Integrated Habitats: The Art of the Seamless Stack

One of the ingenious aspects of the LEGO minifigure habitat format is that they are designed to be stacked easily and interchangeably. But what if the act of stacking could be so integrated as to create something new and intentional when those habitats combine? Something unexpected. Something that may not even be recognizable as a habitat stack… and I mean that in a good way!

There are many of us in the habitat building community who’ve looked at the habitat format and wondered how we can create something more. Where pushing the boundaries of habitat design is not just about the habitat, but about what a habitat stack can be. We’re embarking on a whirlwind tour of creative, integrated habitat stacking approaches to inspire, surprise, and hopefully open your mind to new possibilities of habitat design—starting from simpler integrations to the more radical and unexpected.

Right now, we near my favorite of the Habitat Challenge’s yearly Instagram build challenges—the Disney Habitat Challenge. While these annual challenges originated with Jen of Brick Fam Builds, they have grown to include many hosts for a series of challenges each year. In fact, as of this year, Jen has largely handed over the reins of the Habitat Challenge community to its new stewards, each hosting one of the yearly challenges. So if you are inspired, I recommend joining in! All are welcome, and there are many throughout the year to participate in.

Before we get into the stacks, if you’re not familiar with habitats, I recommend you check out my previous habitat-building articles to get some context, including:

Skillful Habitats: The Five Keys To Building Small

Next-Level Habitats: Creative Ways to Break Out of the Corner

And peruse this related article, which delves into some unique habitat techniques and processes:

Transforming a LEGO Set to Minifigure Habitats with a Little Disney Magic

Using Framing and Consistency to Create a Powerful Presence

One of the simplest ways to elevate your stack begins within the habitats you plan to display together. You can simply use interesting framing and have a consistent look that blends together as if they were built as one consistent MOC. While not as complex as the other strategies we’ll go over, this can be profoundly striking and cohesive when you see the stack together.

For example, this Fabuland-inspired stack by Johanna (@she_plays_with_bricks) adheres to the straightforward habitat format to the letter, but employs a powerfully consistent style that looks like it’s all meant to be together as a complete whole. It also takes an interesting approach to forming the impression of both the exterior and interior of a multi-story building with a green roof.

The cohesiveness of the walls and windows makes them work well together, with a bold red color that can be spotted across the room. Then, the consistency of the floors and the snowy ground on the lowermost level contribute to the effect and perception of a single structure.

When it comes to Dana Knudson (@troublebricking), his stack of monochrome habitats is artfully stacked to create a completely different experience, carefully arranged by color. The bold and clean color blocks meld in a rainbow that creates an even more dramatic effect than any of the habitats alone. While it doesn’t form anything in particular when together like many of the other examples, the visual presence is so powerful that there’s no denying the combined composition being more than the sum of its parts.

Then we get into the unique approach of actually framing the individual habitats, which becomes even more pronounced as they are combined together in a stack. These examples show this in action. Larry Builds uses an elegant black frame around each habitat that does a beautiful job individually. Then, when they are stacked, it allows disparate scenes to have a cohesive presence, almost like a curated museum show or the dark void of a theater with a brightly lit stage.

Meanwhile, The Plastic Wanderer (Ethan) takes the terribly clever approach of actually framing each habitat to represent a Polaroid picture of a memory. The white border of the Polaroid melds together to create negative space between each scene. It also creates clean edges and corners where the habitats meet, in the same way you’d mat art or photos to better highlight the visuals inside.

Creating an Integrated New Look

Now we start to blur the lines between habitats by integrating and even extending the habitats as they stack together. This allows them to form a bigger scene together than they could apart. Let’s go through and see how this works in practice. We’ll start with a clean, simple, yet highly effective integrated scene from Kristel Whitaker, featuring her Cars habitat stack with Luigi’s tire shop. And while she’s at it, you’ll see that habitats don't have to be based on a minifigure! 

With only three habitats, she has created a full diorama with the building facade, walls, ground, and sky. They are effective on their own, but work even better when combined. In fact, the roof and sky is a habitat that seems almost incomplete on its own, like a piece of a larger puzzle, until it’s all brought together with the others. That is one of the joys of doing integrated stacks like this—wondering what the end build will be as each habitat is revealed, and watching it all come together.

Boudewijn Danser took a DreamZzz approach to the Halloween Habitats challenge. This integrated stack forms Sandman’s tower. He incorporates various character scenes and locations, allowing them to blend together in a deliberately planned manner. One particular device that visually ties the habitats together is the yellow sand cascading and flowing through the habitats without a break where the habitats meet. By having some overhang outside the 8x8 stud base, effects like this can make the integration much more seamless.

This haunted house by Kayla (@speedykiwi92) is another wonderful example of how the creative use of habitats can create unique shapes such as the tiered exterior structure of this haunted house. The use of part of the second tier to contribute to the height of the upper tower helps it break out of the rigid geometry of the habitat stack. The use of habitat walls as night sky allows for interesting details that sells the outdoor look. And having strategic overhang (such as the roofs) on some habitats enhances the look of it being a real house.

With the release of the stellar Dungeons & Dragons Collectible Minifigures (CMF) line last year, there were a lot of minifigure habitats themed around those minifigures. I was no exception (BrickBuiltJosh), building a stack around three of those figures for the Halloween Habitats challenge. The first step was to not just consider which minifigures I might want to use, but more importantly, what the central integrated build would be. Then I could choose minifigures that would fit the central theme.

I decided on wanting the habitats to come together to form a crypt, and I had some ideas I wanted to try. That began with the sideways-built crypt wall, featuring a glowing red window. I wanted to use the turntable bases for an ironwork effect, and hide the edges of the turntable bases so the ironwork was mostly just the crossbars visible within the stone frame. So, I started with that side of the crypt and had the witch performing a spell in the forest on a moonlit night, surrounded by nature, including the fiery red foliage.

For the front entrance of the crypt, I experimented with using anti-studs to achieve a paneled look for the door and a more intricately decorated overall appearance, hinting at potential carvings and scrollwork. The vampire made sense to be emerging from the crypt itself. And then the rooftop became the scene of a necromancer casting an evil spell, surrounded by candles of all shapes and sizes.

The challenging part of these kinds of stacks tends to be making the pieces fit together perfectly to form the structure in the center. I went through a lot of logistics to get everything to fit together, particularly since the right wall of the crypt was mostly built sideways, which complicated the LEGO math. When these habitats finally came together, they formed the central crypt. The scenes each seem to fit in naturally while presenting different characters and stories.

Blurring the Edges and Extending the Habitats

Now we’re getting into being more creative with how we integrate the habitats together. Be forewarned: if you are a strict rule follower, this may not be for you. However, if you’re like us, it’s time to challenge what a habitat stack can include and look like. We’re getting to the point where it can be hard to tell if it’s even a stack of habitats anymore. Personally, I consider that a win!

This habitat by The Plastic Wanderer seamlessly integrates disparate LEGO themes and CMFs into a cohesive build with a more organic shape. It utilizes overhanging elements, irregularly shaped “walls” with depth and openings, and ragged edges, all of which work together to create the ice landscape around the figures. This shaping combines to conceal the otherwise distinct edges and corners that habitats typically have when combined together. The effect of breaking out of the habitat stack box is further enhanced by small extensions of the bases with rounded plates and tiles and other elements, disguising the otherwise square base typical of habitats.

Meanwhile, Palixa And The Bricks (Katja) uses extra inserts to bridge the jagged edge of habitat stacks to enhance her stack. In this Spring Habitat challenge stack, she integrated her habitats into a cohesive landscape, a lush hillside with a flowing creek and nature sprites. She used this added section (second image below) to fill out the ground level for a more compelling nature diorama.

For my Toy Story stack, I took a different approach and extended the walls up, instead of the ground out. This stack was a concept that had been in the back of my mind for more than a year, and a theme I wanted to explore in general. I had been collecting minifigures here and there for a while. It all came together when I participated in last year’s Disney Habitats challenge, despite a late start. Now was the time! So it was then a matter of figuring out what furniture was going to be at the center where the habitat bulges out. I thought about doing something longer like the bed or a desk, which would probably mean an odd arrangement of habitats. Ultimately, I settled on a square piece of furniture that would better fit a simpler three-habitat stack—the side table with lamp.

The side table had to be carefully strategized to be able to feel like it’s separate from the wall (leaving gaps), be built sideways in different directions, and fit together perfectly when the habitats were combined. Then it came to the tabletop. Since the sides of the table are built out from the habitat wall, and since a tabletop typically has at least a small overhang, the habitat on top, with the lamp, needed an extension added to it when it was put in place. And then we have the biggest divergence of this stack—the walls. Extending the blue walls all the way up and incorporating the window completely transforms the combined stack. The wall extension simply adds on and is removable, allowing the habitats to unstack. I highly recommend watching this video to see how it all comes together.

Another creative tactic is to incorporate elements that fully cross over between habitats. They can be installed when the habitats are combined or by building out double habitats. Sam Rellergert did this with her excellent rendition of the Haunted Mansion ballroom scene in the Disney Parks. She even utilized the Peppers Ghost illusion they used in the ride to show the “ghosts,” which she demonstrates in this video. She built some of the habitats as double habitats. This allowed her to have elements that traversed between the two habitats, as they are already connected. This helped her break out of the individual habitats look, uniting them into a bigger scene with elements like the iconic long table and the archway on the upper level.

A Look Behind an Integrated Habitat

In 2023, I started an integrated castle tower for the Disney Habitats challenge. It was meant to look cohesive while tying together completely different characters and storylines. By having the common central theme of the castle tower and courtyard walls, the habitat is stacked to form a central structure that ties everything together. Namely, Alice and Wonderland, Robin Hood, and Beauty and the Beast. 

It helps that they all had castle elements to their storylines so the scenes could work together. Even though the Alice in Wonderland habitat was more forest-related, the woodsy look worked with the theme and had visual ties to the Robin Hood habitat with its Wolverine claw grass and its own unique tree build. Since I knew this was going to be a three-habitat build, I knew I only had to have a supporting ledge on one side of the lower two habitats (so the other side of the lower habitats could be a ragged, crumbling wall with a tree growing over it, for example). This helped to further break the rigid rectangular shape of a habitat stack.

When it comes to stacking these habitats, this is where we challenge the established format the most. It allowed the stack to break away from the rigid geometry that gives away a “habitat stack” and creates a more unique visual effect. In this case, it is pretty subtle. Giving the tower a slight height boost creates better proportions and elevates the upper habitat above the Alice in Wonderland tree foliage. A five plate high riser goes between the top habitat and the lower two. There is also a removable section of wall added to the back of the Robin Hood stack. It thickens the wall and closes a gap otherwise created by the tree trunk.

Literally behind the scenes of this stack with the riser that goes below the upper habitat and the added wall column to fill the gap behind the tree trunk.

To better secure the habitats, I also experimented with a new mechanism for connecting them more confidently and without the need for overlapping ends. I personally prefer the look of a cleaner edge over the staggered step in or out that the typical habitat uses. Utilizing a standardized placement of clips on the backs of the habitats, a new 8x8 riser piece goes in the center, allowing the habitats to click into place while providing support for the next tier of habitats above them.

Experimenting with a standardized clip-based Connector with a central riser, creating a more stable habitat stack for moving around.

Then mere months later, I expanded on it for the CMF Habitat challenge. I took the same castle tower theme and applied it to three CMF minifigure scenes. They combine to create an even taller wizard’s tower. It uses a bigger extension below the top habitat to add additional height. By using the same theme and style for the castle-work and landscaping, it combines with my earlier Disney habitat stack for one wide diorama that would work seamlessly together. And the taller tower adds more visual interest to the combined, unconventional stack arrangement.

Now at this point, we’re starting to leave how a traditional habitat stack stacks. Which means we’re ready to get a little more radical!

Pushing What It Means To Be a Habitat Stack

If you strip away the integrations, extensions, themes, and modifications, so far, we’ve still largely been in the realm of standard stacking behavior. But what happens when we question how we stack the habitats in the first place? This questions the orientation of habitats, fundamentally. Integrating habitats in bigger builds and scenes that add a lot more context around the habitats themselves. There’s so much yet to be done when we let go of how a stack stacks, without losing the underlying habitats.

One of my first forays into rethinking how we could stack habitats very differently began with the idea of “what if both sides of the habitat were shown?” In other words, if the interior of the habitat was inside, could you turn the stack around to see the exterior of the building? (No ‘messy back’.) It would be a full 360-degree creation.

Brainstorming Concepts to figure out a new stacking strategy for this Halloween Stack

It was the Halloween Habitats challenge back in 2022, so I thought of doing this with a haunted mansion. The Muppets CMF line had also come out not too long ago (a huge fan), so I thought why not mash up the Muppets with classic movie monsters to inhabit this haunted mansion. And it kept expanding from there. As I worked out the logistics for stacking in a way that would make the architecture interesting while allowing for rooms to be styled in very different ways, I opted for stacking the first two tiers directly on top of each other, creating a two-story building. And having an exterior wall would also hold a spot for the topmost central tower (and laboratory), a porch, etc. And then why not build out a landscape? Or maybe have a secret compartment to hide the lighting power and controls so that the whole thing can be put on a turntable for a fully 360-degree build?

The result was an unusually oriented stack with a much more extensive expansion on the exterior side with landscape and more minifigure scenes. The habitats became the interior rooms. And the tower laboratory still adhered to the original idea of being both the interior and exterior, just placed on top. This also allowed for the lighting to route up between the habitats and the exterior. Watch how it all came together here. 

Now let’s take a look at Jon’s (brickcityplanner) large Muppet Christmas Carol stack that looks not terribly radical from the outside—but it hides an unexpected stacking twist. Let’s start with what we can see from the outside. The external stack creates an exterior building and clock tower on a snowy evening, complete with a beautiful night sky. And some wedge-shaped additions smooth out the front edge, bridging the snowy gap between habitats.

The stepped structure looks kind of familiar like a stack. But hold on a second, some of these habitats in the center almost seem inverted or backward, creating the exterior walls of the clocktower building going up the center, instead of having a floor and rear walls. Then we see habitats forming balconies on either side of the clock tower, an added clock tower habitat between them, and an extension of the sky on top. And wait, what’s behind the Gonzo habitat on the ground floor? Another habitat is behind it, you can see through the archway!

As you delve into his individual habitat posts, you find that there are interior habitats buried within the stack, rather than empty space as is normally the case. And these unusual “reversed” habitats for the clock tower actually are reversed habitats (where the other side is the interior room). While impressive as an integrative stack, it hides a wealth of added depth behind the facade (even though it can be hidden from view).

Side view of an exterior and interior habitat where Miss Piggy is seen.

Overhead view of the lower level, showing the interior habitats and exterior habitats

Candy (candy.bricks) takes a similar approach, incorporating both exterior and deep interior elements, with her Holiday Habitats challenge stack of a wintery cabin for the holidays. She combines habitats and extensions together to create a landscape, exterior, and full interior.

And then GothGirlBricks goes massive scale in 2024 with not only a huge habitat stack but a massive exterior, landscape, and even an underground crypt accessible through the habitat stack. The front exterior is a detailed hill landscape and a run-down haunted house reminiscent of the old 10228 Monster Fighters Haunted House, but in a corner format.

On the opposite side of the exterior is the actual habitat stack, showcasing the habitats and featuring a special accessway to a hidden underground crypt located at the bottom center.

But you don’t have to go massive to work with unusual stacking orientations. Consider the following example from Dana (virginia_bricks). She uses an abnormally tall habitat on top in the form of an actual pirate ship on water, with Peter Pan and Captain Hook swordfighting on top. She adds the illusion of the waterline between the top and bottom tiers of the stack and uses that to integrate other stories, such as The Little Mermaid, for the underwater portion. It all works wonderfully together and reimagines the kinds of scenes you can do with habitat stacks.

You could also go completely vertical. See how legonano (Tamami) turned her habitat stack into a full Tangled tower, stacking each habitat directly on top of the others. She then used both sides of the habitat to show the interior and exterior of the tower, along with a curved corner to better represent the round tower (instead of keeping the base fully square). She then used the interior rooms to show important story moments of Rapunzel as she lived in the tower.

The Ultimate Integrated Holiday Habitat

Perhaps the most extreme re-envisioning of how habitats can stack came from my Elf Workshops for Holiday Habitats in 2022. After challenging what a habitat stack can be with my Muppet Movie Monster Mashup Mansion featured earlier in this article, I was seeing what else I could do to push it even further. I was relishing the challenge and wanting to do something completely different.

I ended up with the idea of having the habitats come together as a full cross-section of two Elf workshops. The two habitats on the bottom level would come together to form a larger room on the first floor. Then the third habitat of each workshop would be an upstairs room in the center. When the roofs were added, it would create a stepped effect that was more interesting. Although I considered larger buildings with more habitats coming together, I opted for a more manageable pair of 3-habitat workshops.

I then decided that they would be built so that the foundation of the building would serve as the base for the habitats. This would give the opportunity to link them together securely with technic pins, and create the space to have outside steps and a mound of snow. I began by establishing the foundations of the lower habitats and determining how everything would connect. Then, once I had the lower habitats all figured out, I moved to the upper habitat. Once I had placed the upper habitat, I was able to build roof add-ons on either side of it and on top to complete the look. They were all added after the stack was put together.

In the process of figuring this all out, I decided the lower level needed a little more room between the habitats to have a more pleasing proportion. I also didn’t want to overcrowd the details of each habitat. So I built a little two-stud-wide extender in the middle. I also knew I needed to show the exterior on the inward-facing sides of the two workshops and build out a doorway, stoop, snow, lighted lantern, and roofing overhang. The final stack comes together beautifully and easily comes back apart as well. See exactly how they come together in this video.

The final workshops were not meant to be on their own, though. My original vision was to have two workshops with a little winter scene in between them, with a forced perspective landscape beyond. It became too ambitious for the time I had for that challenge. But almost a year later, I completed this vision (albeit a lot larger than I originally intended)! You can read about the full journey of this final North Pole build in Part 1 and Part 2 of the BrickNerd series to see how it all came together step by step.

I hope this journey of ideas to challenge what a habitat can look like leaves you with some inspiration of your own! What do you think—do we go too far? Should we keep pushing the boundaries? I have more creations I’m working on that further challenge what a stack can be and how they are integrated into a larger MOC.

Join in a Habitat Challenge and see where it takes you.

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