Storing a city in a playable, yet protected, state?

[Huaojozu]

As my collection expands, I am looking to put all of the sets together in some sort of a town setup (with actual town block, forest block, water block etc.). Since I have young children visiting often, and they love to play with the sets, I want to have the blocks exposed and as ready-to-play as possible. At the same time, leaving it out in the open is just asking for it to gather dust.

Has anyone found any ingenious solution to this problem? What I would find completely perfect, for example, would be a coffee table with a hollow inside where you could build the scenery, then remove the actual top of the table and have the blocks rise to the top, ready to play. When you're done with it, simply push it back down, cover with the standard table top and voila. I'm guessing I would have to make something like that myself though...

[Littleworlds]

Your idea sounds at least suitable for smaller builds, unless it is a very big coffee table! I am currently going the way of creating scenes to be stored in a book-shelf-style setup, just deeper, at least 32 studs. You can make whole streets, or castle facades with interior, and still access and remove them quickly. Of course, having them open means they gather dust, but I prefer that from locking them away too much.

Having several of those levels means quick access to the best part of a city. Modulars will be my "core" city setup.

[Huaojozu]

See. the problem with bookshelf set up is that you can't see/access the back side. That's probably fine for display purposes or light play but you can't really play out more complex stories in there.

As you mentioned, a coffee table might not be big enough - how about a bed where the mattress folds up to reveal a lego city? Kind of like a Murphy bed with a standard fixed bottom.

[deraven]

3 hours ago, Huaojozu said:

As you mentioned, a coffee table might not be big enough - how about a bed where the mattress folds up to reveal a lego city? Kind of like a Murphy bed with a standard fixed bottom.

I think that might be the way to go, assuming you have an appropriate spot for that.  But it does sound like a custom build, regardless.  I guess another question would be, does it need to hide in another piece of furniture, or do you have dedicated space for it anyway?  If it doesn't need to be particularly clever, simple open-topped (bottomed, in this use case) plexiglass/plastic boxes (which can easily be made to custom sizes, and pretty large while remaining relatively lightweight if they don't have to be a structural component of something else) that you just place over the top of the build(s) which remain visible but protected from dust, and then when you want to play you simply lift off the boxes and stack them in a corner or something (or potentially flip them over and use them as stools/benches depending on how sturdy they are and where you have things placed).

[Littleworlds]

4 hours ago, Huaojozu said:

See. the problem with bookshelf set up is that you can't see/access the back side. That's probably fine for display purposes or light play but you can't really play out more complex stories in there.

As you mentioned, a coffee table might not be big enough - how about a bed where the mattress folds up to reveal a lego city? Kind of like a Murphy bed with a standard fixed bottom.

I see. My idea is more for easy taking out and (minor) assembling, not for storing it completely in playable state. 

[randomboy]

Maybe something along the lines of a rectangular cake cover: a rectangular base that you can place your LEGO on and cover with a tall clear box and display on a shelf. Then when the kids want to play with it you can easily put them on the floor

[dr_spock]

You could try to put temporary posts around your layout and then drape a cover them to keep dust out. 

[Grrr]

Second the suggestion of posts around the outside and draping a cover over. The other option which I'll probably do in my Lego room is to install a curtain rail around the perimeter of my layout table and simply have heavy curtains which can be drawn all the way around the Lego.

It somewhat depends also on what sort of grime you're protecting your lego from. Most of my Lego is in a basement, so really only gets dust, which is relatively easy to remove with a duster. However, the Lego I have in my main house gets greasy from things like cooking in the same open plan area, and this then glues down dust, meaning the only way to clean the lego is to wash it with a mild detergent. In the later case, ensure that not only the top, but also the sides are well protected from airflow.