Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[hikouki]

I am so hoping for a theater but it is unlikely with all these budget constraints.

I wonder if the next modular will be a single 32x32 baseplate, or two, or even 1.5? 

[RichardGoring]

I hope for 32x32. As much as I like the Natural History Museum, it is too small compared to the other buildings. The scale just feels wrong and it should be larger - both for the type of building it is, but also to match up appropriately with other modulars. At $300, it's pricey and they probably can't increase that. So to me, focusing on suitably scaled buildings on 32x32 is likely best.

Ninjago City Markets suffered from the same thing. It was spread over 64x32 and felt empty as a result. But to fill it up to feel busy and bustling enough would have added $100+ to the price, which isn't feasible. A smaller footprint seems like the logical approach.

[Elysiumfountain]

10 hours ago, hikouki said:

I am so hoping for a theater but it is unlikely with all these budget constraints.

I wonder if the next modular will be a single 32x32 baseplate, or two, or even 1.5? 

I think an opera house would be cool, or something that could double as a theatre/center for the arts. I mean, the dancers from the studio in Assembly Square have to have some place to perform! 

[Lion King]

5 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

I hope for 32x32. As much as I like the Natural History Museum, it is too small compared to the other buildings. The scale just feels wrong and it should be larger - both for the type of building it is, but also to match up appropriately with other modulars. At $300, it's pricey and they probably can't increase that. So to me, focusing on suitably scaled buildings on 32x32 is likely best.

Ninjago City Markets suffered from the same thing. It was spread over 64x32 and felt empty as a result. But to fill it up to feel busy and bustling enough would have added $100+ to the price, which isn't feasible. A smaller footprint seems like the logical approach.

Disagreed with you on Natural History Museum’s scale. It looks perfect to me when I place it between other modular buildings in my city layout. Nohting looks wrong to me.  I often see museums in real life, they look little shorter than other buildings in several cities.

Don’t get me wrong but I would love to see a 32x32 modular skyscraper set even if it would be between $300 - $400 (4-floor buidling is most likely).  I trust that Lego has some ideas to make modular buildings more unique in thier own sizes and styles regalress of price. 

I would be curious to see a 20th anniveary set becoming 2-baseplate buidling in 2027. 

5 hours ago, Elysiumfountain said:

I think an opera house would be cool, or something that could double as a theatre/center for the arts. I mean, the dancers from the studio in Assembly Square have to have some place to perform! 

That would be lovely! I always want to see some actors performing on stage like Broadway in NYC. Like Romeo & Juliet, Wicked, Hairspray productions. 

But that’s very true about dancers from Assembly Square!

16 hours ago, hikouki said:

I am so hoping for a theater but it is unlikely with all these budget constraints.

I wonder if the next modular will be a single 32x32 baseplate, or two, or even 1.5? 

Now I’m thinking more, I don’t think we will see 1.5 or 2 baseplates that soon - we have Natural History Museum on shelf (is there any news on its EOL?). So next Modular building is most likely a 32x32 building set.  As I stand with my comments above, it would be interesting to see a 20th anniveary set coming out as a 2-baseplate building! So we will see. 

[BrickFit26]

I mean the 20th anniversary is coming up sooner than later. They have to go big and grand.

[Lion King]

17 hours ago, BrickFit26 said:

I mean the 20th anniversary is coming up sooner than later. They have to go big and grand.

I mea it’s obvious for the 20th annivesary…. But my point is that that there is already a big Modular Building set on shelf (Natural History Museum)  and we ever don’t know when it will be reaped with another big one (maybe the 20th annivesary est??). Assembly Square had been around for 7 years and Boutqiue Hotel is the 15th annivesary set and it’ snot a big one. However it is a grand one becuase of its unique shape and features and  its numerous references to the past Modular Building sets. 

Natural History Museum is only a $300 set while other three Modular Building sets are $230 on shelves.  I have no idea how long Natural History Museum will last while on the shelves until 2027. 

Regardless, I’m so looking forward for the 20th anniveary!

[hikouki]

Hmmm, if it will stay as a 32x32 but be big, maybe it can gain extra height? LOL

[Lion King]

6 hours ago, hikouki said:

Hmmm, if it will stay as a 32x32 but be big, maybe it can gain extra height? LOL

Sure, I would love to see a modular skyscraper buidling!! 

[jus1973]

Whilst the Boutique Hotel was a 15th anniversary, I felt it lacked the scale of Assembly Square.  We can only hope that the designers have something equal to or even better than, that 10th anniversary special for the 20th.  I’d welcome a 48x32 again, but I also think it would be great to have 3 16x32s that can be placed in different orders,  or even separately.  They’d have to be a bit bigger/better than Birch Books & house though.

[Lion King]

On 7/12/2025 at 5:20 AM, jus1973 said:

Whilst the Boutique Hotel was a 15th anniversary, I felt it lacked the scale of Assembly Square.  We can only hope that the designers have something equal to or even better than, that 10th anniversary special for the 20th.  I’d welcome a 48x32 again, but I also think it would be great to have 3 16x32s that can be placed in different orders,  or even separately.  They’d have to be a bit bigger/better than Birch Books & house though.

Hmm… 3 16x32 buildings in one set does sound very interesting to me. Although, I always wish for one 16x32 building in its own set per  summer while 32x32 ones in winter, I do like this idea. It is VERY to arrange the buildings around more freely rather than a larger 48x32 building set like Assembly Square and Natural History Museum.  It has me curious to see!

[Yoggington]

On 7/7/2025 at 4:26 PM, Elysiumfountain said:

I think an opera house would be cool, or something that could double as a theatre/center for the arts. I mean, the dancers from the studio in Assembly Square have to have some place to perform! 

If it's an Opera House you're after, I can heartily recommend this rebrickeable model by @CroissantBricks.

I have bought & built it and it has secured a permanent home with my official modulars - it's that good.

[Elysiumfountain]

15 hours ago, Yoggington said:

If it's an Opera House you're after, I can heartily recommend this rebrickeable model by @CroissantBricks.

I have bought & built it and it has secured a permanent home with my official modulars - it's that good.

That is incredible! I love how the designer made the front facade, especially the lyre motif in the pediment. 

[Wesley D]

19 hours ago, Yoggington said:

If it's an Opera House you're after, I can heartily recommend this rebrickeable model by @CroissantBricks.

I have bought & built it and it has secured a permanent home with my official modulars - it's that good.

That's a beautiful looking building.

It seems as it's a well thought out creation. How was your experience building it?

Do you have pictures of yours?

Edited Tuesday at 06:45 PM by Wesley D

[Lion King]

I’m sorry but this is my personal (and unpopular) opinion on Rebrickable. I find it annoying that so many people advertise their MOCs through Rebrickable, too much Rebrickable. 

Thier  Modular Buidling MOCs are indeed beatuiful but I don’t buy them.  Please don’t take it serious. 

And this is not what I’m telling you to stop buying those Rebrickable sets. Do what you please yourself. :) 

[Yoggington]

3 hours ago, Wesley D said:

That's a beautiful looking building.

It seems as it's a well thought out creation. How was your experience building it?

Do you have pictures of yours?

It's an excellent build. The circular walls (and especially roof) are very mathematically pleasing.

Not without it's flaws, there are a few things I will change. The biggest downside I'd say people should be aware of is that the building proper fills a 32x32 baseplate front to back, and then there's a further (optional) 16-deep courtyard to the front, so it may not suit a 'shelf city' alongside other modulars. Anything else is pretty minor.

As for pictures, I recently moved house and have a newborn, so while I finally have the space to put all my modulars out at once - I am struggling to find time to build them. I'll grab a pic later in the week, but it is quite .. bare on the shelf, not integrated with the rest yet.

[Yoggington]

@Wesley D Pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/PKBSxoB

Minor niggle - the green framed ad board on the side is right where you want to pick it up by, and not secure enough to do so!

 

[Wesley D]

1 hour ago, Yoggington said:

@Wesley D Pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/PKBSxoB

Thank you for sharing!

The building really looks very nice. It's even more beautiful brick-built!

Didn't it get too expensive? I guess that gets completely forgotten when seeing the result.

15 hours ago, Yoggington said:

I recently moved house and have a newborn

Congratulations! Enjoy your family!

[Yoggington]

2 hours ago, Wesley D said:

Didn't it get too expensive? I guess that gets completely forgotten when seeing the result.

I spent about €270 in Bricklink/PAB orders, and then got a batch of stickers printed for around €40 more.

I did have a lot of the bricks I needed in my collection already - maybe 30-40%? I also didn't worry about getting the exact minifigures.

I would estimate building this from scratch would set you back in the region of €450-€550.

(all figures from back of a napkin/top of my head)

Edited Wednesday at 04:48 PM by Yoggington

[Elysiumfountain]

Somewhat off topic, but I think BrickLink is becoming my weakness. Because I will look at official modulars and such and go "Oh, they're too expensive for me right now," and then turn around and spend upwards of that amount or slightly more on BrickLink orders for a MOC I'm working on...

Edited Wednesday at 04:54 PM by Elysiumfountain
Spelling error

[Wesley D]

21359 Italian Riviera is almost there! As a fan of the modular buildings I like it a lot, it looks so alive, colorful and cosy. Such a picturesque diorama!

[RichardGoring]

I've just been comparing the official Italian Riviera set picture with the original submission. My first impression of the official image was that it's nice, but in a pretty small scale, as a lot of LEGO builds are moving towards. The single 1x3 windows, the 1x2 ingot shutters, and the height of each floor all seem smaller than they should be compared to a minifigure. But then, maybe that's OK as it's supposed to represent an old, small, compact town scene.

Then I looked at the original submission - The Italian Riviera | LEGO® Ideas

And it seems so much better. It's far larger, better proportioned, generally has nicer details (like the fountain, beach, vines, rocks, harbour railing, and window and planter varieties). Trying to be fair, you might expect that this would mean a huge piece count and loads of new colours or prints, but no. From the original submission:

Quote

Just over 2,900 pieces are used to construct the whole project, all of which are available in the correct colors (with the exception of the print on the "Gelato" sign).

So LEGO has added 300 pieces to make the set feel smaller?

Although now that I count the studs, it's about the same width (40) and height (22), although I think maybe 10 studs less deep, so it may be an optical illusion. Seeing it next to other modular building will probably be useful, so hoping the reviews and more photos do it justice.

[Murdoch17]

18 hours ago, Elysiumfountain said:

Somewhat off topic, but I think BrickLink is becoming my weakness. Because I will look at official modulars and such and go "Oh, they're too expensive for me right now," and then turn around and spend upwards of that amount or slightly more on BrickLink orders for a MOC I'm working on...

Bricklink is 100% addictive. If you don't pay real close attention, you can wipe out a paycheck easily with just as few clicks on a wanted list. Shipping / Handling, International shipping, and Fees are what get you. I try to order from my own country (nothing in Alaska or Hawaii either) and block any store with a listed two-digit or more shipping price to save a little cash.

(Sorry for the off-topic post)

[danth]

17 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

Then I looked at the original submission - The Italian Riviera | LEGO® Ideas

And it seems so much better. 

This is their standard operating procedure. I don't know how Lego manages to suck the charm out of every original submission. 

17 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

So LEGO has added 300 pieces to make the set feel smaller?

Although now that I count the studs, it's about the same width (40) and height (22), although I think maybe 10 studs less deep, so it may be an optical illusion.

The original looks and feels bigger, I see it too. It doesn't matter if it's an optical illusion. It's an art to make things look and feel bigger. Good sets can do that.

Not sure what Lego has against real window shutters BTW. 

Edited 20 hours ago by danth

[hikouki]

On 7/16/2025 at 4:21 PM, RichardGoring said:

I've just been comparing the official Italian Riviera set picture with the original submission. My first impression of the official image was that it's nice, but in a pretty small scale, as a lot of LEGO builds are moving towards. The single 1x3 windows, the 1x2 ingot shutters, and the height of each floor all seem smaller than they should be compared to a minifigure. But then, maybe that's OK as it's supposed to represent an old, small, compact town scene.

Then I looked at the original submission - The Italian Riviera | LEGO® Ideas

And it seems so much better. It's far larger, better proportioned, generally has nicer details (like the fountain, beach, vines, rocks, harbour railing, and window and planter varieties). Trying to be fair, you might expect that this would mean a huge piece count and loads of new colours or prints, but no. From the original submission:

So LEGO has added 300 pieces to make the set feel smaller?

Although now that I count the studs, it's about the same width (40) and height (22), although I think maybe 10 studs less deep, so it may be an optical illusion. Seeing it next to other modular building will probably be useful, so hoping the reviews and more photos do it justice.

I liked the promenade, and the greebling on the original.

Also, the original almost seemed to have modular-compatible sides. Lego just had to ruin that!

8 hours ago, danth said:

This is their standard operating procedure. I don't know how Lego manages to suck the charm out of every original submission. 

The original looks and feels bigger, I see it too. It doesn't matter if it's an optical illusion. It's an art to make things look and feel bigger. Good sets can do that.

Not sure what Lego has against real window shutters BTW. 

Ditto.