[MOC] Art Nouveau Modular Corner Building

[Giacinto Consiglio]

 My fifth modular building had to be a corner one, and the style I strongly wanted to replicated was Art Nouveau. My first attempt, a sand red building with quite monotonous details, featured some of the typical elements of Art Nouveau, but it didn't convince me at all, so I came up with this design. I also wanted to use a new colour palette and, inspired by Gaudi's brickworks, I made a sort of "pastel mosaic" on the facade. In addition, I wanted to use gold with black, which is a fairly common combination in architecture. The ground floor is a minerals shop (whose owner is a secret alchemist who finally found the ultimate formula to convert all metals into gold- which he actually sells ), while the first floor is an architecture studio with glass skylights in a copper frame. Hope you like it!

Edited July 24, 2018 by Giacinto Consiglio

[paupadros]

At first glance, it seeemed like your Barroque Cathedral turned into a modular. There's many details to love here: Black+gold looks gorgeous ! The large windows, the skylights, the tower and particularly, the roofline . But something, somehow doesn't quite add up to the overall effect. I'm also running into big trouble trying to find new colour combinations that work decently and have been banging my head against a brick wall for a long time. This mosaic is nice, not very Gaudí-ish and it doesn't quite match with what's around it. This looks nice but not in the same kind of nice as your other modulars. Maybe it'll grow on me with time. But not everything's negative! The interiors are very creative and I really really like your "turn everything to gold machine o' doom!". Made me laugh so much!

PS: How did you render it?

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Glad you liked those elements! The mosaic is the toughest part to appreciate, but I have to say that all of Gaudi's works feature mosaic facades/window frames/turrets and even Casa Battlo is a delightful combination of colours. Hope it will grow on you!

I used MecaBricks

Edited July 24, 2018 by Giacinto Consiglio

[Bricked1980]

I really like it. The black and gold detailing look very nice and the red flowers above really stand out. I also like the stripey colours on the walls of the upper floor. I think this injects a nice bit of colour. The overall shaping of the building is very nice and the dome on the roof looks good. Also the interior is great, especially he mahcine turning the green liquid in to gold. 

I wouldn't know where to start designing an Art Nouveau building and I think you've done a really good job of capturing the style. The renders are top notch too.

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Great! You're really good at modulars and I'm sure you'll find some art nouveau inspiration

[Digger of Bricks]

A most colorful, greebled Art Nouveau beauty you've rendered there!   I just love the overall incorporation of the Sand Green and the Gold ornamentation on first floor, not to mention those multi-colored pastel columns on the second floor of the building. 

[bricksboy]

The building look fantastic. I like the outside decoration at the first floor. Good job! 

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Thank you!

[LM71Blackbird]

A beautiful looking modular! Great work!

[peedeejay]

That's an interesting build and very unique. The architectural details are very nicely done and I also like th mosaic. However I do think the contrast between the ground floor in black and the rest of the facade in white is too strong. Maybe DBG instead of black would've worked better.

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Thank you! It's really strange indeed!

[pinioncorp]

Stunning! Beautifully decorated without being overly adorned and excellent sense of balance and composure. While it's colourful, the baseline use of subtle details in white is what brings the whole build together. Well done.

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Thank you! I'm glad you perceived that!

[snaillad]

I really like the upper floor facade, the framing of the windows and colour choices are very good! Yuo can never have too much sand-green. I like what you've done with arches and gold surround on the lower floor but if I had one criticism it would be that I find the black perhaps a little harsh against the white but it might just be that its a render and a building with real bricks would show slightly differently. I've been experimenting with using gold elements in a similar way and black is definitely the most effective. I'd definitely like to see more in this style from you!

Well done!

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Thank you! Indeed, my next modulars will certainly be in this style, I love it!

[Digger of Bricks]

Now featured just today on the blog ArchBrick... 

ArchBrick - Mineral Shop Modular 

On 7/25/2018 at 4:16 PM, Giacinto Consiglio said:

Indeed, my next modulars will certainly be in this style, I love it!

Ooooh, I'll be looking most forwards to them! 

[Mylenium]

I like it, but I wouldn't call it Art Nouveau. This seems more like a wild mix of kitschy neo-romanticism with the strict early phase before Art Nouveau could shed its neo-gothic heritage and then some wild South European modernist stuff of the era thrown in. For my taste it's really a bit too much of everything and as someone already said it looks more like a fairytale castle.

Mylenium

[Giacinto Consiglio]

It's my interpretation of Art Nouveau, not a replica of an existing building. So Gaudi's masterpieces are "some wild South European modernist stuff of the era"! Sorry, I can't accept this. I accept your opinion on my work, though. 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Giacinto Consiglio

[Mylenium]

Depends on which Gaudi you are talking about or more to the point about which of his phases, I suppose. It's not that all his buildings are batshit crazy and colorful nor that he was the only one drawing inspiration from mediterranean traditions and the impressionists/ expressionists of that time...

Mylenium

[paupadros]

On 7/27/2018 at 4:21 PM, Giacinto Consiglio said:

It's my interpretation of Art Nouveau, not a replica of an existing building. So Gaudi's masterpieces are "some wild South European modernist stuff of the era"! Sorry, I can't accept this. I accept your opinion on my work, though. 

I would call myself quite an expert at Catalan Modernism and I would have to agree to a point. This shares some interesting aspects with Casa Batlló, the mosaic for instance, but has shapes typical of classier architecture on the middle and top floors. Another important fact, not all modernism is Gaudí; in fact, La Pedrera was not considered so when finished (as well as mocked for looking like a crumbled castle). Gaudí is the oddest sort of Catalan modernism. Others such as Puig i Cadafalch or Domènech i Montaner used brickwork extensively but Gaudí preferred ceramics and pure stonework. This choice is clearly a preference for neo-Gothic architecture rather than Industrial one. Some of his works have practically none of his signature style such as the Episcopal Palace of Astorga or la Casa Botines in León. Not everything Gaudí built is a masterpiece but he has many more sparks of genius in his buildings than others. Gaudí's architecture goes beyond façades, all of it is complicated, distorted, blurred and overall great. The older he became, the less important Modernism was and the less backing he had. He went from the trendiest architect to a detestable being who was not even recongised when he was crushed by a tram. The aloner he felt, the wilder his architecture. Plus, in his seventies, the once free democracy (well, not really Spain's always had biased elections) became a dictatorship. The harder everything was for him, the purer his architecture became.

Therefore, sprinkling some Gaudí magic above is nice, but a real understanding of his style and work is always beneficial. The more you know, the better! Just wondering, have you ever been to Barcelona? When you see one of his beauties around the corner, it's hard not to fall on one's knees. And Barcelona's Eixample, the 19th century expansion of the city, is full of buildings which can rival Gaudí, some of them utterly stunners, like Casa Comalat, by a very unknown architect called Salvador Valeri (I've never met anyone who knows him nor his most famous house very well. Casa Comalat has two façades, one extremely outlandish (the back one) and another one a bit faiytalish. It's very unknown and my favourite house. From Gaudí, a really great one is Casa Vicens. If you like Art Nouveau (especially the one from Barcelona and surroundings, this man's Flickr is for you. Endless inspiration.

PD: I've just realised you've put chicken on the roof! 

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Yes, I've been to Barcelona, but I'm not as informed as you about Art Nouveau. Wondering why designing a modular would require such theory behind, though. I build to have fun, I have enough to study at school! Next time I won't bound my MOC to a specific style, so as not to arouse scandal among scholars. I'm looking forward to seeing your modular interpretation of art nouveau at this point!

I almost forgot another point: have a look at Art Nouveau examples in Riga: they will appear much classier than you expect! Even a single style may show surprising differences from a country to another 

[J and J LEGO Creations]

This is lovely, and a real visual departure from many other builds. There is a disconnect between the first and second floors, as others have mentioned, but I like it as it shows a retro-fitting common when newer businesses take over older historic buildings! So, yeah, !

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Thank you !

[LegoModularFan]

Ooh, this thing is so cute and elegant! My favorite MOC by you to date! I love how this could also work as a half width non-corner modular if you don’t want it to be a corner building! The ground floor looks really elegant with the black and gold color scheme. The glass awning/canopy is pretty nice even if it’s not too similar to the real Art Nouveau ones. I agree that the first floor would also work without the mosaic wall but I really love the interesting effect it gives so I personally prefer it the way you’ve done it, especially with the pastel colors it looks just so amazing!  All the roof section is incredible, especially with the glass skylight!The interior is amazing as well- I love the machine that turns everything to gold.  Anyway, keep your incredible work up!

P.S. Does every piece exist in the colors you used? There are some I wasn’t aware of! Also really nice to hear that we’ll see more MOCs in Art Nouveau!

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Thank you! All the bricks used are actually existing

Edited August 4, 2018 by Giacinto Consiglio