Rebuilding BioShock Brick-by-Brick

After his first time playing BioShock, Imagine Rigney was hooked. “I immediately fell in love with the premise, the world, the characters and the various twists and turns that came with it - the wonderfully claustrophobic environment!” He just had to build Rapture.

The budding brick artist created some amazing work on his own those few years back. Then he went and topped himself by recreating Columbia – and a life-sized skyhook – in bricks a few years later. After all, what better way to honor BioShock Infinite?

We’ve been big fans of Imagine’s for some time now and we had to see if Imagine was up for a challenge. Would he be able to recreate the box art for BioShock: The Collection out of bricks?

Over 35,000 bricks and pieces later, Imagine delivered an incredible creation. Read on to learn how Imagine approached such a massive build and to see the stunning result.

What was the biggest challenge in creating this build?

Imagine: It was a huge build which would usually take me several months, but needed to be done in just over a month, so I had to figure out a way to stay on schedule and not lose my sanity. Also, square bricks are not designed to make round letters. Getting the curvature of some of the words in the logo mosaic was easier said than done.

How many hours did this BioShock build take?

Imagine: Probably around 200 - 300  hours of actual build time, but that doesn’t count the design time in my head, which was a couple weeks leading up to the actual build. There’s a point where I just lose track. Ultimately I threw most of those designs aside for what it needed to become as I built.

The center building really took the longest, though it was not the most technically challenging. I wanted to be sure it suited the design of the other two original buildings on the sides. Those, were entirely closed and lifted from my first Rapture build from 2011. But I wanted to be able to see inside more easily and so also spent a good deal of time splitting those buildings in half so they could open like some kind of horrifying dollhouse. They make the entire build playable as well - which is something I try to do with every build I create.

Do you have a favorite scene or piece in this build?

Imagine: Oh, I really love the little boiler room in the bottom of the building on the right side. It was one of the first scenes/rooms I built for the original Rapture, so I guess it holds a special place in my heart.

How did you choose what to put in each room?

Imagine: The key areas that came to mind as I played through the first game ended up being what I chose for the rooms. There are tons of other scenes that could be done. I just chose some of my favorites. They just seemed right.

Despite the size of this build, there’s still so much more that can be done with it. I want to fill in those back rooms of the main building, add some additional lighting and…. There’s a point where I just gotta call it done. But I haven’t reached that point yet.

Take a look and tell us how you think he did.