2024 Modular Building rumour and speculation

BooTheMightyHamster

Looking at the stats of Modular Building so far, we've had...

Ten that could be classed as a private business:

Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, Grand Emporium, Palace Cinema, Parisian Restaurant, Brick Bank*, Downtown Diner, Corner Garage, Boutique Hotel & Jazz Club.

Three that could be classed as public service buildings:

Fire Brigade, Town Hall, Police Station (*although there's a case for saying that the Bank could be classed as public service)

And four that I've classed as mixed use:

Pet Shop, Detective's Office, Assembly Square and Bookshop.

There have always been a gap of at least two other sets before a corner building is produced, so given that 2022s Boutique Hotel was a corner build, it's unlikely that we'll see another one in 2024.

Presumably the development process for next January is already well under way, but any early thoughts as to what might be coming our way?

I could potentially see any of the following fitting in...

- Vet
- Doctor's surgery
- Record Store
- Ambulance station
- Library
- Travel Agent

Bumblepants

Wasn't the upper floor of Corner Garage a vet?

eMJeeNL

Maybe it's time for a mixed-use building again to also give our workers somewhere to live.
As for your list, trying to focus on both concept and content (e.g. how to furnish it attractively inside):

- Vet - as @Bumblepants said, already in CG.
- Doctor's surgery - possible, also gives some opportunities for nice interior detailing
- Record Store - plausible, although we've had quite some focus on music already
- Ambulance station - that'd be nice (especially as my wife is a paramedic)
- Library - don't think so as we've already had the bookstore as a book-themed Modular
- Travel Agent - could be an option, but wondering how to furnish that other than with a (couple of) desk(s) and some posters on the wall? Also, were travel agencies a thing during the age the Modulars usually represent?

A flower shop would also be cool, but that is mostly already covered in Assembly Square i guess. I'd also dig a bus-station in the same kind of layout as the CG but with apartments upstairs, and a cool bus to come with it.

Bumblepants

Oh I like the travel agent idea. Haven't seen that suggested before but it would be a great small room/office in the way you described.

autolycus

We assume it will be a 32x32 straight layout?

Gibbo1959

Okay this might be a bit out there and not quite on brand but how about a funeral parlour? Nice front reception office, little chapel of rest, embalming room and woodwork/coffin room on ground floor. Couple of offices and/or dressing rooms on first floor and apartment/residence on top floor. Comes with a nice traditional hearse or that’s the inevitable vehicle GWP later on. Also some potential for storyline with the funeral directors and customers. Or is that a bit too morbid?

andhe

Perhaps it will be whatever they supposedly cancelled and the jazz club replaced? Think that's what the designer said in his interview, that for some reason (possibly an overlap with another set on shelves?) the jazz club got sort of rushed through after the previous model had to be cancelled. Hence why he designed two back to back.

Potentially it could be some sort of newspaper/news office. But don't know when the Bugle is likely to retire. 

Weepy_Donuts

If the next modular was held back until 2024, I would assume that it is grocery themed. I can’t believe that both #60347 Grocery Store and #60345 Farmers Market Van were such poor performers that they needed to be discontinued within 6 months.

I’m currently working on a MOC inspired by #10190 Market Street and I could see Lego producing something similar. The ground floor is a small farmer’s market (bulk fruits and veggies) with a garage door that opens into a small store with shelving and coolers. The first floor uses the roof of the market as a deck for tables and the building above the store is an ice cream parlor. The second floor will be a small residence or office, I haven’t decided yet.

Russell844

andhe said:

Perhaps it will be whatever they supposedly cancelled and the jazz club replaced? Think that's what the designer said in his interview, that for some reason (possibly an overlap with another set on shelves?) the jazz club got sort of rushed through after the previous model had to be cancelled. Hence why he designed two back to back.

Potentially it could be some sort of newspaper/news office. But don't know when the Bugle is likely to retire. 

https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-original-2023-modular-building-scrapped

Brickchap

@BooTheMightyHamster Thank you for starting this thread! :) Always fun discussing the modulars.

@Russell844 Thanks for sharing that. I'd have loved a news printery! Strange that they started work on it then suddenly realised Daily Bugle exists. I wonder if any of the parts from the Newspaper Boy CMF were planned for the Modular Printery.

That explains a lot about the lack of WOW factor of the new Jazz Club. It's a real shame though because it means we will never get another modular jazz club or an Italian restaurant, both of which I really would have liked to have seen Lego's full effort and love put into rather than a rushed afterthought (which, regardless of your thoughts on the JC modular, is exactly what it is).

@Weepy_Donuts Yes I've always wanted a 1950s/1960s supermarket modular (since we already have Green Grocer). I'd be very happy with a GG rerelease, but I understand a new modular would likely be the best choice. An ice cream parlour is a must.

@BooTheMightyHamster

A GPs office would be great. My only argument against that would mean it would make a modular hospital a loooong wait in the future (maybe even never). Record Store would be great too, would tie in nicely with previous modulars, fits the era very well and could be as large or small as Lego desired (a record store would likely be a part of a multi business modular).  Ambulance station is a very creative idea. My grandfather was one of the main advocates for my town to get an ambulance station so that would be cool for me, and it would force Lego to include a vintage ambulance which would be awesome!! But again, if we got an ambulance station it would mean no hospital. However, an Assembly Square type/sized hospital with an ambulance station to the side would be excellent. Library I personally am very open to, but as others have said and often say, Bookstore rather killed that idea (which is a shame). Travel Agent is another creative idea I really like. I'd love to see Lego use the CMF Ferry Captain's boat costume piece as a part of an ocean liner advertisement. Again this would be a good idea for a multi business modular. @eMJeeNL Yes travel agents were definitely around. It's how you booked a holiday before the internet. Travel Agents had lots of brochures and would organise your ship, train or aircraft tickets. They were also knowledgeable and would often know contacts personally (such as a local hotel owner).

Bus station would be nice, naturally with a vintage bus. There was a great Ideas project like that. I don't think Lego would do that though sadly.

@autocylys Yes I would imagine it will be a standard 32x32 baseplate. Unless it's a special building, personally I hope Lego sticks to 'straight, flat' modulars for now. Boutique Hotel was very creative and looks good, but the 45 degree angle entrance ruined Jazz Club, especially for interior space while offering very little benefit to the exterior. Also having the pizzeria set back is creative, but again takes away space for no real benefit. Likewise, corner garage is also creative, but on the whole doesn't look that great and as a petrol station would have been better as a straight modular.

autolycus

I just meant a "straight" vs. a "corner". The pattern has consistently been corner, straight, straight, corner, straight, straight, etc. BH was the last corner, so we should have a straight in 2024 and a corner in 2025, unless they decide to change the pattern.

I tend to prefer the ones that aren't just a single monolithic building, but we might be due for one that's closer to that design style. CG was the last monolith, and it was set back substantially because of the pull-through. BB is the last one that took up nearly the full practical footprint with a single, consistent-depth building.

Brickchap

@autolycus You are right about single monolithic buildings compared to multi building ones. While I like the idea of multiple businesses, I do think recently Lego has taken that a bit too far with the very unnecessary art gallery in BH (which took parts away from the building/prevented the inclusion of the awesome vintage taxi, and also means we will never get an art gallery modular as some people have been wanting).

Likewise, Jazz Club has way too much. A jazz club, a pizzeria, a tailor, a kitchen garden, a magic show?? The tailor is actually one of the only parts I'm completely happy with, however I think that should have been saved for another modular and provided more space for either the jazz club or pizzeria. I really don't know why Lego didn't use the whole ground floor for the pizzeria and put the jazz club upstairs, or vice versa. That would have been a much better use of space (and similar to BB and PS they could still make it look like it's two different buildings).

As for the whole building on one baseplate, I think that will depend on the subject matter. A hospital, museum, news printery (maybe a post office) would definitely require that. (although they could also do a small post office like the Ideas project with the post office and fish & chip shop).

When does Daily Bugle retire? Would Lego make a news printery for 2024? Or a car dealership (with some vintage cars), as was the original idea for Corner Garage?

It's most likely we will get another multi business modular like DO, AS style. At the same time as I've argued previously, recently Lego 'ticked off' two of some of the most requested and required buildings in a town/city; a hotel (properly detailed as opposed CC) and a police station. So I'm both curious and hopeful we will get a hospital soon. (since a hospital would be big it would also give a lego an excuse to make a massive, super expensive 18+ set which they currently have a fetish for). Likewise a post office is something that's been requested and is needed, and, if they make a small one, would work well with the multi business style.

Russell844

Until we get one, I will keep on saying that I want a post office and a newspaper printer, even though I already obviously know why we don't have the latter. Yet.

Brickchap

^Perhaps the news printery could be called P & Q (after the phrase 'mind your Ps and Qs'. It has been interpreted various ways but it comes from typesetters because the P and Q on a typeset are right next to each other and look VERY similar, so if one is tired or not focused they can mix them up.

Marshallmario

   I like the idea of a vintage (Art-deco) Greyhound bus station with bus.



 

Brickchap

@Marshallmario That's a really nice idea. Yes a 1950s Greyhound type coach would be cool. I'd also like a British 1940s style bus. Something like the middle picture would be good, maybe with an American cafe (sort of like the DD but different) as well.

Brickchap

Here's a curveball. How about a train station? A modular train station has been requested a lot; the reason I bring it up now is because in about November of 2023 we are expected to get the Orient Express Ideas set. I personally have always thought it would make sense for Lego to release a Creator Expert train with a Creator Expert modular train station around the same time that could go together.

Now yes, I am very well aware that Ideas and Creator Expert are separate themes. But then, so is Marvel and yet we have had two Marvel sets now specifically designed to go with the Modular Building Collection, and has been mentioned the existence of a Marvel modular news building meant we couldn't get a Creator Expert news building.

So imagine getting the Orient Express in November, then two months later there's a long awaited Modular Train Station to go with it (even if not 'officially' said to work together it is clearly what fans would do). The Orient Express would fit the era and style of the modulars, and would as I'm arguing provide a train that is on store shelves at the same time the station is.

eMJeeNL

I dont see that happening, mostly due to the Bricklink-lineup offering the Studgate trainstation.

sweetness34

Every year I wish for a modular hospital without success, so this year I’m going to change it up and wish for a modular Medieval Times set. 

Brickchap

@sweetness34 Don't give up hope! Did you see the leaked Medieval Market Village?

sweetness34

Brickchap said:

@sweetness34 Don't give up hope! Did you see the leaked Medieval Market Village?

I’ve seen the leaks on that one. I was talking about Medieval times like the one that people go to see the knights show put on n by actors. Maybe it’s just a thing here in the US. 

Marshallmario

This is the one I am familiar with:
https://www.renaissancefest.com/

Bumblepants

I can see them creating a half building/half park or garden area. It would still cost full price.

windjammer

I hope for a train station, or even a subway station, or even some kind of monorail station using roller coaster track. Although perhaps the monorail would be better suited a Ninjago city.

But I think 2024 is the year this will happen! - we've seen stations in a few Ideas sets that have made 10k, the Monkey Kid City of Lanterns, and the rumoured underground railway in the Harry Potter bank.

ptcruisen82

Fun Thread!  I love guessing what they will come up with.  I think recently they spoke about trying to tie in story lines within the modulars.  Maybe something like a hardware store to link to the painter in the petshop, or toy store to link to the plane in the tree with the bookstore.  Maybe a butcher/meat market to link to the restaurants.  

I do like the travel agency idea! A hospital/urgent care has to come at some point.  

I do hope they do a grocery again in some fashion.  They gave another cafe in assembly square (10 yr) and hotel (15 yr). Maybe they will do a grocer for 20 yrs, or a whole Market Square.  Grocer, farmer's market, seafood market.    

Some other ideas:
Seafood Restaurant, Apartments (I mean, where are all these minifies living?!?), Bicycle Store, Furniture Store, Electronics Store (think old Radio Shack style), Mansion Brownstone, Arcade, Bed and Breakfast, Antique Store/Second Hand, Comic/Game Store.  Just to name a few!  haha!

Brickchap

@ptcruisen82 Thanks for your input! I like all these ideas! A radio store with a few different builds for wireless' and vintage televisions would be really cool. Same with furniture store (a grandfather clock as a reference to Green Grocer would be nice) I also very much agree with some form of grocer or market. A fish & chip shop would be good. (which, at least here in Australia, can often double as a seafood market).

I really hope we see a modular butchery one day. We do have a CMF Butcher and lots of meat pieces. Arcade or game store are nice ideas, but the wrong era. Personally I hope the modulars continue in a 1930s-1950s time period.

ReesesPieces

My top 3 want list...
1. Comic book shop (imagine all the possibilities of Marvel and DC comic book cover tile pieces although I doubt this would ever happen.)
2. Karate dojo (They can call it Dragon Kai Dojo, a nod to Karate Kid/Cobra Kai, and have Ninjago's Kai be the instructor.  This can even be above the comic book shop.)
3. A school (it can be a city prep school that I think will fit in with other modulars.)

Speculationwise, I don't think it will be any of these.

Brickchap

@ReesesPieces A university could be a good modular. I can definitely see an old schoolhouse for the Winter Village line, but I'm less confident how Lego could do a school in the modulars.

I'm open to some form of Asian restaurant (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese etc. etc.) and I suppose you could have a dojo above that. However I feel like Lego's done enough dojos at this point (although in fairness we have had waaayy too many pizzerias)

pvp3020

There are some great ideas here. Personally I'd love a post office with, for some reason, a small jewellery store on the side.

Brickchap

@pvp3020 Jewellery store is a nice idea! I'd love an elderly jeweler with one of those eye glass things.

Lo1sJess

Jewelry stores sometimes share space with fine watch and clockmakers. Would be a good match up.

Brickchap

@Lo1sJess Yes I combined the two in my MOC modular jewellery store. We also have a few nice clock face prints now which helps. A print with a bunch of wristwatches would be cool. Or another 1x1 printed pocket watch (like in the Lone Ranger sets)

dhagge

Some great ideas on this thread. Would love to see a hardware store, post office, museum (assembly square size), record store, arcade/comic store or gem/jewelry store. The gem shop could tie-in to the museum and even have a fortune teller inside. A costume store would be really cool and fun as well.

Brickchap

@dhagge Yes museum would be nice. Assembly Square size would be a good size.

Question for everyone here: If Lego did a museum, what kind of museum would you like to see?

Personally I'd like a minifig history museum (i.e human history). We have some nice Egyptian prints and Castle armour pieces already for example. Plus there's great opportunities for microbuilds of various things, maybe a Wright flyer or some of Da Vinci's inventions hanging from the ceiling for example. The 1x1 pyramid piece would also be cool for a little Ancient Egypt diorama.

Other options would be a natural history museum (There was a great Ideas project like that), art history or maybe human and natural in the same building.

iamkevinwill

I'd like them to do a Theatre. Something along the lines of Buxton Opera house. Just one building dedicated to the arts. Classic architecture, lots of detail.  

As a side, I am currently building 10270 Bookshop (which is a better build than it looks, and I only went for it as there was a great deal off Amazon EU), but I don't get the basement part of the town house? It's pointless! This is my 5th Modular, but it might be the first modular that I adapt. I'm thinking of converting or adding a new ground floor grocer shop using the 60345 Farmers market van for parts.

daewoo

I know Lego will never do it (so I will eventually), but I want an office furniture store/warehouse.  

Lo1sJess

@iamkevinwill I got the bookstore for my sister but we haven’t built it yet and will be our 1st modular so good to here the build is good.  Have you thought about making the basement a wine cellar and shop?  I also like the theater idea for a future modular.

Fauch

bookstore is a nice build. I'm currently working on the hotel, it feels less interesting to build, unless the last floor is gonna be mindblowing

Bumblepants

daewoo said:

I know Lego will never do it (so I will eventually), but I want an office furniture store/warehouse.  

I picked up the new Friends set with the long name I can't remember that has the purple triangly IKEA type store on the right side. Plan to modify it into my layout eventually.

Brickchap

@iamkevinwill Yes a theatre would be great! Or a concert hall/opera house. Both with lots of minifigs in suits and gowns. Yep, classical architecture would be really cool and I also agree one whole building. The Friends theatre I think proves it would be quite possible to make a modular theatre with the 32x32 space.

Unfortunately Lego does seem to have a rule now of MuSt HaVe MuLtiPlE BuiLdInGs. Now in some cases that's great (eg Detective's Office, Brick Bank), but as of late I think they are overdoing it a bit.

Like having a donut store next to the police station is a nice, funny idea. But why did we need the green/black section? I've previously commented on the art gallery with Boutique Hotel, and now this year's modular; the pizzeria looks fine, but I definitely feel it would have been a far better use of space having the whole ground floor dedicated to the jazz club or pizzeria, and vice versa on the first floor. They could have made it look like it's two buildings (maybe pizzeria and tailor on the ground floor, Bookstore/Apartment style), and then the first floor looks like two separate buildings but is actually all one assembly.

I also agree regarding bookstore. Lego calls it a crawl space, which is true, but as a Lego model it's basically wasted space. In fairness though, in order to raise the apartment and have stairs out front, they had to have that space anyway, so putting a couple of details in there, adding a door and calling it a crawl space I guess is a fair compromise. A grocers would be great!

@Fauch Yeah the top floor is the most interesting. Especially building like the television, bed, bathtub etc. I left off the art gallery and when you step back it really gives more justice to the 3-4-5 angle of the hotel. I'd also highly recommend buying the pieces to build another 'middle floor'. Significantly improves the model. You can ring up Bricks n Pieces and ask for all the parts in bags 7,8,9 I think it was. (check the instructions) In my case the nice lady sent me a spreadsheet and I had to individually go through each part and add it to a B&P order which sucked but maybe you'll have better luck.

Fauch

hopefully. so far I would rank it among the least interesting builds (I have palace cinema, parisian, brick bank and bookshop) it probably beats palace cinema so far, but that's it I think. the palm tree was pretty cool though. in another hand it's interesting how you can pretty uncommon round shapes and angles with mostly straightforward build.

parisian, bank and bookshop were all pretty interesting to build, I may put bookshop at the top

iamkevinwill

Just as an aside to the Bookshop - when I started building mine, the female minifig with brown hair/glasses/brown jacket (bag 6) had her arms on the wrong way around! I have never experienced anything like this in many years of building. I've kept her that way for now...

MattDawson

I would guess our next building is something offering a service, with accommodation above it. Interestingly it appears every 10 years we should expect a entertainment venue...

Brickchap

@MattDawson Great work! Thanks for this! I guessed 2022 or 2023 would be an eatery as you call it, and I was right! Interesting observation about entertainment, although I hope you're wrong. I don't want to have to wait a decade before we get a concert hall/theatre/dance hall etc. :(

Hmm I guess a 'service' would be either a few regular businesses eg travel agent, wireless/TV store etc. or a public service like a long-awaited hospital or post office! I hope it's the latter, although multi business modulars are usually quite good (eg Detective's Office, Assembly Square)

arathemis

I seriously doubt that someone at lego has a grand master plan of buildings that need to rotate on the shelves year after year. I think there are too many factors involved to consider just what the building's real life purpose is. 
But the speculations are fun (nowhere close to reality, but fun nonetheless) 

Brickchap

@arathemis Why wouldn't they have a rough pattern though? Each year Lego comes up with the modular building for the next year so they can sit down and be like, "Well it's been four years, we could try another food-related modular." "How about a Viennesse coffee house? Or a Korean barbeque?" (for example).

I do find it interesting that Lego actually got to the stage of a fully planned news printery and then out of the blue realised, 'Oh, Daily Bugle is still on shelves' and then had to quickly come up with the Jazz Club. (it was admitted it was rushed which likely explains why so many people, self included, find the Jazz Club lacks that 'special something' Lego modulars normally have.

MattDawson

I would imagine the selection is based off
1. What the most obvious gaps are in the range
2. Time between releases of a similar thing
3. Competition from other ranges.

Now, while a printery (as opposed to a newspaper office) is a great idea, bear in mind it might've been LEGO's own higher ups rather than the modular team/designer etc. who thought both it and DB would hurt profits.

A post office might be the perfect release for next year; it will be 3 years since the Police Station, and outside of a doctors or a car dealership, is by far one of the most missing aspects of the range. It would also fit perfectly with having a vehicle (mail van) and could have apartments above it, providing accommodation.

Whilst everyone laments the lack of a train station, please bear in mind they take up a LOT of room, and while they could subvert this by using elevated tracks, the problem is they then need to offer a way to connect these train lines to other aspects of the range, which won't work well. And because LEGO build off a baseplate, a subway is unlikely, although they could hint at an abandoned station...

LusiferSam

I highly doubt they would ever do it, but I would love to see an abandoned building.  One with broken windows and graffiti.  A place where bootleg gingerbread and smuggled chocolate chip cookies dealt.  Maybe other shady stuff like cupcakes are exchanged.  Again very unlikely to happen, but one can dream.

I would think some type of industrial space could a possibility.  You could have some factory layouts that span multiple stories of a building.  Printing, baking, textiles, ice cream all have factory layouts that could work in this space and be very different from what's been done. 

Brickchap

@MattDawson I agree with your top 3 points. Yes, it usually is the brass hats that ruin any good ideas.

Post Office would be great and you provide good reasons to support that. I hope they would include a postal van as a part of the set instead of another GWP. Do you think all the ground floor (or even first floor) would be post office, or just a small section like bookstore/pet store/pool hall/detective's office etc.?

Hospital could still be on the table as it also fits the 'service' category, is something that's been wanted for a while and each town/city needs, could include an ambulance. It would also likely be a large model which Lego loves so they can charge some horrendous price.

I don't think a train station has to be too big, but I do agree there is the issue of how to attach tracks. Maybe if they built to the back of the baseplate (as the platform), but then included a separate assembly with a railway line that connects via Technic pins to the back (so the whole model would be 40 studs deep) and if it's up against a shelf or something you can just take off the track part, otherwise set up your Train Station as you would a regular modular building, add the track part at the back, and have a train line going along all the backs of your modulars.

Lo1sJess

Maybe a street tram/trolley like was added to WV this year then there could be an end of line station and yard that could be scaled to fit.

BooTheMightyHamster

LusiferSam said:

I highly doubt they would ever do it, but I would love to see an abandoned building.  One with broken windows and graffiti. 

Something like this?  It's from Mike Doyle's book, 'Beautiful Lego'.