Designing a Medieval Cathedral
Posted by Huw,
This article was written by arselus (@arselus.bricks):
LEGO Castle has long been a favourite theme of builders across the world. From the Forestmen, to the Black Falcons, to the Lion Knights, to 1978’s 375 Castle and other factions and sets -- countless stories have been told in the world of Castle.
Most recently, LEGO's official releases of 10305 Lion Knights' Castle and 10332 Medieval Town Square have delighted fans, new and old. LEGO Ideas brought us 21325 the Medieval Blacksmith, and the Bricklink Designer Program has brought us Castle sets in nearly every series, starting with Povoq’s 910001 Castle in the Forest and Sleepless Night’s 910029 Mountain Fortress, not to mention BL19001 Löwenstein Castle.
As a (nearly) lifelong fan of the theme, I’ve thought about how to contribute to this theme. Many excellent builders have contributed to medieval villages and towns and creative variations of castles are manifold. Many such projects are available on Rebrickable.
Tangentially related – there have been dozens of inspiring renditions of medieval cathedrals designed by AFOLs. Many of these have only been seen at fan expos or perhaps on display in famous cathedrals around the world, and in photos online. While intriguing and inspiring, both because of the nature of the builds, and their part counts, these works of art have been largely unobtainable by the average Castle fan.
Enter the Bricklink Designer Program (BDP) Series 1.
When BDP Series 1 was announced, I made it my goal to design a medieval cathedral that could be a centrepiece to a medieval town or village, while remaining reasonable in part count to be accessible to fans. I settled on the idea of an “in-construction” build, as this allowed a lowered part count, and added some dynamism to the project in general. For BDP Series 1, I designed the Medieval Stonemasons Guild:
The project was not selected (though it was later offered in the MOC Pop-up Shop). I continued to iterate on the theme, and made a more developed build for BDP Series 3, though I never submitted this version.
I continued to revise the build, and submitted it to BDP Series 5. As often happens with MOCs, I kept iterating, making some improvements after submitting.
The one benefit to not-yet becoming a finalist was an increased desire to keep improving. I read David Macaulay’s book, Cathedral and learnt quite a bit: from details about scaffolding, to concrete infilled wall cavities, to the process of building stained-glass windows and many other details.
I decided to do a ground-up redesign for BDP Series 6, starting with some sketches, and making quick studies of several impressive gothic cathedrals (some that I’ve visited). My goals were to further my design skills, to design a historically-accurate scene, and to delight fans of Castle, offering a fitting centrepiece to many unique medieval towns.
The end result has been my new Medieval Construction Site, which will appear in the Bricklink Designer Program Series 6. There are many historical details to notice. Firstly, the cathedral correctly has a centre nave/choir and two isles, supported by piers at the inner walls, and thick outer walls.
Buttresses climb on both sides of the building and flying buttresses support the weight and stabilise the structure. Arch brick pieces are used to create the feeling of webbed vaulting. While brown bricks are used for the roof, representing a wood structure on top of the white “stone”.
At the east end of the building a “rounded” apse brings light into the building, crowned by a blue and red rose window. Rose windows were more commonly used on the western façade of gothic cathedrals (as famously seen in Paris’ Notre Dame). However, east façade rose windows were not unheard of.
Some other details include scaffolding that circles the structure, integrated into the “stone” bricks (as it would have been in the period), windlasses atop the structure used to bring heavy parts up, and a mason pouring concrete into a stone cavity, as concrete was more cost-effective in some areas of the structure.
Special attention has been paid to the windows, whether filled with stained-glass or not, as these details are some of the most marked features of medieval buildings. The building is full of many more details for you to notice.
The model has a base of 32 x 48 studs, and a height of 57 studs (18”, 46cm), towering over the Medieval Town Square (25cm). It is built of approximately 3500 bricks, more than any of my previous versions, but still accessible for many fans.
I wanted to showcase the project here on Brickset, as I’ve found the community comments engaging and helpful.
I hope you enjoyed this article and consider supporting my project when the crowd support phase of BDP series 6 commences at BrickLink on Monday, 7th October.
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15 comments on this article
Impressive
Many thanks @arselus
The Gothic cathedral is very interesting as an architectural building structure because of its layering. The fact that you display this under construction makes it not only a beautiful display diorama but also an educational Lego construction. Love the contrast of the different materials. well done!
This looks excellent, and very different. Really interesting process of designing it too. Kudos!
Wonderful build @arselus .bricks! I enjoyed reading your behind-the-scenes article with your process from series 1, 5 and till 6. The addition of your drawings mainly attracted my attention, as someone who loves to draw. Also, the technique you used for the stained glass windows is beautiful. Good luck!
That is an interesting project. The amount of scaffolding has diminished while the ornateness of the build has increased. It's almost as if each iteration was a step in the building of one cathedral.
I think your model is quite nice. The front looks incredible. One issue is that the back looks unfinished. I understand that is the point. Yet, I think it could use a bit more scaffolding or other work in progress to make it clear that this is a construction. It just looks a bit chopped-off to me.
Hope you make it. Looks like something I would buy.
Lovely to see the progress.
I got the MOC pop-up store instructions and loved the build and still have it proudly out on display. Good luck in series 6.
Very interesting to see the progression! Fantastic work!
I supported the first one and definitely going to support this one as well! Looks amazing! Hope it gets the attention and votes it deserves!
I'm sure to support this project, even though the larger size is something of a minus for me. Really enjoyed the discussion of how your design evolved, and especially your use of David Macaulay’s book--I love everything he's written/drawn! (I also really like everything I've seen you design....)
I had the pleasure of working with arselus during the MOC Pop-Up Store initiative and I’m so happy to see his work highlighted here!! I loved the idea of a medieval build under construction and it’s great to see how much it’s evolved.
Good luck in BDP Series 6!
I really love the addition of the rose window, but I think my favorite is the series 5. I like the tall scaffolding, that immediately made you realize the work was under construction. And I liked the spot of light blue dome that is now gone. Still, a very impressive build, and I’m sure the series 6 version will benefit from all your extra research!
Fantastic build and I really enjoyed reading about the process you went through. I remember well David Macaulay's series of books from years ago!. As an architect in real life, I really appreciate that you included the scaffolding and other under-construction details; definitely a seldom tackled aspect. The white of the stone vs. brown of timber really makes it pop out visually for me too!
Nice one. Very interesting. Mind boggles at the piece-count if someone might want to complete it in a similar style!
Thank you for all the supportive comments! Thank you Huw for posting this. The project is now live here:
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-6/1919/Medieval-Construction-Site
lovely build! I hope this get accepted one day. Not sure if possible, but this should have the pieces needed to also "finish" the build. This would be a great set to have in the various stages of building in a small town and have it make sense.