Boston - Architecture Skyline

[Lamborghini Waffle Sauce]

Now that I have your attention, I'd like to present my newest MOC:

A custom build of Boston, Massachusetts in the style of LEGO Architecture Skylines series

From left to right: Prudential Tower, 200 Clarendon Street (John Hancock Tower), Beacon Hill, Boston Commons and Public Gardens, Massachusetts State House, Boston Customs House, Faneuil Hall, Boston Harbor, Bunker Hill Monument

I was in Boston a few weeks ago, and I was inspired to create a skyline of it. It took me three weeks of many iterations to build this skyline. The piece count is higher than the usual piece count of Skylines models (over 900) because of the large scale of the buildings.

The Customs House tower was the first one I built, and I could not make it smaller in any way without losing its crucial details. Everything else followed in roughly the same scale, which meant that the Prudential Tower and 200 Clarendon Street had to be extremely tall, but not exceeding the heights of the tallest official Skylines models (~32 studs). Only the Massachusetts State House is bigger than it should be, even like this it was hard to get right.

200 Clarendon Street is angled using a Technic 3-way connector and uses all manners of SNOT techniques to get the slopes on the edge, while connecting one half to the other in the plate-wide gap in the middle. This was achieved in some pieces not available in Dark Azure, such as headlight bricks and the 1x1x2 Pieces of Resistance. The bricks from this tall structure along with all the clear plates in the Prudential Tower account for more than two-thirds of the total piece count.

I also copied some of the small row-houses from the new Paris and San Francisco models for the houses on Beacon Hill, as that was too Iconic to omit from a model of Boston.

[ivyhedge]

Waffle - I absolutely love this! 

As a resident of Boston, I commend you for adding ... seemingly everything you could.

Were some version to make it to production, I think Beacon Hill and the Bunker Hill Monument (in Charlestown) would probably be axed: and it would be a shame. I suspect the Customs House would likely devolve into towers from the London and Venice skyline series.

 

Boston and Philadelphia are two American cities rich with history whose time has come for participation in the skyline series. 

On the international front, I'd love to see Toronto, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, and Cairo.

 

Nice work!

[JGW3000]

Very well done, probably the best selection of iconic items to include.  The Shaw Memorial would have been nice, but would have been very challenging to fit it.

[Lamborghini Waffle Sauce]

On 1/16/2019 at 9:17 PM, ivyhedge said:

As a resident of Boston, I commend you for adding ... seemingly everything you could.

Were some version to make it to production, I think Beacon Hill and the Bunker Hill Monument (in Charlestown) would probably be axed: and it would be a shame. I suspect the Customs House would likely devolve into towers from the London and Venice skyline series.

Nice work!

Thank you! It was a real challenge.

I think if LEGO produced a Skylines model of Boston, they would be forced to retain this scale if they keep the State House as it is. The only way that could be scaled down is with the recolor of the BB-8 head for the dome and grille bricks for the front. It would be tiny and simple, which would mean everything else would be slightly smaller. The Customs House would be difficult to make smaller than this, especially the top and the base. The John Hancock would be a real challenge unless they get rid of the indent in the middle. The Prudential would look nicer with a 3x3 width, and with the Bunker Hill monument missing, there would be room for something else. Either a small simple Fenway Park or generic simple skyscrapers downtown.

I toyed with a smaller scale build, but a smaller Hancock and Customs House were a challenge. And I am a man of detail, and did not want to sacrifice any of that.

 

On 1/17/2019 at 1:35 PM, JGW3000 said:

Very well done, probably the best selection of iconic items to include.  The Shaw Memorial would have been nice, but would have been very challenging to fit it.

Thank you

 It would work as a print, like the Berlin Wall pieces in the Berlin Skyline set.

[bjunited]

Awesome build! Visited Boston many times (From UK). Very accurate and would love to build it! Do you have instructions / part list for the build available anywhere?

[jnewell]

Seconding all the comments above - fabulous.  Any parts list or instructions/build sheet available for this?