WhiteFang Posted November 22, 2015 Hello everyone, I am here to share this upcoming latest LEGO Architecture 2016 series. This brand new 21027 Berlin is one of the first LEGO Architecture sets which are specially designed for this coming release in year 2016. LEGO Architecture fans will be in for a treat as the designers from the LEGO Architecture Team has decided to take a slightly different approach unlike before. I am truly glad to be able to be part of the Eurobricks Reviewing Team to be able to review one of the latest LEGO Architecture sets for 2016. It has been quite awhile since I last did an LEGO Architecture Review and it brought back some memories when I was reviewing the 21021 Marina Bay Sands previously. Special thanks to Eurobricks LUG Ambassador, CopMike, LEGO CEE and Architecture Design Team for giving me this opportunity to bring this opportunity to the Eurobricks Community. Without further ado, let me bring all of you to visual tour of micro-setting in Berlin, Germany. Name: 21027 Berlin (Germany) Theme: LEGO Model Making / Architecture Year: 2016 Pieces: 288 Minifigs: Nil Price: USD $29.99, GBP 24.99, EURO 29.99, SGD $59.90 Resources: Brickset, BrickLink Celebrate Berlin with this LEGO® Architecture Skyline model! Capture the architectural essence of Berlin with this magnificent set that brings together the iconic Reichstag, Victory Column, Deutsche Bahn Tower, Berlin TV Tower and the Brandenburg Gate, in an inspirational skyline setting. Each individual LEGO® structure is designed to provide a unique and rewarding building experience, with true-to-life color and relative scale depiction. This wonderful model also features 3 sections of the Berlin Wall with graffiti deco, adding a historical edge to this detailed recreation of one of the world’s most compelling cities. • LEGO interpretation of the Berlin skyline. • Features the Reichstag, Victory Column, Deutsche Bahn Tower, Berlin TV Tower and the Brandenburg Gate. • The included booklet contains information about the designer, architecture and history of each structure, as well as historical facts about • Berlin and its architectural heritage (English and German languages only. Other languages available for download at LEGO.com/architecture). • Features 3 sections of the Berlin Wall with graffiti deco. • Includes a 4x32 tiled base with decorative “Berlin” nameplate. • Recreate the world's most beautiful cities with the LEGO Architecture Skyline Collection. • LEGO Architecture celebrates the world of architecture through the medium of the LEGO brick, and is developed for all with an interest in design, architecture and history. • Measures 9” (23cm) high, 9” (25cm) wide and 1” (5cm) deep. An original box image of the 21027 Berlin Back view of the original box image of the 21027 Berlin This is a very nice and compact looking LEGO Architecture box This is a very nice piece of LEGO Architecture art in a different perspective To begin with, this is the first time the LEGO Architecture Design Team has put together various sights, buildings and attraction in a microscale scenic setting in one single display set. The scale of the entire model has scaled down tremendously into a much smaller scale. In less than 300 bricks, you are able to construct six iconic Berlin sights altogether, even though one or two can be quite debatable. The completed built is measured at 255mm (length) and 230mm (height). The choice of Berlin, the Capital of Germany is a pretty interesting choice for a country residing in Europe with long dramatic changing history in their cultural setting. It is nice to see some German past and modern architecture history being highlighted in this context. Berlin is one of the three major cities to be featured in this design. The other two major cities are 21028 New York, United States and 21026 Venice, Italy which are reviewed by our fellow Eurobricks Staff, Bob De Quatre and Clone OPatra respectively. The content of the sealed box By slicing the adhesive sealed labels from the box, you are greeting by this lovely welcome. The sealed box come with four mint un-numbered packs, an instruction manual and a survey request by TLG to share your acquired product experience. After building the set, these are the remaining spare parts. The nicely bind instruction manual is more than just a building manual where it showed the steps to finish the actual product. It is an informative manual with well summarised information on these various attractions. These few images in the instruction manual such as The Berlin Wall, Berlin TV Tower and Brandenburg Gate contain good introductory information on these sight, building and place. The introductory information is written in English and German respectively. I find the manual pretty interesting to read as it contain interesting quotes such as the quote by US President Ronald Reagan said in year 1987 "Mr.Gorbachev, tear down this wall" which refer to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall which divide the country in Western and Eastern sphere of influence. The entire building content for all four mint packs Exclusive printed parts After pouring all of the bricks and mixed them up for the building experience, I will typically identify those elements which is of particularly interesting to me. I will try my best to scope those special printed LEGO elements. In this case, this set contain four exclusive printed elements which comprise of the printed architecture tile entitled 'Berlin'. The other three are illustration of the Berlin Wall which divide the cities that separate from one another and the other piece is placed together with the Brandenburg Gate. Building process - Laying the foundation of Berlin You start the process by laying the foundation of the Berlin by utilising the base of 31 studs across and four to six studs wide. The finished foundation will allow the six iconic sights to place in their significant positioning. The entire perimeter for the outer base layer is surrounded by a mixture of 1x4 and 1x8 black flat tiles. We start by placing the two piece element of the Berlin Wall illustration. Building process - Starting from the left to the right Continue on the building process by placing the completed distinct Reichstag. The Reichstag contain a very rare brick element which is the 1x2 tan brick colour with groove. Till this date, it can only be found in this Minecraft set, 21114 The Farm with just two bricks. We continue the built by working on the Victory Column and Deutsche Bahn Tower to form the central focal of this display. It appears the micro setting of Berlin is forming well. Building process - We are almost near to completion Put in the added touch of the Berlin TV Tower with the very long antenna which form the peak of this scene and you are almost near to complete this fine piece of architecture art. The completed built of Berlin You are finally done with this simple LEGO Architecture built which form Berlin. The Berlin sights is formed by two master architecture icons with the furthest left Reichstag and furthest right Brandenburg Gate as the most stand-out icons. Both icons are rich in historic values, while the central attraction form the modern architecture appeal such as the Deutsche Bahn Tower and Berlin TV Tower. The Berlin Wall and the Victory Column are not very appealing even though it did their best by putting such ornamental attempt. That's the best I could associate but I find it extremely abstract and hardly entice me on this aspect. Although I don't quite understand the two elements to form the Berlin Wall sight, but I do welcome the exclusive printed parts. The nicest thing which I am actually fond of, was both Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate. The Reichstag has a nice historic appeal due to the symbolic representation in Germany. It will make a fine LEGO Architecture set if the designers decide to pick this up. Whereas, the Brandenburg Gate has appeared in a LEGO Architecture set in 2011.It has reduced significantly on the scale aspect. All in all, this is much more of a scaling down project to an appropriate LEGO Architecture standards where relative is used considerably to ensure the anesthetic appearance does not degrade the overall design. Well, in short this is like art in the form of LEGO bricks. You may view detailed view on this completed built from this side view, the other side view and back view. Introducing the Berlin Wall and Reichstag Well, let's begin the first iconic sight with The Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic, East Germany, starting on 1961, the wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in 1989. The demolition officially begun in 1990 and was completed in 1992. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In reality, the wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period. While the second iconic sight resound with Reichstag. It is a German word which associate to 'Parliament' or 'Diet'. The Reichstag building is a historical site in Berlin, constructed to house the Imperial Diet, of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. After World War II, the building fell into dismay. The ruined building was made safe again and partially refurbished in the 1960s, but no attempt at full restoration was made until after German reunification in October 1990, when it underwent a reconstruction led by architect Norman Foster. After its completion in 1999, it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag. Introducing the Victory Column, Deutsche Bahn Tower, Berlin TV Tower and Brandenburg Gate The third iconic sight refer to the Victory Column. It is a monument in Berlin and was designed by Heinrich Strack, after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War, by the time it was inaugurated in September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War and France in the Franco-Prussian War, giving the statue a new purpose of a victorious symbol. The miniature mini-statue placed at the top of the column was used to represent the bronze sculpture of 'Victoria'. The fourth iconic sight is the Deutsche Bahn Tower. It belongs to a German railway company. It is also known to be the second-largest transport company in the world, after the German postal and logistics company, DHL, and is the largest railway operator and infrastructure owner in Europe. The building stands on Potsdamer Platz and forms the eastern end of the Sony Center. It has a total height of 103 meters and has 26 floors. The red cheese slope in the design is used to represent the company name. The fifth iconic sight is the Berlin TV Tower, also known as Fernsehturm Berlin. It is a television tower in Berlin, first completed in 1969. The original total height of the tower was 365m, but it rose to 368m after the installation of a new antenna in the 1990s. The Berlin TV Tower is the fourth tallest freestanding structure in Europe, after Moscow's Ostankino Tower, the Kiev TV Tower and the Riga Radio and TV Tower. There is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The visitor platform, also called panoramic floor, is at a height of about 203m above the ground and visibility can reach 42km on a clear day. the last iconic sight is none other than the Brandenburg Gate. It is one of the well known landmarks in Germany. It is built on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel. It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and built by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to 1791. Having suffered considerable damage in World War II, the Brandenburg Gate was fully restored from 2000 to 2002. Throughout its existence, the Brandenburg Gate was often a site for major historical events and is today considered a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany, but also of European unity and peace. Side by side comparison with Marina Bay Sands and Berlin for illustration purpose Thank you Eurobricks Staff and LEGO CEE Team for giving Eurobricks and myself a chance to review this! Hopefully my wife and I can visit Berlin and visit these iconic attractions Everything can be re-packed into the LEGO Architecture box To conclude, this set is a slightly above average LEGO Architecture set. At first glance, you might felt this is a pretty unappealing LEGO Architecture set as it appear as a remix blend with numerous of micro landmarks of Berlin. After building it, I felt rather satisfied with the entire built. The choice and placement of these iconic sights made me visit and read the history of Berlin, Germany in much greater keen interest. The Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate stood out to me. Hopefully one day, I can visit Berlin and view these marvel actual architecture together with my wife. Personally, I felt the designer is bold to take on this one of a kind scenic display and deviate from the usual approach. It is suitable for a table top display on your office table. I am definitely intending to display this set nicely. It has quite a nice artistic appeal. The uncertainty which might defer your choice to acquire this set could be the unknown price tag as of now. I am suspecting this set could range in USD$30 to USD$40 which is quite costly. It will be a pleasant surprise if this is in the range of USD$20 and it will be one of the push factors for me to acquire the rest as well. In general, LEGO Architecture sets aren't that affordable to begin with and is meant to target at serious LEGO fans who are keen in the LEGO Architecture series. Summary review Playability: 3/10 (Little playability since this is much intended and different from the regular mainstream.) Design: 8/10 (Well integrated designs under the micro setting with six Berlin iconic sights altogether.) Price: 5/10 (I do not know the SRP for this set yet but I suspsect it won't be affordable which is why I gave half the rating based on piece count.) Overall: 5.3/10 (Do get this set if you are a huge supporter of LEGO Architecture and if you are a causal collector, you can get this set or others if you love this place and sights very much, perhaps based on your past travels.) I gave it a "3" based on my Review Score Card. What about you? I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are welcomed. Pictures can be found in My Flickr. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kinggregus Posted December 1, 2015 This is the set from the new Architecture wave I am the most impressed with. The buildings are all true to the original material. It is quite impressive what can be done at this scale. I like also the fact that the builds will not be repetitive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Borex Posted December 1, 2015 I like this version of the landscape sets the best. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
santaends Posted December 1, 2015 4 tan groove bricks? Nice.. hopefully prices on bricklink start dropping as well. Enjoying your nice photography as always. :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KlodsBrik Posted December 1, 2015 Thanks for another great review. Just one thing. You should definately have had the arrows on the picture with the Victory column, Deutche bahn tower and the Brandenburg gate pointing in the opposite direction ! Other than that, i always enjoy your photography skills. I love Berlin, and this is a pretty neat build showcasing some of the highlights of the city. I wont vote on this set till there is a pricetag on it. But im pretty sure i will need to pick one if not a few of these up just for parts over time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WhiteFang Posted December 1, 2015 Thanks guys for your thoughtful comments. I enjoyed working on this review and more importantly for you guys to enjoy them. Yes, four more tan groove bricks, santaends. Good news for those wish to use this part. It's a very rare building part. Oh well, the directions are pretty firm down there, KlodsBrik. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pate-keetongu Posted December 1, 2015 Great review. This is rather cool. I really like the idea of these cityscape sets. They look a bit too tight-packed though, the Bahn Tower and TV tower almost seem to touch each other... I'm glad the graffiti-painted bit of the wall is there, giving a taste of Berlin's fresh and lively underground culture. It's very refreshing cty to visit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmynick Posted December 8, 2015 The Fernsehturm is great, and the Brandenburg gate is OK as well. I'm not so impressed by the other models, though. The Deutsche Bahn tower is in person a nice building, but all shapes and texture get lost when it's built to such a small scale, and in black as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WhiteFang Posted December 17, 2015 I have updated the review with the US SRP of $29.99 and the official Shop@Home Description, as shared by Herky in the 2016 Architecture discussion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KlodsBrik Posted December 17, 2015 I guess the price is what is to be expected form an architecture set. What make the price higher than average sets per piece count is obviously the nice box and instructions booklet. However these sets tend to hold a lovely collection of not to ordinary pieces. Like this Berlin set. I think im gonna have to get one at least during the year. Thanks for the update WhiteFang Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Legogal Posted February 4, 2016 Berlin is an excellent choice for an Architecture microscale build. It is one hopping city these days, and not a place to miss if you are touring Europe. Its out of this world museums will blow you away. The structures in this set rest upon so much history that it gives me the chills just thinking about what each of these places represent. Many of our fathers and grandfathers fought wars over this landscape. Yet modern Berlin is extremely post war in character. The younger Germans under 40 missed most of the excitement and decades of fall out after WWII. With the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, those under 30 have no memory of life in a divided Germany. The only thing they left out was a towering building crane to represent the hundreds located in projects all over Berlin. Being so fond of this city, this set long will remind us of our fun exploits in Berlin. So what are YOU waiting for? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
