BlueBrixx Manhattan Sunset Skyline Picture Set 103090

BlueBrixx's Manhattan Sunset Skyline Picture is built from 2,023 blocks and measures 78.5 × 27.5 cm, and only 4 cm deep. Designed by Marco P., from the BlueBrixx-Specials range, released 2020.

This is a picture, not a model

Four centimetres of depth is the number that defines this set. It is not a skyline you walk around — it is a flat panel, built to be seen from one side and hung or leaned against a wall.

That makes it a different proposition from every other architectural set in this shop. It needs no table and no display case, it occupies wall space rather than floor space, and at nearly 80 centimetres across it works as a picture in a room where a model would look like a toy.

It also solves a problem large brick models usually have: dust. A vertical panel with no horizontal surfaces collects almost none.

How a brick picture works

The technique is closer to mosaic than to construction. Depth is suggested by layering and by colour rather than by actual distance, so the buildings in front sit a stud or two proud of those behind and the sunset behind them is built flat.

That constraint is why the sunset matters. A daytime skyline in brick is a row of grey rectangles; a sunset gives the sky a gradient to work with, and the buildings become silhouettes against it. The subject was chosen because it suits the medium.

In the BlueBrixx range

Set 103047 is Lower Manhattan as a full three-dimensional 1:2000 model with 21,515 pieces — the same city, the opposite approach.

Specifications

Pieces: 2,023 · Designer: Marco P. · Series: BlueBrixx-Specials · Released: 2020
Model dimensions: 78.5 × 27.5 × 4 cm (30.9 × 10.8 × 1.6 in)