How to Construct a LEGO House

LEGO building bricks are wonderful toys for opening a child's imagination. While LEGO offers many specialized parts for making vehicles with moving parts, sometimes the simplest ideas are the most satisfying. There are many ways to build a LEGO house. An idea for a house can come from anywhere. The simplest idea will be to recreate a house you are familiar with, your own, one you grew up in, one you visit frequently. But ideas can come from much further afield.

Things You'll Need

• LEGO building blocks
• Ideas

Instructions

Building Your LEGO House

1. Look in architecture magazines, in your neighborhood and online. For many ideas, you can check out LEGO communities online and see the houses others have built. www.lugnet.com is a great place to start.

2. Draw your design. Especially if you plan to have help while you're building your house, you'll need to describe your idea to others. Even if you're doing it by yourself, however, a design will allow you to see flaws early on, and make sure you stay on track. LEGO offers their own design suite for download if you want a free software tool at ldd.lego.com, but a hand-drawn diagram from two or three different angles should suffice. Remember that if you plan to have the house be interactive with LEGO mini figures, it will need to have a removable roof or a missing wall. Most LEGO buildings are assembled without a rear wall to be able to position figures inside.

3. Save a lot of time before you start building by sorting your bricks into categories. Roofing tiles, flat tiles, hinges, general bricks, and specialty pieces can all be individually sorted into piles so that the building process can go much faster.

4. Assemble the foundation of your house using a base plate. This may need to be heavier or thicker than the rest of the building, depending on how heavy or tall your house may be. Leave room for doorways and windows and follow your drawing. Remember, you may make mistakes, and there's nothing wrong with having a solid idea that you have to adjust as you go along. You should expect to have to adjust your design as it comes together. Expect to have to backtrack occasionally if things do not work as you thought they would.

Tips & Warnings

• Putting a towel down on your work surface will make your LEGO bricks more visible and less likely to be lost.

References

• Lugnet
• Lego Design Software