Habitats Part 2: Tricks For Thinking Outside The Box

In a previous blog we had a look at the basics of how to build a Habitat MOC and we discussed the Instagram habitat challenges.

Some of these challenges showed some really original interpretations of a habitat with alternative techniques. We’ll discuss a few and hope these great builders might inspire you with future builds.

@brickfambuilds was the first builder I saw doing a small easter egg on the outside of one of the walls. In this example a bird and an apple. It’s a really fun way to add a little detail if it doesn’t really fit within the 8×8 plate.

A trick I really like is reversing habitats in a stack. This way the back of the outside walls faces forward. With openings, doors or windows the suggestion is made you are looking into a building from the outside.

Last year with the 90 years of LEGO celebrations I saw this one by @freezrbuilds. It combines 2 classic LEGO Town sets creating both a delivery truck (set 6624) and post office (set 6689) in the walls. Especially the truck is a very clever and original way to create a habitat wall and this idea just opens up so many posibillities.

Last December @brickhuntress created a series of Harry Potter habitats. I highly recommend checking all of them out! There are so many cool design features to make these habitats look good from all sides, looking like real buildings from Diagon Alley. The base for these habitats is just the usual 8×8. And the extra space that was created for all the architectural features on the outside doesn’t interfere with the possibilities to stack them together with other habitats. Just a really spectacular and clever build.

So @sleepswithlego gave me the idea for the technique in this build, having the back wall collapse and function as a lid to create a pizza box. In fully open position this build still has all the connection studs so it can still be used for stacking like a normal habitat.

The final MOC I’ll highlight is the Captain Hook ship made by @virginia_bricks. One of my favourite builds I’ve ever seen in a habitat challenge. The ship is highly detailed and really something different to regular habitat builds. Of course having a build like this is harder to incorporate on any position in a stack since it’s height might block the view. Even though the focus is on the individual habitats in this blog, the stack is added to show how this is solved. A taller habitat on top is very suitable. It also works really well together with the underwater scenes from the Little Mermaid habitats to create a unique crossover.

In a next part in this series of blogs I will be focussing on cohesive stacks and highlight some different ways of stacking habitats.

Has this blog inspired you to give it a try? Be sure to use hashtag #thebrickposthabitats when you share your build. We’ll try to share as many as we can in a future blog in this series.