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B-OM-13DHello 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.
On the roof are two large skylights - one over the courtroom and one over the judge's chambers.
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.
A perspective view of the front.
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.
Time to go inside. Here is the ground floor.
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.
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.
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
)
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.
On the left is the courtroom. Since there is no jury box, this would handle things like small claims or family disputes.
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.
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.
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.
And finally, here it is with my first MOC, the Modular Market Village...
... and my most popular MOC, the Galaxy Diner and Empire Theater.
Thank you so much for looking. Comments and questions are always appreciated!
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.
Here are some shots of the ground floor offices, courtroom, and judge's chambers.
And finally, a shot of some of the smaller details, a few (like the phone) not very visible in the other photos.
Edited by sonicstarlight, 27 February 2012 - 05:52 AM.
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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...
. 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 
