Five insights into LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden from the designer

LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden designer Chris McVeigh has provided some insight into the build, including new elements and more.

The latest addition to LEGO Ideas, 21353 The Botanical Garden, will be hitting shelves next month and following its grand reveal earlier today, the set’s designer has plenty to say about the model and its development. Bricksie has had the chance to speak with the set’s designer, Chris McVeigh, who shared some interesting and insightful facts and secrets behind the build and from during the design process.

Here’s what we’ve learned from the LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden designer ahead of the new set’s release next month.

Modular, but not in that way

Though the original modular design of the model has been modified to be more of a standalone set, with no connections to the modular street, the build still has modular components. As advertised, the roof splits into three sections that can be taken off for interior access and two walls are removable as well. What we didn’t already know from the reveal was that the two larger trees in the middle of the building can be taken out too.

The designer demonstrates this feature with each plant corresponding to a specific colour, likely designed to be put back into their specific place. For those curious, these plants are confirmed to be an Eucalyptus on the left and a Date palm on the right.

A familiar plant for the official and fan designers

Taking a closer look at the interior, McVeigh singles out a specific plant in the flowerbed within the main atrium.

“Here we have a bird of paradise, which is actually an Easter egg for both myself as a designer of 10289 Bird of Paradise and to the fan designer Valentina who says that this is one of her favourite plants,” explains the designer.

It’s a touching tribute to both his past work and the fan designer, and it’s not the only Easter egg in the set as McVeigh teases a line-art depiction of Valentina’s original project is hidden on a sticker.

New elements and recolours

The designer was particularly insightful when it came to the design of the roof, which forms a central part of the new LEGO Ideas set.

“This element was one of the biggest discussion points when developing this model, asking what would we create to define the architecture and we looked at many different options, but we decided early on that this element – which had only just been developed – would really be great if it could be extended to have a corner,” comments McVeigh.

“When we took this element, the 1×6 half-arch, and cut one stud off to make it the 1×5, we had a full roofing system.”

This roofing system forms one of the most eye-catching features of the build and it will be interesting to see where these elements appear again in the future.

A personally-requested printed piece

Another element of Valentina’s contributions to the set can be spotted in the ground surrounding the botanical garden. A new printed round tile with a four-leaf clover was requested to be added by the fan designer later in development.

Hopefully, this new printed piece finds its way onto Pick a Brick and in other sets as it’s sure to be useful in other natural builds.

It’s not inspired by the LEGO Friends set

Despite what you might expect, the LEGO Ideas design team weren’t inspired by 41757 Botanical Garden except in an exceedingly specific way.

“No specific inspiration was taken from LEGO Friends 41757 Botanical Garden, Valentina’s fan model was really inspiring in and of itself,” noted McVeigh.

“The LEGO Friends model came out while we were in development – one thing that we did take note of was how much the fan community loved the Friends botanical garden and so, if we were doubting our decision to move ahead with this garden, certainly seeing just how the Friends set inspired people reinforced our decision to go ahead with this.”

LEGO Ideas 21353 The Botanical Garden launches on November 1 for LEGO Insiders or November 4 for everyone and you can find out about the build by clicking here.

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