[MOC] The Heart in the Clay — Roland Garros 2001 Diorama

[Gui Arruda]

The Heart in the Clay — Roland Garros 2001

Hi everyone! This is my first full MOC post here. It's an original arena design inspired by Roland Garros — not a literal recreation of Philippe-Chatrier, but a diorama built to capture the spirit of one specific match: Gustavo Kuerten drawing a heart in the clay during the 2001 final, as a tribute to the crowd that carried him through that tournament.

 

Some numbers:
- ~3,200 parts
- Designed in Studio 2.0
- Scale: minifig-compatible
- 2 years from concept to final render

Three design choices I'd love feedback on

1. The clay + the heart
The court surface uses a custom tile pattern to emulate the texture of crushed brick (saibro). The heart itself is drawn using a subtle color shift in the tiles — it reads clearly from above, but dissolves into texture when seen at court level. That was the hardest part to balance.

2. The tennis net
Getting a net that reads as fabric-thin without being fragile took several iterations. Final solution uses a combination of string elements and plates to keep structural rigidity without losing the visual lightness.

3. Integrated lighting (Luminous LEDs)
The stadium lights are functional — discreet LEDs routed through the structure, powered from underneath. The goal was to make the arena playable as a night-match diorama without visible wiring.

More views

Full build + instructions
Rebrickable listing with parts list and build details: The Heart in the Clay on Rebrickable

Happy to answer anything about the build — techniques, part choices, what didn't work. Feedback very welcome, especially on the clay texture and the lighting integration.

Thanks for looking!
Gui Arruda

[mokka]

Hi Gui,

Cool MOC and quite big 

I like the score tables and the players' shoe prints (studs) on the ground.

The net seems a bit massive to me. Why did you not use LEGO fences 3185 ?
They are available in black, dark stone grey and even green.

Greetings, Justus