[MOC] Jardin de Radeaux (WIP)

[BrickCommander9]

Hi everyone!

 

I wanted to take this opportunity to share my current project, Jardin de Radeaux.

 

A royal palace, fit for a king!

 

Here are some initial pictures of the facade and first floor:

 

 

Can't wait to hear what you guys think!

[Sarophas]

So I guess the bar was indeed raised! The only downside to this project is the wait between updates, seriously though, this looks like the beginning of something absolutely amazing! 

Also, do you have more info on this build? E.g. what it's inspired by, what period, etc.?

Edited December 6, 2020 by Sarophas

[zoth33]

Looking good so far.  I like the windows and the doorway.  Although having the bedroom so close to the front door may be a problem for the king if assassins try to get him.  Nice job.  

[BrickCommander9]

2 hours ago, Sarophas said:

So I guess the bar was indeed raised! The only downside to this project is the wait between updates, seriously though, this looks like the beginning of something absolutely amazing! 

Also, do you have more info on this build? E.g. what it's inspired by, what period, etc.?

Thanks! The updates will (hopefully) come quickly. I should have another one tomorrow with most of the first floor completed.

 

It is loosely inspired by the grand palaces in France from the late medieval period to early renaissance. Think the louvre or versailles. 

 

In my post tomorrow, I will also post a drawing of the general plan for a better idea.

 

5 minutes ago, zoth33 said:

Looking good so far.  I like the windows and the doorway.  Although having the bedroom so close to the front door may be a problem for the king if assassins try to get him.  Nice job.  

Haha! This building is the royal apartment section of the palace... it will only have bedrooms (and maybe a bathroom- I haven't decided yet). 

 

There will be 2 more wings to the building with the public spaces.

 

And there will be a large courtyard/botanical garden in the middle with a fountain. should be pretty cool!

[zoth33]

Ah ok I thought that was a little bold to have the bedroom like that.  This is going to be huge then.  Nice job so far and have fun building!!

[BrickCommander9]

52 minutes ago, zoth33 said:

Ah ok I thought that was a little bold to have the bedroom like that.  This is going to be huge then.  Nice job so far and have fun building!!

My rough plan will cover 24 standard baseplates (4x6), but about half (if not more) will be landscaping.

[BrickCommander9]

I promised an update today, and I have one- albeit a relatively small one.

 

I have mostly finished the first floor. There is the "blue suite" on the left, the "yellow suite" on the right (which is still incomplete), and the entry hall in the middle. I am not particularly happy with the entrance hall and staircase, but have decided it is "good enough". I want to move on to the 2nd floor, so unless I have an "aha" moment tonight, this is what I am going with. I think.

By tomorrow evening, I hope to be working on the 2nd floor, and should have some great updates throughout the week. 

 

 

[John Cromwell]

Very nice!

[JintaiZ]

Wow, it's looking very good so far! Love the tiled interior.

[BrickCommander9]

Another day, and another update. A fairly small update, but very important one as well!

 

I have mostly completed the first floor and have started work on the facade on the second.

 

I was originally planning to use almost the exact same windows, but I decided to make them larger and rectangular. At least to try it out. So far, I think it looks pretty good, but I think I need to finish the facade to know for sure. 

The 4 main columns continue towards the roof, and the minicolumns between the windows are also repeated on this floor- hopefully tying the whole building together.

 

 

16 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

Wow, it's looking very good so far! Love the tiled interior.

Thanks!  The "tile" is actually not tiles at all, but bricks on their sides :-)

18 hours ago, John Cromwell said:

Very nice!

Thanks! Hope you enjoy watching the project grow!

[BrickCommander9]

One more update for the night!

 

I worked more on the facade for the 2nd floor. I ran out of brown windows, so I ordered more. Unfortunately, they can take a long time to arrive in Israel. I did the middle window as a placeholder. That said, I think I like what I have in general here, but I'd love to hear everyone's opinion before I build the other side.

 

In any case, it seems my next few updates will focus on the courtyard while I wait for more windows.

 

 

 

[Sarophas]

Excellent progress!! Regarding the windows on the 2nd floor, I think your original plan with the cross-shape fits better (considering the 1st floor). I also like that the windows on the 2nd floor are bigger and have round arches, which gives them a grander appearance. Also the use of studs on the columns, works really well imo.

Lastly, I think the hinges on the door/gate could benefit from some sort of decorative element, to bring some attention to it

[BrickCommander9]

1 hour ago, Sarophas said:

Excellent progress!! Regarding the windows on the 2nd floor, I think your original plan with the cross-shape fits better (considering the 1st floor). I also like that the windows on the 2nd floor are bigger and have round arches, which gives them a grander appearance. Also the use of studs on the columns, works really well imo.

Lastly, I think the hinges on the door/gate could benefit from some sort of decorative element, to bring some attention to it

Thanks!

 

The windows will all be the cross shape once my bricklink order arrives! I just needed a placeholder for the time being.

 

As for the hinges, what were you thinking? maybe plate with tooth or something?

 

I started laying out the courtyard today, so expect to see progress there coming soon!

[Sarophas]

Yeah the teeth could be enough, just something to cover the studs mostly.

[jtooker]

Great progress - the build looks great!  The windows are looking great - both on the inside and out.  I like façade - fun techniques.  My only suggestion would be to have a larger stair case with a banister.

[BrickCommander9]

1 hour ago, jtooker said:

Great progress - the build looks great!  The windows are looking great - both on the inside and out.  I like façade - fun techniques.  My only suggestion would be to have a larger stair case with a banister.

Thanks!

 

I am also not happy with the staircase, but I spent hours on it and came up with nothing and gave up. I think I will give it another shot.

 

 

[BrickCommander9]

A decent amount of progress to report in today's update.

 

I have been working on the first half of the courtyard/gardens, with its central fountain. I have it mostly laid out, and so far it is looking pretty good!

 

All of the dark tan plates will be replaced with tile when they arrive- it is a placeholder for now.

 

 

[Grover]

11 hours ago, BrickCommander9 said:

I am also not happy with the staircase, but I spent hours on it and came up with nothing and gave up. I think I will give it another shot.

You can aim for a wide staircase, with or without curves or splits.  Here's a picture from one of my last builds when it was a WIP with a wide central staircase.  I think it's kind of nice to round out the edges with the new quarter circle tiles.

[BrickCommander9]

33 minutes ago, Grover said:

You can aim for a wide staircase, with or without curves or splits.  Here's a picture from one of my last builds when it was a WIP with a wide central staircase.  I think it's kind of nice to round out the edges with the new quarter circle tiles.

That is gorgeous- the stairs and the entire build!!!

 

Are the stairs offset a half stud on jumpers?

 

I considered something like this and played around with it, but the big problem is that in my build, you would be viewing the back side of the staircase, and it won't look great.

 

I will definitely play around with it this weekend.

[Grover]

20 minutes ago, BrickCommander9 said:

That is gorgeous- the stairs and the entire build!!!

Are the stairs offset a half stud on jumpers?

I considered something like this and played around with it, but the big problem is that in my build, you would be viewing the back side of the staircase, and it won't look great.

I will definitely play around with it this weekend.

Thanks!  The stairs are all on studs, with the exception of the rail posts second from the bottom where they flair out.  Those are on 1x2 jumpers.  The dark red carpeting is a half plate higher than the stairs, although it may be hard to see in the picture.  I set the four studs wide holding the dark red carpeting tiles onto headlight bricks attached perpendicularly to another headlight brick to get the half plate height difference.

I think if you want to build something like this you can unless you want to put a lot of space under your stairs.  This is blocked off in the back and looks like a normal marble staircase.  The split sides that go up left and right are flying, so there's plenty of room beneath and they don't look bad.  You can see them a little better in another WIP shot here.

I was inspired by this staircase which uses a paper or fabric carpet.  I had to play with the bricks to get the half plate offset, but it was fun.  Good luck with yours!  I'm interested to see what you come up with!

[BrickCommander9]

On 12/12/2020 at 7:07 AM, Grover said:

Thanks!  The stairs are all on studs, with the exception of the rail posts second from the bottom where they flair out.  Those are on 1x2 jumpers.  The dark red carpeting is a half plate higher than the stairs, although it may be hard to see in the picture.  I set the four studs wide holding the dark red carpeting tiles onto headlight bricks attached perpendicularly to another headlight brick to get the half plate height difference.

I think if you want to build something like this you can unless you want to put a lot of space under your stairs.  This is blocked off in the back and looks like a normal marble staircase.  The split sides that go up left and right are flying, so there's plenty of room beneath and they don't look bad.  You can see them a little better in another WIP shot here.

I was inspired by this staircase which uses a paper or fabric carpet.  I had to play with the bricks to get the half plate offset, but it was fun.  Good luck with yours!  I'm interested to see what you come up with!

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous moc! I would love to see more- do you have a thread, flickr album, something? And also thanks for sharing that link- I actually had found a low res copy of that picture on pinterest, but couldn't find the original!

 

I have been a bit slower than I would like on the building due both to family reasons (I have a pregnant wife and 2 1/2 year old daughter), but also because I am waiting for parts.

 

In the meantime, I have done a small amount of interior work, but don't have an pics yet. I have added some trees to the courtyard. I am not entirely happy with them, but will keep them for the time being...

 

[Grover]

Looking good!  If you want to smooth out the grass edge around the fountain, you can use some wedge plates in green.  I don't know if you meant it to be landscaped in square corners, though, it may be artistic.  I kind of like a little more texture to trees, so you can put SNOT plates on the outside to give more of a bark texture with the studs and some flare at the bottom with slopes.  Of course, if these are manicured trees that don't have rough bark like oaks or something, then the smoother texture is more appropriate.  You can also do some really detailed whip trees that might look good here in various colors to represent fruit trees, etc.  @adde51 does some amazing whip trees, some examples of which can be seen here and here and here.

My Flickr is here.  I tend to keep my WIPs elsewhere.  Good luck with getting your bricks in!  The postal service here has been crazy slow lately so everything is late.