LEGO designer debuts 'surprise' new building technique in 10350 Tudor Corner

The very first thing LEGO designer François Zapf built for LEGO Icons 10350 Tudor Corner proved to be his greatest triumph.

A staple of the kind of Tudor architecture that inspired 10350 Tudor Corner is the unique roof. It's something that could have proved a lengthy challenge for LEGO designers to recreate but François seemingly managed to knock it out of the park early, debuting a brand new building technique.

"The roof is super fresh, we've never seen anything like it before in a modular building," Ashwin Visser, the LEGO graphic designer who worked on 10350 Tudor Corner told Zusammengebaut. "I think you will be surprised with the building techniques that are used."

Of course, if you don't want to wait to build the set to be surprised, the designers dug into some more details about what makes this roof so special in interviews with other LEGO fan media. A feature of 10350 Tudor Corner that was touched on many times was just how much it stands out from other modular buildings.

That's perhaps due to it being the product of relatively new blood for the LEGO Group. This is François's second set ever that he led the work on, beaten only by 40729 Shackleton's Lifeboat by a few short weeks. A new designer coming fresh to the LEGO Group just a couple of years ago appears to have sparked some new design ideas that have breathed new life into the collection.

"From very early on, the team were amazed by the techniques, especially the black-and-white chequered techniques that Francois did," Ashwin told New Elementary. "We were all like, wow, when he first showed it. We have not seen this before in any Modular Buildings, or actually any other LEGO sets for that matter, so it's super fresh that it's in here."

François himself is also proud of his work on the unique roof, it being the first thing he designed for 10350 Tudor Corner.

"The angles make it a bit tricky, it was a challenge," he explained to Tiago Catarino with a smile. "It has such a weird shape. A steep roof like this is something that is really tied to the Tudor architecture style and having the right angles and avoiding any collisions [was hard], plus the building experience."

François went on to put out the use of cheese slopes to create an entirely new effect below the roof, mimicking the black and white pattern present on classic Tudor buildings. Using a combination of slopes and plates, the black beams are built by just dropping a tile into the gap that's left in between, creating a thin line in an innovative new way, which you can see in the pictures below.

The end result is what's promised to be a surprising and satisfying build process, creating a nested section of the building with 'wooden beams' criss-crossing the base before making way for dormers that look just as authentic on the inside as they do on the outside. There are no exposed build parts in the interior, keeping the look of the windows seamless and realistic both inside and out.

You'll be able to check out the quirky new building technique for yourself when 10350 Tudor Corner comes out on on January 1, 2025, retailing for £199.99 / $229.99 / €229.99, complete its own exclusive GWP, 40757 Corner Kiosk available for Insiders from January 1 to 3 and then for everyone else from January 4 to 7 (while stocks last). In the meantime, check out our in-depth review of the upcoming modular building.

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