Building Wingspread

Upcoming Show - Discovery World Milwaukee

2015-12-09T07:48:00.001-06:00

This December 19-20, come on by Discovery World in Milwaukee! They're having a Family Winter Weekend, including displays from the Kenosha LEGO Users Group. Wingspread will be there - this will likely be the final show that I take Wingspread to, and is one of KLUG's largest events of the year. You don't want to miss this!

KLUG Featured on "Real Milwaukee" on FOX 6

2015-12-09T07:42:00.000-06:00

On December 3rd, the "Real Milwaukee" show on Milwaukee FOX 6 did a short piece on the Kenosha LEGO Users Group, of which I am a member. Filming was done at Wingspread, where we displayed a few other LEGO models alongside my Wingspread model. Check out the video here.

Wingspread LEGO model on display at Wingspread through November

2015-10-08T17:33:00.001-05:00

Today I spent 2 hours setting up my Wingspread model inside the real Wingspread! I'm very happy to have the opportunity to display my model there for the next 2 months.

The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread gives free tours. If you're going to be in the area, schedule a visit! Feel free to leave a comment here on my blog, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the model.

If this is your first time at this site, feel free to browse my older posts here. I used this site as a log of my progress as I built the model. I have a list of Frequently Asked Questions in the links on the right as well.

A big thanks to Mark Hertzberg for doing a feature on the model and setup on his Wright in Racine blog!

The LEGO Architect book now available!

2015-10-08T17:14:00.000-05:00

No Starch Press has recently published "The LEGO Architect" by Tom Alphin. I'm quite excited that I was asked by Tom to have pictures from my Wingspread build in the book, as well as some quotes and a profile on me as a builder.

On seeing the finished product, I am quite impressed at how beautiful the book is. I'm happy to keep this on my coffee table - every page is laid out well, and the photos of LEGO models and of real buildings are very nicely shot.

The book is available on Amazon.com.

Check out Tom's blog at BrickArchitect.com.

Beyond The Brick feature - Brickworld Chicago 2015

2015-07-12T16:56:00.001-05:00

I was fortunate to talk to the Beyond The Brick podcast team during the show at Brickworld Chicago this year. Check out the interview above, and enjoy the view!

Winner!

2015-06-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

Over the last weekend, I showed my Wingspread model at Brickworld Chicago 2015. I'm happy to say the votes are in, and it won Best Large Building! A huge thanks to everyone who voted for me. It was so nice to talk to many of you about the model. This is my first time winning any awards for my LEGO creations, and my third time being nominated.

Finished!

2015-04-26T21:57:00.000-05:00

After 2 1/2 years of work, 50,000 pieces, and hundreds of hours of building, I've completed Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School masterpiece in LEGO! The completed model is 5ft by 5ft, and will debut at KLUG's "Uke's Harley-Davidson" show in Kenosha, WI this May. It is also coming to Brickworld Chicago 2015 in Schaumburg, IL.

In the coming days I will be posting information about building techniques, packing for transport, and getting things "show ready".

Almost Home

2015-04-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

I've made incredible progress this week. The guest wing roof is complete, along with the giant pergola on the back of it. Today I completed the pergolas on each side of the children's wing as well.

I took a stab at some trees this morning. I'm quite happy with the large oak that sits just next to the terrace. This thing is quite heavy - I used a large portion of my leaf supply on it, but I'm loving the full look of it. It uses lengths of flex tube to provide stability.

All I have left to build now is the children's wing roof, the poolside patio, and I need to finish filling out the garden.

As I near the end, finishing each section, I get to experience great waves of relief and satisfaction. When I started this a couple years ago, I had no idea I could be this happy about a LEGO model. Along the way, this has been so many things to me: constant frustration, a continued locus of contemplation, an immense challenge of my abilities. I look forward to sharing the finished model with the world.

Pleasantly Surprised

2015-04-20T19:37:00.000-05:00

Tonight I decided to work more on the 2nd story roof. This section has long been a worry of mine. The shape of Wingspread's roof is iconic, and I want to do it justice more than any other part of the building. The angled sides especially worried me, as they are at an odd angle that's not made by LEGO. My first attempt over the weekend used a complicated mesh of different size wedge plates, and there were gaps everywhere. On a whim I thought I could use staggered 45° plates. I think the effect is quite good.

I am exceedingly happy with how this turned out. I can't stop staring at it!

Refinement

2015-04-20T10:01:00.000-05:00

As I near the end of this project, "completion" is an ever-changing target. Most of the time I don't know how I'm going to complete a section until I actually get into it with the brick. Often I'll just stall out entirely... I'll get so wrapped up in "doing it right" that I don't know where to start. I find it's best to just try something, ANYTHING, or I'll never get anywhere. There's always room to refine things, to revise what's already been done. The roof sections are quite full of this, none so much as the 2nd floor roof - a 9-sided "P"-shaped area with multiple intersecting slopes and only a couple right angles. Above is my first attempt at the upper roof section. I have a couple ideas to try to fill in the remaining gaps... we'll see what I decide on.

I should be finished building in the next week or so. Here's my remaining build list:

Garden pergola
Garden center
Poolside patio
Children's wing pergola
Children's wing roof
Carport/Guest wing flat roof
Servants' wing - long dormer window
2nd Floor roof - angled areas
Chimneys
Various small gaps to fill in landscaping
Trees, flowers, plants, vines

Beyond the "build", I still have a couple items to get it "show ready" - skirting, plexiglass, and I have to make sure everything fits into boxes.

I love that with a building this large, even though I'm not done yet, there are still plenty of angles that look like a finished product:

The Great Tile-Up

2015-04-16T19:20:00.000-05:00

I received one of my final BrickLink orders today. Finally, I have enough tiles to complete all of the tan cement and trellises! It will take some days to finish all the work, but I was happy to get a good start on it tonight. Two wings worth of trellis work are complete now - the master bedrooms and servants' wings. Of course I leave the most complicated ones for last... hopefully I can muster up the courage to tackle the childrens' wing and guest wing trellises this weekend. The one by the garden is absolutely huge, at about 64 by 20 studs, with a few intersecting angles that may prove frustrating.

Soon I should be able to begin completion of the great hall roof as well. The end is getting closer every day.

Foliated

2015-04-13T10:32:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I worked on some finishing touches on the servants' wing. I've finally filled in the courtyard. The red cement in the courtyard is still waiting on the right color cheese slopes, and I'll probably add some flowers and perhaps a planter or two. I think I've gotten the trellises for this wing to a near-final state. I still need to add a vine or two - the real house has grape vines all over.

I'm quickly falling in love with this wing. The shaping, the angles, and the use of color are quite beautiful. I did not expect this to be my favorite wing, but I think it might be.

I wait patiently now on my various part orders.

Perseverance

2015-04-10T19:47:00.000-05:00

Tonight I set out to finish the landscape in the corner next to the servants' wing. I'm currently waiting on a boatload of parts from 5 separate BrickLink orders so that I will have enough to finish out the roof, trellises, and all the tan cement work.

The end is so close! With this section complete, the only "land" that I have left to finish is the walkway up to the playroom, and the center of the garden. Just a little ways left to go, folks...

Taking Stock

2015-04-06T19:00:00.000-05:00

It's getting to the point where I'm running quite low on things to do, and simultaneously running low on parts to do it with.

Over the long weekend, I did a complete rework of the guest wing and carport. There's a couple small bits of wall to complete, but it's basically 95% there. I'm now only a couple hours of work away from finishing Wingspread's walls!

Tonight I decided to take a stab at a bit more of the roof. With that I'm finally running low on dark orange parts. I'll likely be placing a few orders for more pieces in the next couple days so that I can finish the rest.

Edging

2015-03-29T18:57:00.000-05:00

This weekend was quite busy. I laid down the majority of the garden, completed the windows on the servant's wing, and completed most of the roof over the master bedroom wing.

Finding the right angle for the garden pathways was an interesting challenge. I wanted to ensure that everything stayed flat, while keeping the edges parallel to the building walls. I'm quite pleased with it, and I look forward to finishing out the flagstone area in the center. It's unfortunate that I didn't have enough space to showcase the full garden path, but I was able to fit about 90% of it.

Every time I do work on the roof, I get more optimistic about the time it will take to complete it. In my scheduling for the remainder of the build, the roof is allotted the most time because it is the biggest unknown for me. I've long assumed that it will take as much time as any of the individual wings have taken to complete, but that is now looking to be a vast overestimation. I still have to complete the chimneys, woodwork,and flat roof sections for the master wing.

This week, I begin to tackle the guest wing and carport. My first attempt at the carport last year, it turns out, is not long enough. The last thing I did today was work out the measurements for the garden side of the guest wing. I built a story stick using LEGO plates so that I have a very straightforward reference to work from later this week - instead of worrying about counting studs, I can just hold the story stick up against the wall as I work.

Completing the guest wing will mean that I am done with the walls. I'm very excited!

Hidden Spaces

2015-03-25T19:54:00.000-05:00

One of Wright's reasons for giving Wingspread 4 wings was for a separation of public and private spaces. Even today, when you go on a tour of the house, there are areas you are not allowed into. Many areas of the building are rarely photographed (inside and out). Above is the servants' wing courtyard. Its walls are high enough that the casual observer is unable to peek inside. Wright even hides the door to the kitchen area behind a second set of walls.

Below is a set of planters built into the side of the house near the pool. It seems few visitors think to photograph these - in my months of looking at photos online, I've never come across a close-up shot of them.

As you can perhaps tell from the photos, I'm running low on tan tiles... Time to stock up on a few more parts before the home stretch! Sections left to finish:

Carport/Guest wing
Pool area hardscaping
Garden
Servants' Courtyard (windows, patio)
Roof

QR Code

2015-03-23T18:29:00.000-05:00

I've been considering building a scannable QR code for BuildingWingspread.com for some time now. Yesterday, my wife and I went on a tour of Wingspread, and I felt inspired to complete this. The red signature block was used by Wright on some of his later homes, as a sort of "stamp of approval".

During the tour, I was able to take a lot of pictures of areas of the building that very few people think to take photos of. As a result I'll be able to make every area of the model accurate, not just the parts that people see more often.

One other side effect of the tour is the ability to refine my scale more. By comparing lengths of sections on the blueprints with the sizing and number of real bricks used, I can define a better scale standard for wall and window heights in my model. I'm still working out the math, but at the moment it looks like I will have to revisit every section to make it slightly shorter. Not too big a deal for brick sections, but windows may need a redesign all around.

Ramping Up

2015-03-19T19:02:00.000-05:00

Today I began on the servants' wing wall which borders the garden. I've continued the occasional tile "bricks" in the 1x2 plate walls, and I'm quite happy with it. The rest of this wall will have to wait until I get a good look at the real thing when I take my tour of the house this weekend.

Trying to keep my pace up, I got a start on working out the roof sloping tonight as well:

The Wingspread roof is quite unique - one side of each wing's roof is shallow, while the other is steep. Meanwhile, there are trellises all over the place, and lots of sections of grey flat roof as well.

Work and Play

2015-03-17T19:22:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I finished up the shaping for the playroom, and began working on the landscaping around the pool. I've got the spacing figured out, but the specific patterning of the concrete will have to wait until I get a good view of the real thing. Unfortunately, there are very few pictures online of the pool area of Wingspread. The good news is, I'm going on a tour of the building this weekend! I'm bringing my camera so that I can take tons of pictures.

I also got a start tonight on the pool-side wall of the servants' wing:

While the tile work in this wall looks nice and presents a realistic brick appearance, it actually serves a structural function as well - over any reasonable distances, walls made entirely of 1x2 plate tend to be fractionally shorter than they should be. This introduces stress and bowing when you begin to attach them to other pieces. The tiles in the wall here serve as "expansion joints" to allow the wall to be as long as it should be.

I'm looking forward to a fruitful tour this weekend! Hopefully the weather will not be too cold. In the meantime, I need to figure out what to work on next. Perhaps I'll start on the garden-side wall of the servants' wing this week.

Two

2015-03-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

The hills down into the terrace lawn were an interesting challenge. I had a few concerns to keep in mind during construction:

No gaps visible at the black edging
No gaps between the grass and the walls
No gaps between adjoining grass of different angles

I ended up straying from my typical 45-degree grass for the hill outside the playroom - it was necessary for maintaining a flat edge against the playroom walls. Everything came together pretty well. I was able to keep all the gaps out of the finished product:

Next up: finish up the pool-side of the playroom, and the landscaping in front of the pool.

Mowing The Lawn

2015-03-11T19:35:00.000-05:00

I realized today that I have some height problems to work out between the terrace-side and pool-side children's wing walls if I want the roof to sit flat... so while I ponder the solution I decided to begin working on the landscaping by the terrace.

I wanted the grass to show as many studs as possible. This makes for a lot of trial and error with the tiling underneath the angled terrace wall. Quite time-consuming, but the end result is worth it. I'm also happy with the hill leading up to the princess balcony (right side of the photo). I need to work on shaping and foliage of the left side still, but I've made a good start. That's not baseplate... it's mostly 8x8 green plate, at a 45 degree angle to the baseplates below.

Timing Is Crucial...

2015-03-09T19:40:00.000-05:00

As I write this, there are 101 days left until Brickworld 2015, where I plan to debut Wingspread in it's finished state. I realized today just how quickly I need to work to get everything done. With 14 weeks left, I need to get at least one of the following done each week if I want to get done in time:

Pool wall - Children's wing
Pool wall - Servant's wing
Garden wall - Servant's wing
Garden wall - Guest's wing/Carport
Terrace landscaping
Pool landscaping
Garden landscaping
Roof (This is probably a multi-week project)
Trees, foliage
Cars for the carport
Lighting
Table skirting and acrylic bariers
Storage/transport planning

I was able to get most of #1 done tonight... perhaps I can get through two items this week. Time to get into high gear!

By The Poolside

2015-03-09T19:31:00.000-05:00

Tonight I began to tackle the wall alongside the pool. Lots of glass on this one... though personally I think the fire pit is the most striking feature. It's simple, but I like the angled interior and clean lines.

Later this week I think I'll finish up the playroom - an angled section just to the right of the fire pit.

Stepping Back

2015-03-08T13:43:00.000-05:00

Now is a good time to look at the progress so far, and where I'm heading.

Children's wing, with the Playroom on the right:

Servants wing, kitchen, service yard:

Guests and carport:

Master bedrooms:

... And a Pool

2015-03-08T13:26:00.000-05:00

I found the pool section to be very satisfying to build. I was lucky to find an angle that works out very well with LEGO dimensions - The finished pool interior is 20 studs wide, 80 long on one side, and 65 long on the shorter side. Thanks to the wonder of 3-4-5 triangles, the length of the angled sections works out to 25 studs long exactly. The whole thing is quite sturdy, with clean joins between different angles. The steps mimic the real pool, which has a series of steps taking up the shallow side of the pool leading to the deep end.

Sections like this are so gratifying to assemble - I was able to cover a lot of area quite quickly. Once I finish the nearby house walls, I'll start filling in the remaining landscape around the pool.