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LEGO Treehouses & More by Cesar Soares

As I mentioned in the LEGO Ideas Treehouse review (see: LEGO Ideas Treehouse Review & Thoughts), the LEGO designer who worked on the LEGO Ideas Treehouse project was Cesar Carvalhosa Soares (pictured on the right). Cesar’s role was to pick up the original LEGO Ideas submission by Kevin Freeser (pictured on the left) and adapt and tweak it to match the high quality standards of the LEGO brand. Things like the stability of the model, the overall aesthetics, the build flow, and playability all had to be considered. In other words, he made an awesome project even more awesome.

Cesar mostly works on LEGO Star Wars sets (you can see his portfolio here), but in the LEGO Ideas Treehouse designer video, as well as in the instruction book of the set, he shares that he loved treehouses ever since he was a child. In fact, he even submitted a couple of treehouse builds when he applied for a job at LEGO. Thus, he really rooted for Kevin’s treehouse project and was elated when it was chosen to be a set and he was given the opportunity to work on it.

Cesar is a very accomplished and versatile LEGO builder who has been sharing his models with the LEGO fan community long before he started working for LEGO in January 2016. We have featured some of his work in previous articles, and today I wanted to show you some of his other trees and treehouses he built as a LEGO fan.

The Barrenroot Tree (pictured above) was one of Cesar’s entries to the LEGO Classic Castle Contest five years ago. He said the project didn’t turn out as well as he wanted as he didn’t have enough time to work out the details, however it still looks lovely and mysterious. It’s the house of an old woman built inside an ancient tree.

The Thoryn Arper Treehouse (see above) was built a bit later and took a few months to finish. Cesar planned to add a river and a richer landscape in the future. This model foretells many of the features of the #21318 LEGO Ideas Treehouse; the color-scheme with autumn leaves and dark-blue roofs, the balconies around the cabins and the steps leading up to the treehouse, and the little mushrooms growing at the base.

While Cesar likes to build standalone treehouses, one of his specialties is building whole landscapes around small medieval or fantasy castles and villages. Black Hollow (pictured above) and the Watchtower of Gragollon (pictured below), are excellent examples of his building style.

And, here are some smaller projects by Cesar, also demonstrating his masonry and landscaping skills. As you can see, he is really fond of dark-blue roofs, but check out that banana roof too!

Cesar doesn’t just build medieval and fantasy projects. He also designed some awesome spaceships, mechs, cars, modern houses, and more. You can check them out at his flickr gallery.

And, if you haven’t done so already, take a look at the #21318 LEGO Ideas Treehouse. It’s a beautiful set that’s ready to whisk you away into the world of magical adventures. You can learn more about the set and read our review by following the links at the end of this post, and check it out at the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Ideas Treehouse? And what do you think of Cesar’s other projects? What other sets would you like to see from him? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

{ 7 comments… add one }
  • LEGOJeff August 9, 2019, 10:29 AM

    These are very beautiful. I would love to see a whole medieval village set from Ceasar.

  • Master Builder August 9, 2019, 10:39 AM

    I love this style of building. I agree with Jeff, Cesar should be in charge of the next castle series.

  • Rikki-Tikki-Tavi August 9, 2019, 11:24 AM

    He is clearly a very talented builder. I wonder why they put him on star wars. Looking through his gallery, I see he has some spaceships, but his main interest seems to be castles, fantasy and landscaping.

  • brickhead August 9, 2019, 12:20 PM

    I have seen some of his builds before. I didn’t realize he became a designer! Really happy for him! It must be amazing to go to work every day!

  • Oldtimer August 9, 2019, 12:53 PM

    I was always wondering how stable these types of builds are. The Ideas treehouse looks fragile, but admin said it’s very sturdy. I’m looking at those curvy roofs and walls and I’m wondering, are they sturdy too? They look so fragile.

  • FrenchToast August 9, 2019, 1:44 PM

    Those villages and castles are so pretty! I would love to see them in person. Please, lego, release a set like that. And thank the designer for the treehouse!

  • TomTom August 9, 2019, 9:01 PM

    I just noticed the roof made out of bananas. Brilliant idea!

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