Though I’m not a big beer drinker, I have fond memories of the breweries of Portland. During the fourteen years that I lived there, I found myself passing one brewery or another just about every day. It seems an oversight that it has taken so long to add one to my city.

I’ve been in a LEGO funk for ages. Life has been turbulent and the enduring pandemic has kept me bottled up. Recently though, I’ve realized that I want to design more futuristic buildings. I want to create a future worth living in.

This building is inspired by some pictures I saw of a local building, the Rainier Square Tower. I was immediately taken by the gentle curving taper. Of course, I mis-remembered some of the details and went in a different direction with my building.

Inspiration has been coming inconsistently of late. This one came to me as the illustration of a spaceship, which imagining industrial buildings with a sci-fi flair. So I tucked into designing a futuristic factory.

The last few weeks I’ve been a bit off, a mix of burnout and complete lack of inspiration. It was a pleasant surprise last week when I finally saw a building that sparked my fancy. It was refreshing to fire up my stream and enjoy the process again!

I don’t usually design my Micropolis modules to complement each other, but the last few have been quarters of a cohesive block of mostly old-school masonry. This final module is another trio of various brick buildings, each with their own character.

I’m having fun with the series of old-school brick buildings that I’ve been designing, but it is fun to mix it up with more modern buildings wedged in where they can fit. I love quirky buildings that are tailored to unusual footprints or materials.

As much as I love modern architecture, I adore the layers of history in a city. I like the way that you can read the eras and the changing character through the buildings. There is a atmosphere in that history that has to be accrued through experience.

Sometimes my buildings are inspired by architectural sculpture. When I saw it, I knew that I needed to build it. It took a few iterations, but it was worth it.