MOC: WIP Amsterdam Canal Houses Front

[Loves Houses]

Hi,

two things came together to inspire me to a new houses MOC:

1) a trip to Amsterdam with its incredible canals (Grachten) and gorgeous medieval house fronts

2) LEGO set 31026 - the new 3 in 1 creator houses set. Indeed, if you look closely you will notice that many elements of this set have been used one to one - just with a few new arrangements.

In fact I love the set so much I have bought it a second time now.

And please HELP: this is work in progress; I'm struggling with how to build the canal and it would be absolutely fantastic if some of you could help me with a few inspirations of how to best build/show the canal water.

Here is what's there so far - playable already...

1 The complete front.

2 Left side

2a Left side - back side

3 Right side front

3a Right side - back side

4 Another perspective

Enjoy - and don't forget to help me with the water so the WIP can go away in time.

Yours brickily

Loves Houses

[ScotNick]

Really lovely buildings! They look great and still simple

[eurotrash]

It looks good and it looks like Amsterdam. The different heights and the various facades look effective. But you're about to enter the black blue hole that is how to make lego water. I tried with my first Pirate MOC a couple of years ago to make a quayside http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=77802 I used SNOT blue bricks, but it's difficult to make the water look right or interesting and having been to Amsterdam myself I can promise you that Lego Blue doesn't look like the Kaisergracht! I'd suggest checking out some of the other Piratey MOCs as quaysides and islands seem to be popular over there.

Good luck with your build and please show us what you come up with!

[mikaelsol]

I love all the interior details. I almost never build any interior for my houses, but this is really inspiring!

If you use dark green under dark blue trans bricks that could give som depth to the water.

[Kristel]

These are cute! My favourite two are the middle blue one (for the interior) and the right hand side one (for the exterior).

Neat use of the banana pieces too! I think this is the first time I've seen bananas used on a facade.

[cgarison]

Very Nice with lots of detail.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Hello LovesHouses,

the houses are great. I would like to use them for my harbour scene.

If you take a look now (its in the pirate section), you will find yourself in the second part of a comic of mine.

Would be great if you could take a look!

[lightningtiger]

Well, nice and simple laid out classic town inspired row of houses......keep going and Brick On 'Loves Houses' !

[Bennemans]

I think this vignette by MrBrick could give you the inspiration you need for your canal; it would fit in nicely with the scale and color palette you're working with.

Dutch Canal House by Nieks G., on Flickr

[Hobbythom]

Cute build! The houses have a friendlier look than their real life counterparts! As to the water: the color of the canals differs depending on the weather. I'd describe it as translucent dark tan-ish with a hint of dark green and reddish brown.

But since you are building a lovely version I'd go with blue for the water!

Edited July 21, 2014 by Hobbythom

[oo7]

While the above example by Nieks G. is one of my favorite canal house models architecturally, I don't think the standard blue is the best choice for any waters beyond those of the tropics. As Hobbythom observes however, you don't seem to be going for complete realism here (though the houses are very cute on their small scale) so perhaps it's fitting to use a brighter color. I've used medium blue for Venetian canals which I wanted to appear sunny and colorful and dark green with white and sand green for a river which I wanted to appear murkier. Here's an example of sand green alone, and here's a Dutch canal with black! There's a newer color out there that people are calling olive green which I haven't seen used for water yet, but I think with enough bricks it might look good.

[mkeller234]

Wow, I really love these buildings. Your creation has a great balance of whimsy and realistic detail. It sort of reminds me of the new bikeshop and cafe, only much nicer in appearance. If this was a set, I would be all over it.

[LOTRfan]

Great models, this is the kind of look i'm trying to get for my city.

For the water maybe check out this- LEGO building technique: LEGO water

[eurotrash]

For the water maybe check out this- LEGO building technique: LEGO water

That's a good resource - thanks for sharing it!

[Loves Houses]

Hi all,

wow, thanks so much for the many lovely ideas so far. I think I will now have to spend the weekend with trying them all out and posting them; and then I want to create a voting.

My first try is with a handful of round simple plates, but it looks more like a sea shore this way. Anyway, will post that as well.

[Dewey Cheatum 1011 Western]

I like the way this is just...simple... ... ......?

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

What a feeling!

You have caught the perfect essence of Amsterdam canal houses!

Gorgeous MOC!

[Legogal]

Wow! This is a lovely design for Amsterdam canal houses! A great use of 31026, the Bike Shop/Cafe. Guess I will have to open my set and try something like this after the original build.

Sorry I don't know much about building a canal, but I have been on plenty of them, and the color of the water changes throughout the day depending on the light, clouds, wind, turbidity, etc. So you can use most almost any color of brick, and it will be appropriate for some time of the day if the sun comes out at some point.

Thanks for sharing this with us. The interiors look great, too!

[opn2]

Edited September 27, 2014 by opn2