Keeppley Qiyun Villa Set K18002

Keeppley's Qiyun Villa is a model from the Chinese Street Architecture series, built from 2,826 blocks, measuring 33.5 × 29.5 × 25.5 cm assembled. The structure is layered and separates for access. Detailed instructions included. Age 8+.

Traditional Chinese buildings are held together by interlocking, not by nails

The most striking thing about classical Chinese architecture is the roof — those deep eaves curving upward, far beyond the walls that support them. The structure that holds them up is called dougong, and it uses no nails and no glue.

A dougong is a stack of wooden brackets and blocks, each notched to sit into the one below, spreading outward and upward from the top of a column like a tree. It transfers the weight of an enormous roof back down to a small number of posts, and it lets the eaves project metres past the wall.

Because the joints are interlocking rather than fixed, they can move. In an earthquake a dougong frame flexes and absorbs energy rather than snapping, and the building sways instead of shearing. Wooden pagodas in China and Japan built this way have stood through a thousand years of earthquakes while masonry around them fell.

There is a pleasing symmetry in modelling that with plastic bricks, which are also held together by interlocking alone.

Not a City Corner set

Worth being clear: this belongs to Keeppley's Chinese architecture line, not the smaller City Corner shops. At 2,826 pieces and 33.5 cm tall it is a standalone building rather than part of a terrace.

In the Keeppley range

Set K18001 is the Lucky Hot Pot restaurant, the companion piece from the same series.

Specifications

Pieces: 2,826 · Series: Keeppley Chinese Street Architecture · Layered, separable structure · Age: 8+
Model dimensions: 33.5 × 29.5 × 25.5 cm (13.2 × 11.6 × 10.0 in)