Mathijs Dubbeldam - LEGO Master / Builder / Artist
Architecture
It took me a long while to realize I liked architecture. I certainly didn't know it when I had to choose a career path. It was just one of the things I liked to build, like figures or vehicles, I thought. But as I built more (and better), and as I started seriously rethinking my study choice, I realized buildings were something I always seemed to return to in my works.
The works below are from 2017 to 2024.
Landscape
Landscape seemingly plays a secondary role in my builds. Landscapes provide a sense of place and can be key to achieving a good composition or colour balance, but is never the focus. However, I almost always start with a vision of a landscape or geographical place in my head, before I start imagining and sketching architecture.
In the past I have taken existing fictional worlds and places of my imagination as a starting point, but in the future I want to apply my imagination to real-world locations.
Built environment
Making a beautiful, detailed environment with buildings, public spaces, infrastructure, modes of transport and natural elements, is pretty much the ultimate build challenge for me. To do that at minifigure scale, my preferred scale, is an enormous undertaking. It consumes so much time, space and bricks that most plans I've drawn still only exist on paper. I have only completed a 'built environment' build thrice: once as a kid, once in collaboration with others, and once at a smaller scale. That said, for the past years I have been crafting a new one, with more care and attention to architectural detail than ever!
