"The Golden Frog" Restaurant - Modular Building MOC

[ReplicaOfLife]

"The Golden Frog" Restaurant (Restaurant "Zum Goldenen Frosch")

Alost two years after my last MOC it's finally time to reveal my latest work. This is a modular building with a restaurant - "The Golden Frog" (or "Zum Goldenen Frosch" in german) on the ground floor. The second floor houses a psychotherapists office, and the top two floors feature an apartment.

Summary:
Parts: 5650 (excluding minifigs)
Design: designed in stud.io from May to June 2021 and from December 2021 until March 2022 (got hard stuck with the design last summer and worked on other projects for a while).

Highlights include the roof, where I tried to mimic the typical look of a copper plate roof as found on many older european buildings, the facade featuring lots of snot work, and the glass spiral staircase leading from third to the fourth floor. As usual, the model also has full interior.

The color scheme using bright light orange might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really like the color, so there you are 

As usual, head over to flickr for even more pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzRQmw

The copper plate roof. I'll leave it to you to figure out how it is built - I'll just say that all pieces are firmly connected.

 

The restaurant's namesake is featured above the windows and door on the ground floor.

 

Interior of the restaurant.

 

The restaurant also features a piece by a local modern artist. It's cryptically titled "Entrails of a Star Destroyer".

 

On the second floor, a psychotherapist has his office.

 

Many of his patients find the loud ticking of the grandfather clock to be distracting. He enjoys analyzing their reactions to it.

 

The third floor is the first of a two floor apartment. This floor has a kitchen, eating area and home-office working space.

 

The luxurious kitchen has a big fridge and a kitchen island with further seating.

 

The glass spiral staircase leads up to the final floor. It is built using panels. Curved slopes with cut-out create the nice organic shape of the banister.

 

The top floor is less spacious then the ones below. It features the bedroom, couch and TV area and the bathroom.

 

The bathroom features a big, open shower (with a coloured glass wall preventing spray down the staircase), toilet and wash basin.

 

I hope you enjoyed my MOC - looking forward to any feedback, constructive criticism or praise you have to offer

More pics on flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzRQmw

Tobias

[Chmashdehjare]

Thanks for sharing. I like it. I particularly like the two floor apartment and I love the spiral staircase!  
 

[noahtheb]

I think I found out how the roof is built, and I must say that technique is ingenious! Well done, great moc.

[jus1973]

This is a fab looking build.  Some lovely details including that spiral staircase.  I might have to borrow some of those ideas if that’s ok?  I’m trying to work out the roof.  Sideways SNOT? 

[Redhead1982]

This is a truly beautiful model. The bright color of the facade stands out really nicely - obviously lots of fresh paint on it. It might be a bold choice to build with bright light orange, but the color combo looks great with white and grey. The roof is probably my favourite part, and you created a great pattern for the roof tiles. The interior is very interesting too. The glass stairs are very neat, but the fencing to it feels a bit bulky. It's a shame there's not enough parts in trans-clear as it would fit as a fence much better than the black slopes. But given the availability of the parts, the spiral shaping is spot on. 

I'm really not sure how the roof is built, but I am speculating you fixed the parts (jumpers and bricks) to some supports in the back. 

[Yoggington]

That staircase is wonderful.

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

Magnificent! And nice bed, too.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Fine building indeed!

[ReplicaOfLife]

Thank you all for your kind words! Much appreciated

And also thanks for the frontpage showcase! Much appreciated!

 

22 hours ago, Redhead1982 said:

This is a truly beautiful model. The bright color of the facade stands out really nicely - obviously lots of fresh paint on it. It might be a bold choice to build with bright light orange, but the color combo looks great with white and grey. The roof is probably my favourite part, and you created a great pattern for the roof tiles. The interior is very interesting too. The glass stairs are very neat, but the fencing to it feels a bit bulky. It's a shame there's not enough parts in trans-clear as it would fit as a fence much better than the black slopes. But given the availability of the parts, the spiral shaping is spot on. 

I'm really not sure how the roof is built, but I am speculating you fixed the parts (jumpers and bricks) to some supports in the back. 

I get what you mean about the staircase hand rail looking a bit bulky. It's actually quite low though, when you look at how high it compared to each step. But as I was reading your reply and looked at it again, I actually got an idea for a technique to create a similar effect that would be less bold. I'll definitely re-use this, and that way it won't look the same

 

On 5/29/2022 at 5:00 PM, jus1973 said:

This is a fab looking build.  Some lovely details including that spiral staircase.  I might have to borrow some of those ideas if that’s ok?  I’m trying to work out the roof.  Sideways SNOT? 

No, I don't mind at all - if my work inspires others, that''s great! I'd appreciate a shout-out, though, especially if you go very close to what I did.

 

Regarding the roof: Yes, SNOT is involved, and of course there's some supporting structure in the back. But propably less than you'd think - each roof section is one interconnected assembly, and the supports are just attached at two points to that assembly

[Zork]

WOW, superb work what you did!

Like all those details an especially your copper plate roof! Thank you for sahring

[Guts 24]

 

Wonderful building. I find the yellow color a bit too bright. I would have rather seen a pastel tone but the architecture is very successful! congratulations !

[ReplicaOfLife]

Thank you @Zork & @Guts 24

[GeoBrick]

Beautiful façade ornamentation, well-furnished interior, and a novel roof technique. What more can one ask of a Modular?
The almost-symmetry on the front with a protrusion streetwards on both ends makes it a real winner.

But my favorite part is the terrace wall and entrance stones. Its simple yet convenes elegance.

[Ravelino]

Ooh ah BLO Modular, this BLO's me away(yes, silly pun intended)! It might be a bit over like someone said earlier, indeed maybe a pastel would be better but hey! I've seen worse colour choices from official sets so who gives?

I pretty much agree with everyone here. I really like the staircase, and would love to see the improved version you have in mind. The roofing and the terrace are very lovable as well. Wonder why'd you call it The Golden Frog though when one really has to search for those buggers (found 'em though no worries), maybe a couple more like over the main entrance would be nice though I'd get why you would be hesitant.

All in all: Very nice job

Edited June 8, 2022 by Ravelino

[JakeS]

Amazing! I love the roof, and the bright colors :)

[ReplicaOfLife]

On 6/5/2022 at 11:11 AM, GeoBrick said:

Beautiful façade ornamentation, well-furnished interior, and a novel roof technique. What more can one ask of a Modular?
The almost-symmetry on the front with a protrusion streetwards on both ends makes it a real winner.

But my favorite part is the terrace wall and entrance stones. Its simple yet convenes elegance.

Thank you :)

I intentionally didn't make it fully symmetric - I've done so many symmetrical builds already

 

On 6/8/2022 at 6:56 AM, Ravelino said:

Ooh ah BLO Modular, this BLO's me away(yes, silly pun intended)! It might be a bit over like someone said earlier, indeed maybe a pastel would be better but hey! I've seen worse colour choices from official sets so who gives?

I pretty much agree with everyone here. I really like the staircase, and would love to see the improved version you have in mind. The roofing and the terrace are very lovable as well. Wonder why'd you call it The Golden Frog though when one really has to search for those buggers (found 'em though no worries), maybe a couple more like over the main entrance would be nice though I'd get why you would be hesitant.

All in all: Very nice job

The name Golden Frog came about by sheer coincidence - when I designed it, I just thought about 'some sort of restaurant'. The frogs already were there, but I had originally planned with dark blueish grey ones as a direct nod to Café Corner. Then I noticed that I didn't have enough grey ones, but did have the golden ones. And since it's pretty common for restaurants to be called "The Golden [some thing or other]" around here, that gave me the name for it.

 

On 6/9/2022 at 12:17 PM, JakeS said:

Amazing! I love the roof, and the bright colors :)

Thank you :)

[Withacee]

Lovely!
The interior details are brilliant, and I really like the ground floor and the top floor façade.
The bright light orange works very well here.
I wonder if it would look even better without the second floor, which, on the outside, is a repeat of the first floor.
Keep clicking those bricks together!

Edited June 20, 2022 by Withacee

[ReplicaOfLife]

On 6/20/2022 at 6:12 PM, Withacee said:

Lovely!
The interior details are brilliant, and I really like the ground floor and the top floor façade.
The bright light orange works very well here.
I wonder if it would look even better without the second floor, which, on the outside, is a repeat of the first floor.
Keep clicking those bricks together!

Thanks

In my experience, at 32 studs width three floor builds only work if the building is either flat-roofed (so you still get two full upper floors), if the floors are very tall, or if the modular is designed with at least two different facades. On more uniform buildings, like I usually do, removing one of the middle floor makes the buildings look weird, because they will feel too small for their width.

In other words, you usually want your buildings to be a bit higher than they are wide.

 

Which, I think, is another reason (besides saving on parts & volume) why Lego usually either does multiple facades or doesn't use the entire baseplate on straight modulars nowadays. Green Grocer was the only regular (non municipal) modular they ever did that was designed as a single, 32 studs wide building, and just look at how tall those upper floors are compared to almost all other modulars.

Edited June 25, 2022 by ReplicaOfLife

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Tthis modular palace is absolutely professional!

In my opinion the quality is superior to the Lego sets: I notice all your efforts!

I particularly like the staircase with the transparent steps, it's very elegant

[ReplicaOfLife]

On 7/2/2022 at 8:00 AM, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Tthis modular palace is absolutely professional!

In my opinion the quality is superior to the Lego sets: I notice all your efforts!

I particularly like the staircase with the transparent steps, it's very elegant

Thank  you, very glad you like it this much

[vincelam58]

The façade is so detailed! The bright yellowish orange color is amazing!  

[Lion King]

What a marvelous masterpiece you have! Great work!!

[ulix]

Indeed, amazing work. 

[Redhead1982]

Georgues interiors and very neat exteriors. I really like the roof and the texture of it. The color scheme is quite vibrant, perhaps the more pale tone (like bright light yellow or even flash). But as it is, it's still a very fine looking building. Well done.  

[jalemac34]

Very Nice

Really like the stairs