Greek House in Santorini

Get ready for your next summer holiday in Greece! Enjoy the beach, the music and the good vibes. This house is based on old, Greek/Mediterranean houses, especially the ones in Santorini.

I took on this project because my Colombian girlfriend fell in love with the first Houses of the World set (40583) and decided to start collecting them. She also happens to love Mamma Mia very much. So, as a designer, I tried to combine both in the best way possible.

During my design process, I always look for references to draw some inspiration from. I researched Greek houses and Santorini’s architecture, as well as actual Lego houses, to see how they are built.

However, the greatest problem I faced was that all the models I found were minifigure-sized rather than micro-scale, so I needed to adapt them to this smaller version.

I started by looking at the instructions for the two Houses of the World sets (40583 and 40590) that were out at the time. I continued the process by drawing concept designs, sketching out individual parts and listing all the things I would need.

The most difficult part was using STUDIO 2.0, which all renders have been done with, because I’d never worked with it. Luckily, I have previous experience with other 3D programs.

Even though it took some doing and undoing, I finally managed to complete the design and I’m extremely happy with the results.

The house is built using the famous blue and white colour scheme commonly found in Mediterranean houses. The main features on this 2-story house include: a stone path marking the entrance, stairs that lead into a terrace, and a vine adorning the left-facing façade.

●     STONE PATH: Something iconic about these old houses is the creative use of materials, such as arranging cut stone to make the floor look just like a mosaic. I created this pattern, but the set would come with a few additional stone pieces, so that you can rearrange it your way.

●     ROOMS: The set has 2 rooms, following the structure in previous sets. On the ground floor you will find a big kitchen/dining room with old and new furniture and appliances. On the second floor there is a small bedroom (sorry, there’s no room for a toilet!).

●     ROOF: Both floors can be detached easily and a third floor with a towering blue dome can also be added.

●     STAIRS: The area for which I probably spent the longest trying to get just right, since they needed to fit in such a narrow space but achieve enough height to reach the upper floor.

●     FLOWERS: Greek houses are known for having plants, both inside and outside, and the most iconic one is the Bougainvillea. I added one growing from the ground to the roof on the left side of the building. Plus, there are two big pots on the front and a small one inside the bedroom.

●     EXTRA FLOWERS: The stairs can be easily modified to include more flowers on the wall. There’s always room for more plants, right?

●     SIZE AND PARTS COUNT: This set is 35.5 cm wide, 13 cm long and 12.2 cm tall. The total parts count is 322. Only two pieces use new colors:

○     Dome [cylinder hemisphere 4x4 in blue]

○     2 wooden beams [plate 1x5 in blue]

The yellow tiles on the wall are meant for stickers/paintings, but I’m afraid I haven’t decided on the artwork yet.

Out of all the Lego ideas you can support, I think this one has a really high chance of becoming a real set for 3 reasons:

I loved playing with Lego as a kid, but as I grew up they were slowly replaced with videogames. That was the case until a couple of years ago, when a friend gave me a Star Wars spaceship for my birthday and my inner child came back. Since then, I picked up my Lego collection where I left off and it’s growing more and more each day! Find more of my stuff in @MAEIKmms .

I’m completely new to all of this (Lego design, part types, colour palette, etc), so all tips on how to improve my model or anything else are very welcome and much appreciated. I would like to learn more and try to become a master builder!

If you've always dreamed of a house like this, now you can build it and have fun! Hopefully, with your support, we’ll be able to turn this idea into an actual LEGO Ideas set.