Esben Kolind

Hi all, My latest model is an architecture scale (1:225) version of 79&PARK, an apartment building currently under construction in Stockholm. The building is designed by architects Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the architects behind LEGO House in Billund. The model is currently displayed in LEGO House as part of an exhibition of 10 different BIG buildings created by AFOLs around the world in the BIG Builders project. A series of blog posts describing the early sketching, design choices, building techniques, lighting and photography of the model can be found on the project blog. All pictures have been taken in a professional studio and can be seen in this Flickr album. I have edited a short presentation video showing the model pictures alongside the visualizations of the actual building. The 360 degree visualization at the end of the video can also be found on this link (click the image to see the model rotate). I cannot find a way to embed this in this post (?) The model features light from BrickStuff.com, see the project blog for more details. This shot imitates a sunset with long shadows The pixel pattern is very visible from this shot taken directly from above The inner garden is best seen from this angle Two views of the backside of the building I am quite pleased with the final outcome of this model. I would love to hear your comments. Thanks. Esben

It is now on display in their living room but I think (and hope) that they will play with it every once in a while. And my friend promised to update the model if they make changes to the house or plants :-) thanks for the comments, everyone. Esben

My friend asked if I could build a LEGO model of his home. Or even better, if I could design it and his son could construct it. Challenge accepted. He lives in a traditional townhouse from the 50ies in a surburb of Copenhagen. His family only lives in half of the building and since the other half is identical, I decided to only design half the building and then use a mirror when displaying the model. This also gives easy access to the interior. I also designed minifig versions of the family The house has full interior, but except for the kitchen, I left it for my friend and his son to design the furniture I completed the model and then took apart the walls and parts of the roof, terrace and paths for the son to build. Building it all from scratch would have been too complicated and time consuming for him. A few pictures of the house All pictures can be found in this Flickr album A fun little build which turned out quite well. And the receiver was very happy! I would love to hear your comments. Esben

Thank you. Yes, I think making a prototype of a facade or cross section really helps to showcase the idea and also decide on colors, techniques etc. LEGO is such an obvious material for architectural models... and they can easily be changed. While we build Pier E, we have built another interim, grim walkway to Go :-) It can be seen on the aerial photo. Thanks. I proposed the idea, built the prototypes and the project manager accepted. I built it on my own over the course of a month when I was on paternity leave (maximum two hours per day when the little one had her long nap). I hope the model will eventually be displayed in the new pier as part of the communication campaign.

Background Copenhagen Airport is currently constructing a new Pier E connecting Pier D with the low-cost Pier F, replacing the existing, narrow covered walkway. The first phase of the building is planned to open in 2019 with 22.000 m2 floor space including seven new gates at a price of 850 mill. DKK (115 mill. Euro). The ground level contains bus gates while level 1 has pier serviced gates and border control facilities. Level 2 contains flow corridors for arriving and transferring passengers. Working in the operational analysis department in the airport, I have been involved in the project since the early design stages in 2014. When the early concepts for the pier were sketched, I suggested building a LEGO scale model of the pier instead of at traditional styrofoam or cardboard architectural model. This would enable us to show the interior layout and various passenger flows and would create more attention and awareness of the project internally in the organization. Early prototypes To illustrate the idea, I initially built a short section of the pier in the scale 1 stud = 2 m where the different levels and the roof could be removed. At this scale, it was not possible to build interior such as staircases, chairs and desks. The next prototype was built in the scale 1 stud = 1 m and I experimented with different colors for the floors as well as color coded passenger flows (blue and yellow lines on the picture below). Based on this second prototype, it was decided to go ahead and build a LEGO model of the full pier. Design The model was designed based on available drawings using pen and checkered paper. For the two bends in the building, I experimented with various wedge plates before arriving at angles very close to the actual bends. As no details on the design and colors of the facades and roof were available, the exterior of the LEGO model was designed using simple white bricks and glass. Brown was chosen to imitate a wooden floor, however, the idea of indicating passenger flows with colored lines in the floor was abandoned as it would ruin the overall visual appeal of the model. In contrast to the white building, the busses serving the pier were designed using the actual yellow color of the busses currently operating in the airport. At the selected scale, the seating (using simple panels) appears a little too deep (1 meter) and the columns are too wide (1 meter). These are the main design compromises I had to make at this scale. The planned with of the pier is 40 meters (40 studs) so the model was built on 48 x 48 studs baseplates. Surrounding apron and roads was built on 32 x 32 studs baseplates. The roof, level 2 flow corridors and the entire level 1 can be removed to access the interior of the ground floor. The model was built in May 2015. A work in progress photo is seen below. Presentation The model was presented to the top management of Copenhagen Airport in an information workshop on the project before the final decision to initiate the project. Since then, the model has been on display in the airport headquarters. Pictures All pictures can be found in this Flickr album: The detailed plans to build a new Pier E were revealed to the public in early 2017 and the construction commenced shortly after. Apart from the detailing of the facade, only minor changes to internal flow corridors have been made since the construction of the LEGO model. An additional level 3 for technical installations has also been added. Pictures below show the contruction site and visualizations. Read about the project: http://www.passengerterminaltoday.com/viewnews.php?NewsID=83385 I look forward to hear all comments on this model that I have been waiting for a long time to present publicly. Esben

Hi, This model of a modern Finnish wooden house was built on commision as a birthday present for the owner of the house, located in the woods in Finland. The model was built in "half-minifig scale" (doors are two studs wide) in a LEGO Architecture-like style to reduce cost and complexity, as the birthday boy was to receive the model as a lego set and build it himself. All pictures on Flickr The model was re-designed over several iterations to simplify the build. Finally, the model was carefully taken a part, taking pictures of each step and corresponding bricks in the process. The pictures would go in to a photo book to provide instructions for the model. All bricks were divided into bags corresponding to the different steps in the instructions (foundations, walls, roofs etc.) Several pictures from all angles as well as original architectural drawings were used for the design process. What do you think of it? All comments are welcome. Esben

Hi, This model was commisioned by friends who were going to Italy on vacation and needed a special gift for the host family they would be staying with for free for several weeks. As the family is quite fond of everything LEGO, a model of their home seemed appropriate. The model was based on Google Street View footage only and built in "half minifig scale" as a compromise between detail, size, price and ease of transportation. Parts came mostly from one BrickLink order with additional parts from my existing collection. Total price for the building (materials only) was 200 Euros, the most expensive parts being the dark green tiles for the windows and the dark red roof. All walls are two bricks thick as the wall sections around the windows are SNOT built. The gift was very well received and my friend mananged to capture this great photo of the model and the reference building in the background. What do you think? All comments are welcome. More photos on Flickr Esben

Hi guys, Thanks for all the great comments. I have tried to incorporate some of your suggestions for the foliage (+ more) in a new version: Only three colors (no olive green) to make it a little less colorful Increased use of 4x3 dark red leaves over 5x6 leaves to create more variation More "chaotic" placement of the main leaves (instead of horizontal/vertical) The foliage having the same color as the building wall is by design. In real life, the dark red autumn colors also blend in with the dark red brick colors on many buildings and I think this effect just adds extra texture to the building... and it is harder to notice the border between the foliage and the wall. I would really like to know what you think of the new version. Esben

Hi all, I have been experimenting with foliage on facades using the new autumn leaf colors and this model is the result. Also, I tried a technique for the roof I haven't been using before. Finally, the blinds and curtains for each window are all different, there's detailed pictures of each on Flickr All 22 pictures on Flickr Together with Grand Emporium: The building is inspired by several apartment buildings from my local neighborhood in Copenhagen: So, what do you think? Do the autumn leaf colors work for the facade? Esben

I tried just that. The problem was that the building is just to heavy to be kept standing with all the tension on just one single point at the bottom. The rather sturdy technic structure I had created on the inside (basically a scissor lift) would have so much weight on it that the liftarms and pins would separate. So I endend up removing all the inside liftarm structure. Thanks guys, for all the comments. Esben

Hi all, This MOC was shown first at the annual Klodsfest, the convention for Danish LUG Byggepladen and won first prize in the category "Small Buildings". In fact, as the video shows, the building starts out fairly large but ends up somewhat smaller. All pictures on Flickr I am not sure how I got this idea, but the final model works pretty much as I imagined initially. Allthough it may look like a simple build, it has been rebuilt several times to get the mechanism to work just right and to keep the building sturdy enough to collapse over and over again. In fact, I spent a long time installing an interior scissor-like mechanism to control the thing remotely and possibly with motors, but I gave up... the building is just to heavy. And the final lift-and-release approach works great. So... what do you think? All comments are welcome. Esben

Hi all, This MOC was shown first at Lego World 2014 in Copenhagen and recently won first prize in the train category at the annual Klodsfest, the convention for Danish LUG Byggepladen. All pictures on Flickr Use your imagination to figure out what happened earlier in the chase :-) I have seen Lego Hand cars online before, but not one using this particular technique. A few more pics below: What do you think of the idea and the execution? All comments are welcome. Esben

Thanks a lot for your comments. Nope, I live in Copenhagen. I have visited New York several times and thought the brownstones would make for a nice model in various red colours. You can come very far with Google Street View, Apple 3D maps and google image search! I don't have instructions for any of my models. There are in fact two different MTA busses (if you look closely on the Flickr photos) and they are pretty straight forward. A little SNOT on the school busses, but not much. These row houses are seen in quite a few neigborhoods in New York and other American cities as well, most prominently Boston. You do see sand red, there are two buildings in that color and they use all the sand red bricks I have... it's all 1x2 bricks and 1x6 bricks, nothing else. Esben

Hi all, At Lego World 2014 in Copenhagen last week, I displayed my model of Brooklyn with 12 iconic brownstone rowhouses and 4 corner buildings. In addition I have created a number of classic New York vehicles. All 22 pictures to be found in the Flickr set All comments are welcome. Esben

Thanks Peter, and you are more than welcome to use the front window technique. Thanks for pointing me to the flickr challenge. I have used the opportunity to join flickr (!) and added a picture to the thread. I have also added a few of the front window pics to the Lego Techniques group. This Flickr thing seems quite neat, actually... Also a big thanks to everyone else commenting, much appreciated. And yes, the porter just climbed the stairs... I realized this when placing the minifig, but decided lo leave it there to see if anyone would notice. Esben