[MOC] Reichstag building - Berlin

[Rauy]

Right in time for election day, I built an Architecture model of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, the seat of the German parliament. Originally built by Paul Wallot in Neo-Renaissance style, after a tumultous history over the entire 20th century the building was fully renovated and modernized by Norman Foster in the 1990s to serve as meeting place for the reunified German parliament again.

 

I wasn't quite sure about doing the building at first, but then I found a version in Creator Expert size, which was a great inspiration for doing one at about half the size. The scale of 1:600 worked itself out rather quickly, since I like to keep Architecture MOCs at 32x32 maximum and the SNOTed facades and towers fit rather well to this scale.

I first tried to build the dome from SNOTed transparent slopes, but nothing really worked out satisfactorily. However, the 8x8 half-sphere was a perfect fit for the dome and allowed putting some pieces in for hinting at the walkways and the mirror array inside the real dome. It is a bit low in height with its 3 bricks. But the 5 bricks high one that exists too would have been to high. A 4 bricks high dome would probably be the best compromise, but that doesn't exist yet.

When I had my design largely finished, I stumbled across another MOC at a similar scale and although I was rather satisfied with my own design and fortunately wasn't distracted by it too much, I found its use of light blue for the windows rather intriguing so I decided to switch the glass elements from trans-clear to trans-light-blue. I think it makes for a nice contrast to the old tan stonework and emphasizes the modernization of the building rather well. It also seems to give the dome a bit more volume.

With all the windows, lighting the model was a natural choice. It is lit by 6 LEDs, 3 each along the longer eastern and western sides. The shorter sides are rather crammed, but since the supporting structure is mostly transparent and the lights are near the corners, the northern and southern sides are sufficiently lit, too. Only the dome doesn't glow as much as in reality since the plenary hall is only lit indirectly through the adjacent building wings. The base is open below the plenary hall and the power cable can be led out through the base on either side of the model.

A big advantage of the hinged dome is also that it's openable quite easily. Together with a removable roof this allows a direct view into the plenary hall where we can see the Bundestag live at work. I also couldn't help but do an homage to Christo's wrapping of the entire building in 1995.

The model has about 2400 pieces and was in the works for about 3 months, although I didn't work on it the entire time and it got put on hold for other things now and then. For more high-resolution pictures you can also check out the corresponding Flickr album. I tried to make the images link to Flickr directly but couldn't seem to get it working. There's also building instructions available on Rebrickable for the model.

[jimmynick]

Oh this is really lovely! You've picked some nice colours in which to build the Reichstag. I have the version from the Berlin skyline set, and I love that by building at this larger scale you were able to fit in far more details, such as the interior of the dome and the Bundestag hall beneath it. Nice touch with the Christo homage, too.

Fabulous MOC; thanks for sharing!

[Rauy]

19 minutes ago, jimmynick said:

Oh this is really lovely! You've picked some nice colours in which to build the Reichstag. I have the version from the Berlin skyline set, and I love that by building at this larger scale you were able to fit in far more details, such as the interior of the dome and the Bundestag hall beneath it. Nice touch with the Christo homage, too.

Fabulous MOC; thanks for sharing!

Thank you! I'm also working on two smaller versions currently, one of them basically an extension of the one from the skyline set.

Edited September 28, 2021 by Rauy

[Sven J]

That's really well done! And the interior is the icing on the cake - I didn't expect that at such a scale.

Thanks not only for sharing, but also for making it available on Rebrickable!

[LegoMikey]

This is spectacular! Great work.

[Feuer Zug]

Wow! This is a superb recreation of the Reichstag. The detail work is impressive for the scale. Having the dome be removable with the radar dish for a walkway under as well as the floor below is neat.

[MetallFanYT]

Wow! It looks so awesome