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Ancient Italian Walls Repaired With Lego Bricks

Ubuntukitten writes "When some walls in Bocchignano near Roma started to erode, the perfect solution was found in Lego bricks (although some look suspiciously like Duplo bricks to me). FTA: 'At first I thought it would be a complicated procedure to fit the pieces, But as it turned out, the bigger plastic pieces were compatible with the smaller ones, and the Lego held itself in place without any glue whatsoever.' I like the effect. It's like the scene has been created on the holodeck but a few holoemitters are broken ..."

20 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Call me old-fashioned by hahafaha · · Score: 3, Informative

    Am I the only one who thinks this is rather appalling? I mean, these are beautiful, ancient relics, now completely defaced.

    1. Re:Call me old-fashioned by JCSoRocks · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, it looks like crap. I love legos, but I also love architecture and ye olde buildings.... cheesy plastic bricks + old buildings = garbage.

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    2. Re:Call me old-fashioned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      its a wall. just about every wall in all of europe is some kind of ancient relic.

    3. Re:Call me old-fashioned by PFI_Optix · · Score: 2

      But...it's ART! How dare you question anything deemed art? Forgive me. I am just tired of every weird or eccentric stunt done by a self-proclaimed "artist" getting major attention.

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    4. Re:Call me old-fashioned by DavidYaw · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Am I the only one who thinks this is rather appalling? I mean, these are beautiful, ancient relics, now completely defaced.

      Better than a pile of rubble.

    5. Re:Call me old-fashioned by gbulmash · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If they could have tried to match the color a little bit, it might not be so bad. But with the day-glo Lego colors, it looks like grafitti or vandalism rather than repair.

    6. Re:Call me old-fashioned by Nasajin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Am I the only one who thinks this is rather appalling? I mean, these are beautiful, ancient relics, now completely defaced.

      Exactly! Lego should never be mixed with Duplo. It's a travesty!

    7. Re:Call me old-fashioned by flyingsquid · · Score: 3, Funny
      No, it looks like crap.

      I agree COMPLETELY. The beautiful aesthetics of those LEGOs, ruined by those hideous stones.

    8. Re:Call me old-fashioned by JoshJ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You say that like graffiti isn't commonplace in America. I mean, really.

    9. Re:Call me old-fashioned by flnca · · Score: 2, Funny

      People build houses in Europe too! :-D

    10. Re:Call me old-fashioned by Nasajin · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hahaha! Originally the bigger blocks were called 'stones', and that's what the building was made out of.

  2. IMHO by Sobieski · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I find this almost beautiful, more captivating than the original wall. Though if it wasn't there to support the wall, I wouldn't like it.

    Then it would just be like grafitti, art is relative... changing someone elses property's appearence is not acceptable.

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  3. My $0.02 by NoobixCube · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While I don't like the look of mixing the Lego and Duplo with the old architecture, it is an interesting idea. A more structurally sound version of Lego could, one day, be the standard tool for patching damaged walls. If the Lego were designed to be rough on the sides, it might hold concrete render or skimcoat, so the finished product would be indistinguishable from the rest of a rendered or skimcoated wall.

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  4. I rather like it. by retchdog · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think it looks neat; reminiscent (to me) of those walls with shards of heavy wine bottles stucco'ed into the top as a makeshift intrusion deterrent. Europe is full of a mix of majestic architecture and ugly-hacks-through-the-ages, reflecting the materials and skillsets available at the time.

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  5. without any glue whatsoever by jedie · · Score: 4, Funny
    FTA: 'At first I thought it would be a complicated procedure to fit the pieces, But as it turned out, the bigger plastic pieces were compatible with the smaller ones, and the Lego held itself in place without any glue whatsoever.'

    No shit Sherlock?

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    1. Re:without any glue whatsoever by pieisgood · · Score: 3, Informative

      He meant to the wall its self, not other lego bricks.

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    2. Re:without any glue whatsoever by Prien715 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually this is what I think he means:
      But as it turned out, the [Duplo Blocks]...were compatible with the [lego blocks]...and the [whole thing]...held itself in place without any glue whatsoever."

      I didn't think they were compatible until my younger brother started playing with duplo blocks and started playing around with them. Granted, this is when I was around 10, but without my sibling's interest I wouldn't have figured it out.

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  6. Dunno, it still seems like grafitti to me by Moraelin · · Score: 2, Insightful
    1. Hmm, I dunno, I would think it depends more on whether the owner agreed to that kind of modification to their property. If the owners (or the city hall in the case of city property) actually agreed to have their walls repaired with Lego, or maybe in a sort of "doesn't matter with what" kinda contract, then it's ok. If not, it's still defacing someone else's property.

    I mean, think of it this way: let's say your house showed some signs of water damage, or maybe (minor) cracks after an earthquake. And I come and glue a brightly coloured poster on top of it. Maybe even a waterproof poster to prevent more water getting there. Fine. But I'm guessing most people would still have a fit about suddenly discovering a bright poster on their property's wall.

    2. Additionally, I have to wonder exactly how much _are_ they supporting the wall there. I.e., if it even has that excuse.

    That looks like a thick wall of rock and brick. Especially the rock part is actually pretty damn heavy. And usually pretty tough too. Plastic toy bricks, not so much.

    If the rest of the wall wasn't holding them in place already, i.e., if the weight of that wall was actually resting on those toy bricks, I'm guessing they'd get crushed instantly.

    TFA says they're not even fixed there. Oh, and get this, he tried to fix them there with some _glue_, but it didn't stick to the dusty rock. Maybe someone should tell him about cement. You'd think the rest of the wall would be a clue.

    So basically it doesn't look to me like it's even actually "repairing" the wall. It's just a bunch of toy bricks that occupy some available space there, but not much more.

    I.e., on the whole it helps the wall just about as much as gluing a poster over the hole would.

    3. Hmm, dunno, I have to agree with another poster there. I found the original wall much better, in that photo.

    You have to remember that those walls are likely there for historical and cultural value. You know, so people can go and look at an example of roman or medieval architecture.

    If they just wanted something brightly coloured instead, they could have demolished those old walls and built a McDonald's there.

    Even if I might appreciate a Duplo brick construction on its own, and the wall on its own, it's the combination that bothers me.

    It's like going to a museum and putting a clown nose, clown shoes and a pink tutu on a suit of beautiful Maximilian armour. The combination actually defaces and diminishes the original.

    I don't know, there's something about it that, well, seems to serve no other purpose than to visually scream "look! there's a hole here! they didn't repair it!" Much like writing "WASH ME" with the finger on a dusty car.

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  7. The real surprise comes later by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just wait until the time comes for further repairs and he tries to take the "glueless" legos apart...

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  8. Modern technology triumphs! by Puffy+Director+Pants · · Score: 2, Funny

    Once again, the power of modern technology triumphs again, and building material like straw, sticks, clay bricks and yes, even gingerbread is shown to be obsolete.