A Big Idea In Miniature: Happy Micropolis Day!
Mc Heller Building by Max Braun - the original micropolis building
August 17th is Micropolis Day! On this day in 2008, Max Braun first introduced the Micropolis concept to his local LUG, TwinLUG, and the standard was created. This year, 2023, marks the 15-year anniversary of the creation of the Micropolis standard.
Inspired by the Utopolis Micro City work of Michel Labelle, as seen in Issue 2 of BrickJournal, Max wanted to create a standard that encouraged people to collaboratively build a micro-city. The Micropolis standard is based on four modules (16x16 studs) connected together to create a city block (32x32 studs). These are then connected to other modules or blocks to form a city.
New parts and the introduction of lighting have seen some minor changes to the standard, but it is still recognisable in its current format. Details of the Micropolis standard can be found on the TwinLUG website.
utopolis by michel labelle - the inspiration for micropolis
Even in its 15th year, Micropolis is still a regular feature at LEGO Fan Events in North America, UK, Europe, and Australia. In 2017 there was an on-site collaborative build at Parades De Coura Fan Weekend in Portugal, and 2019-2021 saw it featured in the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery via the work of Caz Mockett.
part of the Micropolis collaboration at paredes de coura 2017
There has also been an international collaboration at the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend in Denmark and it’s a regular feature at Brickworld Chicago, Brickvention in Melbourne, Australia and numerous other LEGO Fan Events around the world. New Micropolis builds can be found in the LEGO Micropolis Facebook group, on the Micropolis Discord Server, and on Flickr and Instagram.
Micropolis by Caz Mockett at the Lego House Masterpiece gallery
The first Brickvention Micropolis collaboration in 2013
This year, in January, also marked the 10-year anniversary of the Micropolis standard first being exhibited at Brickvention. To honour the dual anniversaries, exhibitors at the event collaborated to create the largest Micropolis ever displayed in Australia. The previous Brickvention record was 83 city blocks and, this year, they achieved an amazing total of 201 city blocks (804 modules). This may be also a world record, but that remains unconfirmed.
The collab included city blocks from many parts of Australia and even some from other countries. A number of the exhibitors were first-time Micropolis builders, but there were also quite a few that have been part of the Brickvention Micropolis Collab since its beginning in 2013.
A personal highlight of the Brickvention Micropolis was including a replica of the very first Micropolis building built by Max Braun.
overhead shot of the brickvention 2023 micropolis collaboration
An unexpected bonus of the standard is its accessibility as an entry point for MOC builders new to building or collaboration or with a limited supply of LEGO parts. It is also the perfect medium in which to experiment with parts often ignored in regular MOC building. Unusual parts seen amongst this year’s Brickvention Micropolis included the dice from LEGO games, body parts from Galidor figures, cupcake containers and a building made of vibrant yellow.
Lego game dice used in a building
cupcake containers in a building
galidor body parts used to represent an ancient ruin
a building made of vibrant yellow
As Micropolis continues to maintain its popularity with MOC builders and at LEGO Fan Events, I hope that we’ll be celebrating Micropolis Day for many years to come.
John Klesh’s gigantic micropolis build at Brickworld Chicago 2023.
Have you ever built a Micropolis module or city block? Do you have a favourite Micropolis builder?
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