Are you a top-down or bottom-up builder?

[Legoist]

Despite the use of fancy words drawn from software engineering, the question is pretty simple

With "top-down" I mean planning a layout (small or large) as a whole, choosing what it will contain but without getting too specific in how you will design such content. In the early phase you also decide the size, shape and house placement of the whole thing. You probably create the terrain first, not necessarily in detailed form but at least you choose the location of buildings and structures, which only later you will design and build on the spot.

For instance in the City/Town theme it may mean to start with a general idea such as "I want to build a modular street, I'll put a barbershop, an office building, a corner pub...", so you start laying down the baseplates and choosing the locations for your houses, then you build them on the go. In Trains you will probably start by designing the track interconnections together with choosing where to place your important buildings. Whatever the theme, the whole design process starts from the general (i.e. a village, a railroad, a large castle complex, a pirate bay...) while the particular gets built along the way and its design adapts to fit the bigger picture.

And "bottom-up" is obviously the other way around, focusing on building individual models such as vehicles and single buildings, and later (or much later, in case you weren't even planning this while building them) put them all together into a layout/diorama which is created to make sense for the already available models, and add whatever necessary to function as a sort of "glue", such as terrain details and additional structures.

This case for the same City/Town idea as above may mean you build one standalone modular building and put it on the shelf, then build another, then another... and only after a few you start trying putting them together. For a Train theme it means you focus on building custom locomotives and wagons, for Castle you design individual buildings and only later drop them onto a landscape, and so on.

So what is you favourite or most usual way of designing large creations?

Obviously if you only build small things for the moment, maybe because that's what your favourite theme focuses on or maybe just because you don't have the time/money/bricks for something on a larger scale, then I expect you don't have much choice in the poll...

[lightningtiger]

I guess I started at the bottom and worked my way up to the top !

Brick On everyone !

[Masked Builder]

I think I do a bit of both. I prefer to build all of one model before "gluing" it on to the larger model but sometimes I just want to see it finished so I build around the half finished model.

[Andy D]

I have only completed one MOC, but I tend to be more of a Top-Down type of person. I do a lot of planning to get some major details ironed before I start any project (not just LEGO). For my MOC, I planned, then did a little LDD to verify some ideas, then did a little prototyping, then did the model mainly as a "free-build".

I guess most of this comes from my own mind set (I plan everything), and an engineering background (although not practiced in over 20 years).

Andy D

[CptMugwash]

If I could I would have put 1/3 Top-down, 2/3 Bottom-up. I usually do little planning as when I'm building it just comes to me, I'll start rearanging and building up until I get the desired look I want, also I have a decent amount of bricks but nothing substantial enough to do a large diorama or anything.

[dr_spock]

I'm usually bottom's up. Same thing with a beer.

[Gijserman]

Bottom up usually, but depends on the object I guess..

[Darth Nihilus]

Well, when I build a large diorama or small MOC I build from the top down, but when I'm working on a larger MOC or a smaller diorama I build from the bottom up.

[TheLegoDr]

I like to see everything to some degree, so "top down." But I would normally do a little bit of both to get the right feel for everything. Top down to see the big picture, then bottom up to get the right proportion and setting.

[prateek]

Definitely bottom up, but I do usually picture in my head exactly what I'm going to build, but I just don't physically plan it out.

[Hrw-Amen]

I like to have a good idea of what I am going to build and may make some design decisions before I start, but I always build and finish one thing at a time even if in my own mind I know what is coming next.

[Brickdoctor]

I prefer bottom-up. Vehicles and buildings are fairly easy, while landscaping is always difficult for me.

[JimBee]

Top-down generally yields better results, but free-form building can have its advantages, too. I usually do top-down when I know exactly what I want to build, and bottom-up when I'm just experimenting. Most of the time those MOCs don't make it on to the internet though.

I'm usually bottom's up. Same thing with a beer.