The Grand Theatre

We love the idea of our town having a “grand” theatre. Only problem is a lot of famous theatre and performance houses are difficult to recreate in Lego. They require pieces and design functionality simply not available in the 1950s and 1960s. For us, it really important for the integrity of the display that we stick to the bricks available during that period. Narrowing down our search for a modernist theatre houses we came across this one:

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Neelam Theatre, Chandigarah, India

Built in the early 1950s, Neelam Theatre is located in Sector 17, the commercial district of the modernist city Chandigarh, that was famously masterplanned by Le Corbusier in post-independence India. The building was actually designed by Aditya Prakash, one of six Indian architects assigned to work with Le Corbusier and his cousin, French architect Pierre Jeanerret, during the construction of Chandigarh.

What could work well in the recreation of this into Lego is the horizontal and vertical details of the structure. We may have to make some alterations to the facade, certainly the curvature under the roof will need to be adjusted, but this building is certainly somewhere to begin the design process.

The Grand Theatre - front view

We used the 1 x 1 x 2 (old type) windows to replicate the “lattice” work in the walls. We are yet to investigate if we can source that many but this is just a prototype, we’ll concentrate on what works for the design first.

The Grand Theatre - front/side view

The Grand Theatre - side/rear view

The Grand Theatre - side/top view

The Grand Theatre is 42 studs wide, 32 studs deep and 32 bricks (and 5 plates high). This prototype design has 935 bricks in total.

When we finally construct this building we may look at including the ‘indented’ side detail. While a feature of some modernist building the flat, solid side lacks some finer detailed elements.

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Phase two buildings - proposed (so far):

24. The Museum
25. The Grand Theatre

Here’s an outline of the complete list of Phase one and proposed Phase two display buildings:

Phase one and two - Types of Buildings:

• Apartments (3)

• Cafe

• Church

• ESSO Filling Station

• Factory

• Fire Station

• Garage (2)

• Hospital

• Hotel

• Houses (3)

• Kiosk

• Museum

• Police Station

• Post Office

• Theatre

• VW Dealer

NB: Bold indicates new Phase two buildings.

Bricks available for Phase two Buildings:

• Bakery
• Butcher
• Car
• Cinema

• Grocery/Store
• Hotdog
• Ice-cream

• Museum
• Phillips
• Resturant

• Snack Bar
• Store
• Theatre

<< Back to Large Buildings II

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