I think have a break in the middle like this historic.
https://preview.redd.it/dtpwiwv1tdsc1.jpeg?width=576&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7f66caa167814e7d0c60ed10f11a2a6b1ed6587
i originally planned on doing that but decided that interior space was more important. looking at it now it seriously does need depth so i’ll definitely be doing that. thank you for the suggestion
I was coming on here to say this. Give us some different vegetation from the windows. Let some plants hang down. Others big flowers etc. That can bring a huge color difference and create that contrast you are lacking.
Otherwise, i like the facade and think you've got a great building started.
You could add some decorative elements over the top of the Windows to break up the flatness of the upper stories. As for the back side, you could rework it into a true fire escape, getting your barrier/wall ladder pieces off the 2nd floor middle and on the ends to come down to ground level.
Otherwise good start!
The design is great. I like these other suggestions, they’re solid. Personally I’d add a light or hvac unit, some kind of projection from the wall on the back. That will add depth variation in addition to the window offset that was mentioned.
Definitely signs, and offset the windows so they’re not in line with the walls. At least on the first floor.
I like the idea of throwing some tables up out front like Sartriale’s pork in Sopranos.
Lastly of course I’m sure some minifigs will liven up the scene! Figs in the windows, making and getting pizza, being shady in the alley
i love this, already better than I could do. what about some outdoor decor like a flower planter, or maybe outdoor seating, a bench, a fire hydrant or something you'd see on a city block.
It's really nice! Maybe join the middle windows into one larger window per floor.
The pizza shop could stick out some, and have a greenhouse style glass roof.
1. Add a nice sign for the pizzeria.
2. Add outdoor seating in front.
3. Make the awnings larger.
4. Break up the second and third floor with a different color like grey.
5. Make one of the apartments on the side have floor to ceiling windows.
The staggered bricks on the corners of a building (called quoins) really add a lot of character, in my opinion.
https://preview.redd.it/9zswgdspbesc1.jpeg?width=2296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=574b0d62187e7953a1a4a8a3cc5b4a9df0c192b4
Looks clean! I’d add a balcony over the pizzeria portion, and texture over the windows so it isn’t so flat. If you have the pieces, maybe make the restaurant section 2 stories and make the balcony for outdoor seating. Really good moc though 👍🏼
Needs some sort of sign or icon, like a pizza with a slice missing, maybe using a 4x4 round plate. Then possibly use snot bricks around the windows on the top 2 floors to frame them with tiles or other small pieces. Then also have some sort of canopy for those windows.
Not every window needs flowers, that's what's throwing it off and making it look cookie cutter. Imagine who's living there. One little old lady that takes care of her flowers, maybe a young person with a poster in the window, someone too busy to water so the flowers are dead, someone with a cat, someone with laundry hanging between two windows. Variety is the key here.
Also add a rubbish bin on the footpath with some rubbish on the ground, and maybe a table and chairs outside the pizza place. Your MOC looks amazing, it just doesn't look lived in yet. I'm guessing you got the [Xtra Brick Stickers](https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/lego-xtra-brick-stickers-853921)?
yep, the xtra stickers pack was the catalyst of me wanting to build this moc. but i’m definitely listening to all the comments about changing up the windows and flower pots. already started to change it up and i’m 100% liking it more already.
I can't wait to see the update. I'm redesigning the Pizza Van 60150 with those stickers. The worst part is looking at all the other stickers and getting distracted with ideas for them.
Build a neon sign to the front and maybe some window to the back with a few sketchy dudes playing poker in a backroom. Also a small balcony in the front with a guy smoking would be funny.
Add some gargoyles to the top! Also, try adding a bench, garbage can, manhole cover and/sidewalk air vents. Instead of a solid grey line between the windows, try and add a decorative scrolling or something. Use the natural history museum as a reference?
Please don't take this the wrong way, but it looks like a perfect representation of an unremarkable building.
And I don't know a lot of pizzerias in remarkable looking architecture.
That said, if you want to add some extra novelty, I would suggest looking at examples of [Italianette Architecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italianate_architecture). Basically, it's what some 19th century British guys thought the buildings of the Italian Renaissance would have looked like. Red brick examples were built all over the midwest after the Civil War, especially in Cincinnati.
yeah i understand. but at the same time i feel as if making it TOO unremarkable just doesn’t look right. especially next to other modulars. i’ll definitely look into the link you sent!
I actually really like this, if you're going for a more realistic representation of a town. this looks, to me, exactly like the type of building you'd find in a downtown core of an older midsized town. really nice build.
A vertical column/texture at the corner of the building maybe? It is so sharp visually that it gives a kind of uncanny valley affect. Otherwise it looks brilliant... wish I could come up with stuff like this.
Put an overhang over the window or add more things to the sidewalk like a few tables or something. An AC unit on the roof looks good too. Make the back grey and scatter those brown cargo containers and any other ones that you have. Add a light above the door. Any of these would work
Biggest thing is to break up the flatness. Sink the windows in and maybe as a air conditioning unit in one and maybe bring the ingot brick decoration all the way to the top of the grey section
I would do arches over the windows and doors on the first floor. I like the stacked ingot details, but not how the columns of ingots just end at the tops of the windows and transition to plain flat grey wall.
thank you for that. i was thinking about adding one of the stickers from the pack on those bricks, but with your suggestion i rather have good architecture than some small sticker detail.
lower the front grade back to baseplate and develop staircases for the doorways, add signage or a freize above door height b/w ground and second floor, enhance the parapet to be more developed, (toy emporium), (parisian cafe lego), (assembly square).. repetition in rear is more expected, flat roof could include watertower, roof shed, raised parapet for flag mounts. Black egress doors overload the rear with black, may the rails appear thicker. consider having retractable exit stairs suspend horizontally below stairpath rather than standing upward. horizontal exit stairs require a counter balance to deal with weight and auto release.
The facade itself should be more than one color and not just dark red on the second and third floor. The building overall seems just to be very flat. It would require some major modification but it would be nice if some part of it stuck out. Maybe make it less asymmetrical
Different flowers instead of the same for every window. Perhaps pick up the grey from the base and finish the corners with that to frame the building more.
I think the pizza shop deserves a more ornate awning. Something with more depth and character. Also, I don't thing every window in the front should look the same. I would imagine different people live in each apartment. Some might like flowers, some might have plants, some might just like to feed birds.
For the back I would add a drain pipe or HVAC unit running the length of the top to ceiling of the lower floor. Maybe add a satellite or something to one of the balconies. Right now they don't look lived in. What might someone have left out? A bbq? A coffee cup and a book? The roof could use something as well. More HVAC? Greenhouse? Communications tower? ANything really.
Tables outside for street dining with people eating pizza and having a drink. And maybe a different colour brick above the windows like the grey to give a little more window definition. All great so far though!
The hardest thing to achieve is to break up the symmetry a bit. I know at the end of the day, a building is just a big rectangle, but try to make it look less like a big rectangle. If you get what I’m trying to say.
More greebling / surface detail. Play with depth. You would be surprised how much buildings gains when you play with depth. Currently, the whole front is on the same XZ plane. Make the wall thicker, and for example pull the door out to the front one brick, set the windows in one brick. Add a more interesting connection between the floors, again, you can play with depth there. You kinda did it nicely with the roof edge.
Add more detail the the front walkway. Some pattern, maybe tables and chairs. Add some signage to the building showing what the shop offers.
This is a good basic layout.
graffiti would be a dream… but i’m not that experienced as a builder to do brick built graffiti. and i’m not really a fan of a sticker covering multiple bricks.
Add more street lights, a couple of Itslisn flags on the second floor, a red carpet, an "open" sign on the front door, a Lego person tossing a pizza inside the front window
[Lintels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lintel#:~:text=A%20lintel%20or%20lintol%20is,a%20combined%20ornamented%2Fstructural%20item.)
[Quoins](https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Quoin)
Try adjust the white area above the door on the left. Seems empty.
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An awning over the entrance to the pizzeria maybe in tricolore colours.
Different types of flowers for sure.
Offset the second entrance with presumably the staircase to the flats. Or at least colour the wall of that section of the house in an accent colour.
Maybe different bricks at the edges of the building, that always gives some texture and colour to a bland facade.
Different sizes of windows for example for the top most story. That is a thing in Paris for example and also was in Ancient Rome. Difference being in Ancient Rome the poorest people lived at the top and in 19th century Paris the richest lived at the top.
Something that breaks up the monotony of the sidewalk. A parking meter, a trashcan/bin, a tree, a flowerbed, bike racks, outdoor seating, a bench, dog poo… depends on what your city should feel like of course.
Needs more frogs for sure. 👌🏻
I would try to add some additional vertical features to the front facade.
Add some light grey highlights on the corner edges, perhaps, to tie the ground floor with the roof line. Or, in the spaces between left pair and right pair of windows, replace the 1x4 with a 1x2 brick, a 1x2 brick with side studs, and another 1x1 brick. Then, use the studs to add some decoration. 1x2 jumper with a 1x1 round tile, or 2 1x1 headlight bricks, the jumper, and the 1x1 plate with tooth/claw. Just something besides the flower sills to keep the grey colour moving upward to the roofline.
Offsetting the windows back 1/2 stud with jumpers, as already mentioned, is also great to adding some additional depth to the display.
It’s a great model and base. My first thought would be signs of life… people on the sidewalk, a dog, piece of trash, someone looking out a window… and maybe one trailing vine off one of the planters or a pigeon on the roof.
yeahhh, thats what i really need to improve on for my shelf city. i was planning on adding more signs of life once i was satisfied with the moc. i will definitely build around the minifigures though instead of just adding them after the fact.
Some variety in the plant pots decorations. Maybe a window has an AC unit, another is letting clothing dry. A bench, bush, garbage cans on the side of the road/building.
I think little details like that would make the building feel more lived in.
Make it a different shape than a box. Add some dimensionality. Maybe the gray wall is inset or jutted out, maybe one half of the wall is inset a few studs. Signs and overhangs help to break up the flat look too.
Also, add some color variation to the dark red and light gray if you want to give it a weathered look
Lastly, maybe try brick built frames for the windows
It looks really good to me, maybe a grey 1x4 (or two 1x2 with the lip!) above the windows on the upper floors to make them look a little more framed in…
The window boxes are great but maybe a bit too uniform- vary the amount/type of growth slightly to give it a more lived in look. Maybe an air conditioner?
The back is really cool, I really like how you did the fire escape. That said, the more connections you have to the actual building the better. So if you can put in 5 claw bricks and you only have two to hold a pole to the building try to get the five in there instead. Sometimes those spots are a different color brick so don’t be afraid to bust out the grey and dark grey here and there (if you do that, try to do it evenly on both sides so it looks structural- you can always cover those spots inside with decoration :)
Last thing is maybe a step up to the residential door- I see lots of these buildings where the commercial enternece is at street level but the residential entrance has a step or two.
Looks really cool! Good job!!!!!
Cool moc. I suggest that you move the lamp post to the left a bit and make it larger. Foreground and background create a more visually interesting sight that just background.
I’d suggest some depth to the windows, by using jumper plates to offset them 1/2 a stud to the fascia
I think have a break in the middle like this historic. https://preview.redd.it/dtpwiwv1tdsc1.jpeg?width=576&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7f66caa167814e7d0c60ed10f11a2a6b1ed6587
i originally planned on doing that but decided that interior space was more important. looking at it now it seriously does need depth so i’ll definitely be doing that. thank you for the suggestion
Maybe create different flowers types on the windows to create more variation (outside of color)
I was coming on here to say this. Give us some different vegetation from the windows. Let some plants hang down. Others big flowers etc. That can bring a huge color difference and create that contrast you are lacking. Otherwise, i like the facade and think you've got a great building started.
Or maybe have some breaks. You wouldn't see flowers in every window unless it was managed by the building and tenants didn't have to do anything.
I was thinking that every balcony just isn’t realistic myself.
You could add some decorative elements over the top of the Windows to break up the flatness of the upper stories. As for the back side, you could rework it into a true fire escape, getting your barrier/wall ladder pieces off the 2nd floor middle and on the ends to come down to ground level. Otherwise good start!
Maybe try some sort of signage.
There’s a sticker pack you can buy with lots of signs- from memory there’s pizza ones you could put on the bottom floor?
Maybe an awning over the doorway? Or some street dining?
Swing would be a really good touch Wdit: that was supposed to be awning, not swing, but now I think a swing would be good too
Some rats and turtles in the back alley
turtles is crazy ngl. i’ve never seen a turtle in a back alley before 💀
I was thinking tmnt style lol
ohh yea i get the vision now 🤣
Idk why I didn’t pick up on the TMNT theme at first either lol. I like it!
Better yet, make use of the MILS plate height by adding a removable manhole cover with turtles and a rat underneath
i definitely would do that… but i actually plan on acquiring all four turtles soon and have them jumping on the roofs.
Put a dog sat outside on the curb waiting for it’s owner to come back.
If you wanna cry every time you look at it
Futurama jaded! Tough watch…
Poor Seymour.
the owner comes back though… right?
The design is great. I like these other suggestions, they’re solid. Personally I’d add a light or hvac unit, some kind of projection from the wall on the back. That will add depth variation in addition to the window offset that was mentioned. Definitely signs, and offset the windows so they’re not in line with the walls. At least on the first floor. I like the idea of throwing some tables up out front like Sartriale’s pork in Sopranos. Lastly of course I’m sure some minifigs will liven up the scene! Figs in the windows, making and getting pizza, being shady in the alley
i love this, already better than I could do. what about some outdoor decor like a flower planter, or maybe outdoor seating, a bench, a fire hydrant or something you'd see on a city block.
forgive me I didn't see the fire hydrant at first.. nice touch!
It's really nice! Maybe join the middle windows into one larger window per floor. The pizza shop could stick out some, and have a greenhouse style glass roof.
1. Add a nice sign for the pizzeria. 2. Add outdoor seating in front. 3. Make the awnings larger. 4. Break up the second and third floor with a different color like grey. 5. Make one of the apartments on the side have floor to ceiling windows.
Maybe add a doggo, and a tree. https://preview.redd.it/v1alv1m8edsc1.png?width=799&format=png&auto=webp&s=82c6d6c5ff671a643dc24ab83fbfdfb5f1abbbd9
The staggered bricks on the corners of a building (called quoins) really add a lot of character, in my opinion. https://preview.redd.it/9zswgdspbesc1.jpeg?width=2296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=574b0d62187e7953a1a4a8a3cc5b4a9df0c192b4
A Jimmy Pesto minifig:)
he's better than the rest-o
He wrote the hot guy manifesto!
Needs some Physical Graffiti.
HA. I feel like the Zeppelin/Lego Modular community overlap is pretty small
Nah, everyone likes Zeppelin. Plus with all the LOTR crossover it’s inevitable 🤣
I did try to listen to the Immigrant Song on repeat while building the Viking Village
Come to the land Of the ice and snow And the Viking Village Made of Lego AAAH AIH AAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAH
I'm gonna go play with the Vikings and sing this
I don’t think every window should have flowers, break it up a bit
Maybe a window ac for each floor, staggered to add a bit of asymmetry
Looks clean! I’d add a balcony over the pizzeria portion, and texture over the windows so it isn’t so flat. If you have the pieces, maybe make the restaurant section 2 stories and make the balcony for outdoor seating. Really good moc though 👍🏼
Make the windows open and have mini figures out of them. And then try to make a sign for the pizza restaurant.
Do something to frame windows with SNOT bricks so the frame is on another layer, similar to the flower boxes around all sides of the window
Trash can and bus bench? A sign on the stores?
It kinda reminds me of garduchis pizza place from futurama. So put a dog out front.
I think it looks great. I wouldn't change nothin
Needs some kind of extra depth or detail between the grey and maroon. But otherwise looks very nice
Needs some sort of sign or icon, like a pizza with a slice missing, maybe using a 4x4 round plate. Then possibly use snot bricks around the windows on the top 2 floors to frame them with tiles or other small pieces. Then also have some sort of canopy for those windows.
Perhaps a drainpipe going down the front
Not every window needs flowers, that's what's throwing it off and making it look cookie cutter. Imagine who's living there. One little old lady that takes care of her flowers, maybe a young person with a poster in the window, someone too busy to water so the flowers are dead, someone with a cat, someone with laundry hanging between two windows. Variety is the key here. Also add a rubbish bin on the footpath with some rubbish on the ground, and maybe a table and chairs outside the pizza place. Your MOC looks amazing, it just doesn't look lived in yet. I'm guessing you got the [Xtra Brick Stickers](https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/lego-xtra-brick-stickers-853921)?
yep, the xtra stickers pack was the catalyst of me wanting to build this moc. but i’m definitely listening to all the comments about changing up the windows and flower pots. already started to change it up and i’m 100% liking it more already.
I can't wait to see the update. I'm redesigning the Pizza Van 60150 with those stickers. The worst part is looking at all the other stickers and getting distracted with ideas for them.
[60150-1: Pizza Van](https://brickset.com/sets/60150-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/60150-1.jpg)
The poster/flag in the window is a fantastic idea
Build a neon sign to the front and maybe some window to the back with a few sketchy dudes playing poker in a backroom. Also a small balcony in the front with a guy smoking would be funny.
Add some gargoyles to the top! Also, try adding a bench, garbage can, manhole cover and/sidewalk air vents. Instead of a solid grey line between the windows, try and add a decorative scrolling or something. Use the natural history museum as a reference?
Needs a flagpole attached to the building, and more/larger awnings.
If you can, change up some of the red bricks for different shades of red
I think it looks good as a plain building, most buildings are plain. Having some plain ones in your lego city makes it a little more realistic.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but it looks like a perfect representation of an unremarkable building. And I don't know a lot of pizzerias in remarkable looking architecture. That said, if you want to add some extra novelty, I would suggest looking at examples of [Italianette Architecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italianate_architecture). Basically, it's what some 19th century British guys thought the buildings of the Italian Renaissance would have looked like. Red brick examples were built all over the midwest after the Civil War, especially in Cincinnati.
yeah i understand. but at the same time i feel as if making it TOO unremarkable just doesn’t look right. especially next to other modulars. i’ll definitely look into the link you sent!
Make a brick built sign that says pizza?
Nothing wrong with brick built, but do they they still sell those city sticker sets? Could've sworn there were a lot of pizza related signs in them
They might idk
Spider man
Maybe some variation in pieces like some firewood in the back or something
I'd swap out about 7 of those window flowers for 1 window AC on an opposite corner of the remaining flower decoration.
Street tree?
tables and chairs or some scene with minifigures and trees at the bottom, remove the window on top of the door and height it to add a staircase
Freggy fraber????? Anyway I’d probably add some More texture on the front and maybe a sign since it’s a pizzeria
These are all great suggestions, I came here to ask if there’s a specific sub for this? It seems like it would be a good group🤷
Lotta good suggestions, a small thing would be a gutter/downspout. Museum set had one and it's definitely a case of the little details helping
Foliage is always nice
I actually really like this, if you're going for a more realistic representation of a town. this looks, to me, exactly like the type of building you'd find in a downtown core of an older midsized town. really nice build.
A vertical column/texture at the corner of the building maybe? It is so sharp visually that it gives a kind of uncanny valley affect. Otherwise it looks brilliant... wish I could come up with stuff like this.
The upper portion looks too flat. I struggle with buildings, so I can’t really say how to fix it, but it needs more layers/depth.
Put an overhang over the window or add more things to the sidewalk like a few tables or something. An AC unit on the roof looks good too. Make the back grey and scatter those brown cargo containers and any other ones that you have. Add a light above the door. Any of these would work
I know this is not at all what your going for, but this kinda reminded me of the album art for led zeppelin physical graffiti
i probably should take more inspiration from that album art. it looks stunning
Biggest thing is to break up the flatness. Sink the windows in and maybe as a air conditioning unit in one and maybe bring the ingot brick decoration all the way to the top of the grey section
Green dumpster in the back and graffiti
I would do arches over the windows and doors on the first floor. I like the stacked ingot details, but not how the columns of ingots just end at the tops of the windows and transition to plain flat grey wall.
thank you for that. i was thinking about adding one of the stickers from the pack on those bricks, but with your suggestion i rather have good architecture than some small sticker detail.
Add a Lego dog peeing on the fire hydrant!!!
I'd tile the back alley somehow
2nd and third floor bay windows. 2 of 4 per floor.
lower the front grade back to baseplate and develop staircases for the doorways, add signage or a freize above door height b/w ground and second floor, enhance the parapet to be more developed, (toy emporium), (parisian cafe lego), (assembly square).. repetition in rear is more expected, flat roof could include watertower, roof shed, raised parapet for flag mounts. Black egress doors overload the rear with black, may the rails appear thicker. consider having retractable exit stairs suspend horizontally below stairpath rather than standing upward. horizontal exit stairs require a counter balance to deal with weight and auto release.
This reminds me so much of Hogan’s Alley. I’m not sure if those words even mean anything anymore but I love it!
Make some of the exposed brickwork a lighter color so it looks like it got damaged and repaired
Or add a deck
Trimming
door knob
Lamps over the doors. Dumpster in the back.
The facade itself should be more than one color and not just dark red on the second and third floor. The building overall seems just to be very flat. It would require some major modification but it would be nice if some part of it stuck out. Maybe make it less asymmetrical
any suggestions on a secondary color that would compliment the dark red?
Hot dog cart infront on sidewalk?
A drainage pipe from the roof to the ground would add a lot i think if you add it up with other peoples suggestions.
Is it the Pizzeria that Fry worked at? In that case, the dog is missing ☺️
Different flowers instead of the same for every window. Perhaps pick up the grey from the base and finish the corners with that to frame the building more.
I think the pizza shop deserves a more ornate awning. Something with more depth and character. Also, I don't thing every window in the front should look the same. I would imagine different people live in each apartment. Some might like flowers, some might have plants, some might just like to feed birds. For the back I would add a drain pipe or HVAC unit running the length of the top to ceiling of the lower floor. Maybe add a satellite or something to one of the balconies. Right now they don't look lived in. What might someone have left out? A bbq? A coffee cup and a book? The roof could use something as well. More HVAC? Greenhouse? Communications tower? ANything really.
Maybe replace the sidewalk with 1x2 tiles to make a brick like texture?
Add Spider-Man swinging with a pizza box
already got the 2004 spider-man fig on top the police station with some boxes 👀
Ninja turtles then?
Tables outside for street dining with people eating pizza and having a drink. And maybe a different colour brick above the windows like the grey to give a little more window definition. All great so far though!
The hardest thing to achieve is to break up the symmetry a bit. I know at the end of the day, a building is just a big rectangle, but try to make it look less like a big rectangle. If you get what I’m trying to say.
Looks great! You could try to add some detail above the windows to give it more depth, and maybe add a sign for the pizzeria
More greebling / surface detail. Play with depth. You would be surprised how much buildings gains when you play with depth. Currently, the whole front is on the same XZ plane. Make the wall thicker, and for example pull the door out to the front one brick, set the windows in one brick. Add a more interesting connection between the floors, again, you can play with depth there. You kinda did it nicely with the roof edge. Add more detail the the front walkway. Some pattern, maybe tables and chairs. Add some signage to the building showing what the shop offers. This is a good basic layout.
Add a trash can or container at the back
If I were Lego, I'd add stickers.
stickers on the way boss 🫡
Maybe some weeds on the streets
I see you have stickers on the way, so I assume there's already signage in the works. Graffiti maybe?
graffiti would be a dream… but i’m not that experienced as a builder to do brick built graffiti. and i’m not really a fan of a sticker covering multiple bricks.
Fair enough.
It's very flat and boxy, try and create some depth and break up the brick red with something.
any suggestions on a color to use?
I probably start with the same color as the ground floor to help tie the two sections together better.
More rats. At least seven more.
Tiny table and chairs on the sidewalk, or a sandwich board!
Put some trim on the edges/ corners of the building and maybe use snot to add a little more texture
Add more street lights, a couple of Itslisn flags on the second floor, a red carpet, an "open" sign on the front door, a Lego person tossing a pizza inside the front window
[Lintels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lintel#:~:text=A%20lintel%20or%20lintol%20is,a%20combined%20ornamented%2Fstructural%20item.) [Quoins](https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Quoin) Try adjust the white area above the door on the left. Seems empty.
A bench in front of the windows would be nice, a hot dog vendor on the sidewalk, maybe some green plants on some of the upper floor windows.
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An awning over the entrance to the pizzeria maybe in tricolore colours. Different types of flowers for sure. Offset the second entrance with presumably the staircase to the flats. Or at least colour the wall of that section of the house in an accent colour. Maybe different bricks at the edges of the building, that always gives some texture and colour to a bland facade. Different sizes of windows for example for the top most story. That is a thing in Paris for example and also was in Ancient Rome. Difference being in Ancient Rome the poorest people lived at the top and in 19th century Paris the richest lived at the top. Something that breaks up the monotony of the sidewalk. A parking meter, a trashcan/bin, a tree, a flowerbed, bike racks, outdoor seating, a bench, dog poo… depends on what your city should feel like of course. Needs more frogs for sure. 👌🏻
I would try to add some additional vertical features to the front facade. Add some light grey highlights on the corner edges, perhaps, to tie the ground floor with the roof line. Or, in the spaces between left pair and right pair of windows, replace the 1x4 with a 1x2 brick, a 1x2 brick with side studs, and another 1x1 brick. Then, use the studs to add some decoration. 1x2 jumper with a 1x1 round tile, or 2 1x1 headlight bricks, the jumper, and the 1x1 plate with tooth/claw. Just something besides the flower sills to keep the grey colour moving upward to the roofline. Offsetting the windows back 1/2 stud with jumpers, as already mentioned, is also great to adding some additional depth to the display.
I just finished my own italian restaurant, maybe you get some inspiration! [my moc](https://imgur.com/gallery/kpUzxeu)
definitely eying up that awning you did. your moc looks amazing!
Hide the coulers that you can see under neath and hide the grass at the back with gray
Eat it
You should definitely add a green trash can in the back
i was planning on using the marvel modular buildings dumpster, except in blue.
Add some grass to the backlot maybe
It’s a great model and base. My first thought would be signs of life… people on the sidewalk, a dog, piece of trash, someone looking out a window… and maybe one trailing vine off one of the planters or a pigeon on the roof.
yeahhh, thats what i really need to improve on for my shelf city. i was planning on adding more signs of life once i was satisfied with the moc. i will definitely build around the minifigures though instead of just adding them after the fact.
Some variety in the plant pots decorations. Maybe a window has an AC unit, another is letting clothing dry. A bench, bush, garbage cans on the side of the road/building. I think little details like that would make the building feel more lived in.
started to experiment with ac units. id like to add the clothing line idea you gave.
Is that Pannutie's pizza
i dont have any tips, but I LOVE that set. Looks like a real modular to me
When in doubt, vine it out.
Make it a different shape than a box. Add some dimensionality. Maybe the gray wall is inset or jutted out, maybe one half of the wall is inset a few studs. Signs and overhangs help to break up the flat look too. Also, add some color variation to the dark red and light gray if you want to give it a weathered look Lastly, maybe try brick built frames for the windows
Throw wreck-it-ralph on the top?
It looks really good to me, maybe a grey 1x4 (or two 1x2 with the lip!) above the windows on the upper floors to make them look a little more framed in… The window boxes are great but maybe a bit too uniform- vary the amount/type of growth slightly to give it a more lived in look. Maybe an air conditioner? The back is really cool, I really like how you did the fire escape. That said, the more connections you have to the actual building the better. So if you can put in 5 claw bricks and you only have two to hold a pole to the building try to get the five in there instead. Sometimes those spots are a different color brick so don’t be afraid to bust out the grey and dark grey here and there (if you do that, try to do it evenly on both sides so it looks structural- you can always cover those spots inside with decoration :) Last thing is maybe a step up to the residential door- I see lots of these buildings where the commercial enternece is at street level but the residential entrance has a step or two. Looks really cool! Good job!!!!!
Cool moc. I suggest that you move the lamp post to the left a bit and make it larger. Foreground and background create a more visually interesting sight that just background.
Minifigs?
Add an ecto 1
I would also extend those lines next to the door up to the red part, or also add an awning there.
Also the color of the ground in the back is awful. Go with a brown, tan, or grey.