koalayummies Posted January 4, 2018 (edited) First up a mention to @Superfunk for their awesome mod which served as much inspiration, you can check out their fantastic Parisian work here. Modification project goals: Increase the width of the structure to the full width of the baseplate Make the ground floor symmetrical with the rest of the building Keep and and enhance the beautiful iconic French architectural style Add an extra floor Update and add minifigures Maintain stairwell access to the upper floors Not order any additional parts, only use parts on-hand (parts not included in the set are present but nothing new ordered) Parisian Restaurant is often one of the most acclaimed and loved Modular sets and is also a personal favorite of mine so it was important to tackle this with as much love and respect to the original design as possible. It was quite the challenge but I feel I've achieved a look that I like even more among the others as its no longer being imposed upon and also gives the gorgeous French architecture more presence. Enjoy! The updated/added minifigures: Maitre d, head chef, pastry chef (baker CMF), head waiter, wedding proposal guy, wedding proposal girl, artist, baguette guy (CMF), cool French guy, baby with oversized head The head chef says he's got tears because he was just cutting onions but he's a big softy and is upset the girl said no to the marriage proposal. Added some more accessories for the kitchen. Centered the wine cabinet with the front entrance and rest of the building. Don't let the waiter's prickly appearance deter you, its rumored he lost his eye while serving as an officer in the Foreign Legion which would explain his strong sense of discipline and great leadership surpassed only by his love of all things French. Second floor apartment. How could it be a French building without French Doors? Not sure who came up with this design first but I've seen it on a number of great Town/City and Train MOCs. Let the sun and fresh air in! Third floor has bedroom and bathroom. In Lego world minifigures take baths with their clothes on and get the 'water' everywhere. The the increase of size in the top floor art studio has allowed the artist to create some larger works. No idea how she'll get it through the door but oh yeah the side of the roof conveniently opens. And finally how it looks with some of the others. Edited January 7, 2018 by koalayummies Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wookiee Posted January 4, 2018 Its great the Chez Albert is doing so well and has needed an extension fora while. I really like they way you have stuck to the overall design and it does not look out of place. Four stories makes its a bit more Paris for me. I love a spa bath so i am glad the artist at the end of a hard day can relax and let creative juices flow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DK_Titan Posted January 4, 2018 Beutiful updated version Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darnok Posted January 4, 2018 Beautiful MOC, true to the style of the original, but something new indeed. Lovely! How many PR sets did you need, two or three? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoModularFan Posted January 4, 2018 (edited) Very nice modification, now it is more realistic... I can understand who made that modification without looking at your profile, your MOC/MOD style is unique and you take very professional photos, I like it a lot I love the use of space, all things you can put in a small space! My only suggestion is to make a restroom in the restaurant (which is impossible but I don’t believe the customer minifigs will be able to enter to someone’s apartment to go to toilets ) I would personally make a two story restaurant, maybe the second floor can include toilets and the little apartment could be only in the third floor, a small sofa convertible bed as in the AS and a small kitchen, with a very small toilet if I can squeeze it in but that’s your design which I really appreciate! Bon appétit at your beautiful modified PR koalayummies Edited January 4, 2018 by LegoModularFan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hobbythom Posted January 4, 2018 Excellent mod! It looks great, especcialy the interior. However, I do feel the increased with makes the floor height a bit low. I wonder how it would look with another row of olive green above the windows. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
koalayummies Posted January 4, 2018 9 hours ago, Wookiee said: Its great the Chez Albert is doing so well and has needed an extension fora while. I really like they way you have stuck to the overall design and it does not look out of place. Four stories makes its a bit more Paris for me. I love a spa bath so i am glad the artist at the end of a hard day can relax and let creative juices flow. Thanks Wookiee, glad you think its fitting and still very Parisian. 8 hours ago, DK_Titan said: Beutiful updated version Thanks DK Titan. 6 hours ago, Drunknok said: Beautiful MOC, true to the style of the original, but something new indeed. Lovely! How many PR sets did you need, two or three? Thanks Drunknok. I got a second set over the holidays to go with the one I originally got 4 years ago so this build is utilizing 2 sets. I'd say its about 1.8 PRs in total parts usage with some extra parts from my own collection. I was rather surprised how few pieces are left over from the second set, nearly all the Olive Green bricks are gone (just a couple 1x4s and shorter) and even the Earth Blue slope pieces were nearly all used. Everything else will make its way into another MOD or MOC in the future. 4 hours ago, LegoModularFan said: Very nice modification, now it is more realistic... I can understand who made that modification without looking at your profile, your MOC/MOD style is unique and you take very professional photos, I like it a lot I love the use of space, all things you can put in a small space! My only suggestion is to make a restroom in the restaurant (which is impossible but I don’t believe the customer minifigs will be able to enter to someone’s apartment to go to toilets ) I would personally make a two story restaurant, maybe the second floor can include toilets and the little apartment could be only in the third floor, a small sofa convertible bed as in the AS and a small kitchen, with a very small toilet if I can squeeze it in but that’s your design which I really appreciate! Bon appétit at your beautiful modified PR koalayummies Thank you very much LegoModularFan! I must say I agree with a lot of your analysis. I did consider making the second floor more dining space which would work quite nicely with the front and rear balconies, and also the restaurant absolutely does need its own separate restroom. I will be sure to take some photos if I try that out as its not much work and the upper floors will still work just fine. Thanks! 3 hours ago, Hobbythom said: Excellent mod! It looks great, especcialy the interior. However, I do feel the increased with makes the floor height a bit low. I wonder how it would look with another row of olive green above the windows. Thanks Hobbythom! I get exactly what you are saying with the floor heights, it looks off at first since we're all used to seeing a more vertically narrow PR. Its even more noticeable, or at least looks off to the eye at first, with only 3 floors (totally forgot to take that picture btw) where it looks almost squashed and flattened compared to the original. Unfortunately there are almost no Olive Green bricks to spare so I may mock it up with Medium Stone Grey and see if it changes the appearance for the better. With the extra floor though and once its next to the other modulars it looks fairly normal, I feel like its Town Hall's size that throws everything else off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AFOLguy1970 Posted January 4, 2018 Excellent mod of my favorite modular! Still, nothing has managed to knock the Parisian Restaurant from first place in my modular rankings. It makes a great standalone structure for those who cannot afford more than one or two. Anyway, the additional floor does make it look more authentic. Nice job with the French doors also. Someday, I might try to supersize a modular, but for now, I will let ones like these be an inspiration! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Agent 86 Posted January 4, 2018 It's lovely. Very faithful to the original design. But, I hope that the rent for the apartment is cheap! I wouldn't be a fan of having to go outside to access my bedroom and bathroom. And I'm also not a fan of random artists wandering through my apartment to access their attic art studio! Then again, residential living space is so limited in most Modular cities, perhaps the minifigures are just happy to have somewhere to live irrespective of the downsides. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
koalayummies Posted January 6, 2018 (edited) On January 4, 2018 at 11:42 AM, AFOLguy1970 said: Excellent mod of my favorite modular! Still, nothing has managed to knock the Parisian Restaurant from first place in my modular rankings. It makes a great standalone structure for those who cannot afford more than one or two. Anyway, the additional floor does make it look more authentic. Nice job with the French doors also. Someday, I might try to supersize a modular, but for now, I will let ones like these be an inspiration! Thanks AFOLguy1970! Parisian is also my favorite which made taking it apart and reworking it a bit nerve wracking. I probably won't be doubling up or widening any other modular (my PS just has an extra floor for each and I downsized/split up BB) as no other modular has nearly as much appeal as PR so I'm glad you think the changes here are true to the original. Thanks, if you or anyone would like to use the changes at any time, feel free! On January 4, 2018 at 2:05 PM, Agent 86 said: It's lovely. Very faithful to the original design. But, I hope that the rent for the apartment is cheap! I wouldn't be a fan of having to go outside to access my bedroom and bathroom. And I'm also not a fan of random artists wandering through my apartment to access their attic art studio! Then again, residential living space is so limited in most Modular cities, perhaps the minifigures are just happy to have somewhere to live irrespective of the downsides. Thanks Agent 86. I certainly understand your thoughts. At first I was going to have a single switch-back type stairwell going up the back of the building so that each floor was independently accessible without that upper tenant intrusion but I thought it would look way too clunky and it also didn't solve the need to go outside to access the bedroom. I also experimented with putting the stairwell from 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 inside the structure but it just eats up so much space in a building that is already very short depth-wise and there's just not enough olive green bricks even with two sets to increase the depth of the building unless I eliminated one floor which I didn't want to do, it also made the building look even shorter as there's a lot more open space out back without the exterior stairs but I did try and make alternatives work. So I just say that the three upper floors are all rented by the same minifigure and they have no need for the attic so they let their friend use it as their painting studio, or they're sisters or something . The same issue is present in AS, and partly in DO. At some point I may try another approach to the stairs and floor access or just make one of these methods work but I totally understand your thoughts on it and did think similarly through the redesign. A smaller, spiral style staircase like in PS or the new DD would probably work ok inside and definitely outside provided it has strong connections. Thanks again for your thoughts! Edit: Since the image was forgotten the first time around here's what it looks like just widened to the 32-stud baseplate width without the extra floor: Edited January 7, 2018 by koalayummies Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ReplicaOfLife Posted January 7, 2018 This is propably the best 32-wide PR mod I've seen so far. It's pretty hard to translate the general design principles to a 32-wide without it seeming off in one way or another, and you managed to do that quite well. I rather like the design of the middle windows on the upper floors - the small one-wide windows to the side are a nice touch while and also neatly help avoiding that window from seeming way too wide for it's height. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beverly888 Posted January 7, 2018 So many interesting details. The piece you used for the bathtub is brilliant. Cheers! Beverly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gotoAndLego Posted January 8, 2018 Looks very nice; the increase size is well done. I think your BrickBank is going to need to be taller. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carebear Posted January 8, 2018 It Looks Great!!! ( the yellow behive is a great detail ) Just love how it blents in with your other beautiful buildings Greetings! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
