combine with sets such as the green grocer and cafe corner. Other than that I love it. It's nice and bright, has got lots of nice features such as the ivy growing up the walls and it has a great interior. Very nice.

Cheers,
Ralph

[Bricks]

That's really awesome

I love such easy city houses (TLC should announce more of them)!
The best is the shape with the rounded down edge, the different colours among each other are nice, too.
So all in all this is a well made house and I'm looking forward to see more from you

'Bricks'

[Basiliscus]

I like the yellow and white design. It's quite bright but the colours don't clash and it gives it a unique "happy" feel!  

I like the seashells below the arches and the entrance to the flat. The ivy up the side adds realism. The dark blue and white awning contrasts nicely with the yellow and white. You've packed a whole lot into the interior - the dishes, sink, loadsa flowers and my favourite is the stairs! My only suggestion would be using something else for the cooker - the 2x2 tile with the black circle looks too simplistic compared to the rest of the detail you've got in there.

Great work, hope to see more from you (two)!

[prateek]

great!!! i like the small details like the clams and the mosaic thing i also like the truck a lot

[Talin Agasan]

Wonderful! Great idea, and very well carried through.

I just noticed the wind-screen wipers on the van. I've never seen that ever before - but it seems logical. The climbing rose is beautiful, and befitting the florists. The architectural details are great too, especially the clam-shells under the arches. I never would have thought of it.

I'm glad to see that you put some effort into the interior as well, it is perfect. The building will look really well on a street next to the others.

[MetroiD]

Thanks a lot for all your comments guys! Your feedback & criticism is greatly appreciated, keep it coming please :) And thank you ever so much for your praise... it means an awful lot to us, especially bearing in mind that we're pretty new to this whole modular MOC thing.

On to the "Q&A" part then   :
@ Eilif: We got the yellow brick with flower decal on Bricklink. I believe it originally appeared in a Mickey Mouse set and is more or less a rarity (Set No. 4165).

@ Freddie: Eyecandy is gooooood, as long as it's not TOO much, after a certain point it starts to feel bad on your eyes :P I'm sure glad you like this one the way it is!

@ Athos & Ralph S: I guess I should have said that first when I posted this MOC: This building is obviously not a modular building constructed according to the CC standard. We do not own any of those modular sets and we are well aware that the structure we've come up with does not comply with the CC standard. However, it IS still modular, hence the title/ description (so much for nit-picking   ) I must stress that it was never meant as an addition to the Green Grocer / Cafe Corner or even Market Street. This is a standalone building with its different yet modular style of construction. The aim here was for each floor to be easily separable from the others - and even though they are not interchangeable or CC compatible, we will probably use it again for some of our future MOCs as well. So in that sense, "modular" probably sounds improper for this MOC, but I'm very glad that you still liked it guys :)

Regarding the colours: We do not own enough bricks in those trendy muted colours. Even if we did, I do not believe they would offer the best exterior for a building which houses a flower shop, which is generally a vivid and colourful place. However, I totally understand what you mean and I agree that there are some town buildings which simply look GOOD in tan / muted green/ blue etc. colours and yellow or red should never be used for those. Right now, I think we'll just wait until we get our hands on the original modular sets before we construct that kind of buildings. We've got enough white and grey bricks lying around anyway :]

@ Erdbeeris: Thanks for the tip! We might just implement that idea in one of the buildings which will be attached to this one and see if it looks good :)

@ Basiliscus: True that. I'll try and look for another solution for the cooker...



I'll add some more pics of this one later on (you still haven't seen its last floor - the bedroom; or the bathroom on the second floor, for that matter!) and try to work on some of your advices. Once again, thanks guys ;]

Edited by Asya & Bobby Otters, 09 April 2009 - 01:03 AM.

[Er!k]

A really nice shop! Maybe it is an idea to make the pavement just like the Café Corner/Green Grocer/Market Street style? So with the grey and dark grey tiles?

[MetroiD]

Yup, Er!k, you're right, but we'll need to place a nice Bricklink order for that cause right now we don't have anywhere near enough tiles... But those will surely be a nice finishing touch to this one.
After we're done with the tiles, I'm also planning on combining this building as it is with regular street plates in a way which would leave enough room for a sidewalk AND a tramway on the sides of the road. Since we don't own any rails / train sets yet, I can't really start experimenting on that, but I would love to give it a shot. What do you guys think, has anyone tried such a layout yet?

Edited by Asya & Bobby Otters, 09 April 2009 - 01:39 PM.

[Er!k]

Asya & Bobby Otters, on Apr 9 2009, 12:11 PM, said:

Yup, Er!k, you're right, but we'll need to place a nice Bricklink order for that cause right now we don't have anywhere near enough tiles... But those will surely be a nice finishing touch to this one.
After we're done with the tiles, I'm also planning on combining this building as it is with regular street plates in a way which would leave enough room for a sidewalk AND a tramway on the sides of the road. Since we don't own any rails / train sets yet, I can't really start experimenting on that, but I would love to give it a shot. What do you guys think, has anyone tried such a layout yet?

I see    I am very curious to see the progress on this one  

[Basiliscus]

Asya & Bobby Otters, on Apr 9 2009, 11:11 AM, said:

After we're done with the tiles, I'm also planning on combining this building as it is with regular street plates in a way which would leave enough room for a sidewalk AND a tramway on the sides of the road. Since we don't own any rails / train sets yet, I can't really start experimenting on that, but I would love to give it a shot. What do you guys think, has anyone tried such a layout yet?

It's definitely do-able. This is one of the best tram MOCs I've seen but I'd be interested to hear your take on it!

[ACCURATEin]

You did an excellent job for this being your first modular creation.

I look forward to seeing more from you!

[MetroiD]

Thanks Colin, that is a wonderful MOC indeed. And thanks ever so much for pointing me to it... That's pretty much the way I would like to try and "hide" the rails, we'll see what we'll come up with in the future :)

[Freddie]

Asya & Bobby Otters, on Apr 9 2009, 01:11 PM, said:

I'm also planning on combining this building as it is with regular street plates in a way which would leave enough room for a sidewalk AND a tramway on the sides of the road. Since we don't own any rails / train sets yet, I can't really start experimenting on that, but I would love to give it a shot. What do you guys think, has anyone tried such a layout yet?

It's absolutely possible. One of my fellow LUG'ers had a small tram-layout last year, that he brought to LEGOWorld Norway. Here the tram runs through the street, sharing its space with pedestrians, cars and trucks. It's something train-builders do when they want a challenge in building layouts.

The thing to remember with rails, is that they are one brick tall. That means the entire road has to sit one brick higher up, so if you want the rails at the same level as the road, then roadplates are pretty much out of the question. If you're going for a "light-rail system", which is characterised by having the rails separate from the road, it's pretty much like building and ordinary railroad, which I suggest you start with, because those would be far less brick intensive, and thus cheaper.

[Asuka]

A lovely and well detailed work indeed in a friendly and well fitting color scheme.
The facade looks great and the use of these clams is excellent, and the interior´s
very good too.  

[BlueBard]

Charming flower shop! I really like the van and the exterior look of the building, specially the shell detail