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#2362 TECHNIQUE ANALYSIS: Casina Vanvitelliana by @lucapetraglia.it

Replicating real world architecture is no easy task, especially one with such complex shape! Learn about this Baroque palace and the building techniques Luca used with us.


#2362 TECHNIQUE ANALYSIS: Casina Vanvitelliana by @lucapetraglia.it Replicating real world architecture is no easy task, especially one with such complex shape! Learn about this Baroque palace and the building techniques Luca used with us. Be sure to check out @lucapetraglia.it for more awesome architectural builds!

The Casina Vanvitelliana is a baroque hunting palace built in 1752-1782, on an island in Lake Fusaro in Bacoli, Italy. The MOC has a width of 80 cm, a height of 60 cm, and is made up of around 30,000 bricks. Luca said: “The architect Vanvitelli decided to give it a particular shape made up of 3 concentric dodecagons – it was certainly my most difficult Lego project to achieve.”

38 “slices” approximate the round base, using these two 9.46° wedge plates, 78444 and 47398, much like in the Captain America’s Shield set (76262). Next, the dodecagonal core is added; it is structurally crucial and covers the central hole. The 12 sides of the core are connected by hinges turning 30°, and alternate every 3 sides between blue and white for colour-coding.

The back and the front of the core (base coded in white) receives facades that will later be sheltered by porches, while the sides (base coded in blue) provide anti-stud connection points with 4070 headlight bricks for the wings later. Inside the core, technic connectors reinforce the curvature established by the hinges.

The porches and the wings are attached to the core, extending the dodecagon at different radii. The sideways beams in orange connect the headlight bricks on the core and the SNOT bricks on the wings. White sideways tiles frame the doorways and windows. On the balconies, medium nougat tiles approximate the wedge shape and contrast well against the light aqua walls.

Cover the gaps on the balconies with stripes of medium nougat tiles, and then the ground floor is finished. Let’s appreciate the distinctive shape, the facade, the colour, and the structure that makes everything possible. Notice how the 76° 2 by 4 wedge plate, the 75° slope, and the 210° hinge form an almost perfect circle.

The core extends upwards as the building grows; the next floor is an inward retraction of the same footprint. Cheese slopes fill up the gaps between dodecagonal slices for more polished walls on both floors. 360° divided by 12 sides equals 30°, which is close enough to the sharper angle of the cheese slope.

Extend the walls, tile them up, and the upper floor is done. The rounded corners bring contrast. To top things off: internal structure for the roofs with clips at different heights.

An image of X-ray view and another one of the finished roof to allow the possibility of comparing which clip is for which roof/rafter. A rafter covers the gap between each pair of roofs, and is clipped on at an angle at a higher position than the roofs it covered.

The cutaway drawings on the slide show the great lengths Luca went to replicate the architecture faithfully. Discover more of their masterpiece at @lucapetraglia.it!


Be sure to check out @lucapetraglia.it for more awesome architectural builds!


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