Minibrix

Does anybody remember owning or playing with Minibrix?

Minibrix

For those who don't know, Minibrix is a now defunct but fabulously satisfying construction toy made from rubber. It came in a regular brick format and also in Tudor black and white.

Minibrix - Catalogue/Instructions

 According to Minibrix.com, it first entered production in the 1930s before it's final demise in the late1970s when the last remaining factory stock was dumped in a skip - like miniature builder's rubble! There were probably a number of reasons for its downfall although I expect the ascendancy of other construction toys (Lego in particular) would have been a significant factor. This is a shame as it was a well designed product. The bricks fit together strongly and are also very tactile. Furthermore, they make a hugely satisfying pop when you press them together or pull them apart. Another great feature is that unlike Lego they seem to get better with age. The bricks in the set I grew up with have acquired a white chalky looking patina where the rubber has started to slowly break down. 

Anyway, enough words - here are some things I built recently, clearly demonstrating my formidable construction skills and architectural vision.

Lets start with a bunker...

Nic Pehkonen, Bunker

Nic Pehkonen, Bunker (another view)

Continuing the military theme with a pillbox.

Nic Pehkonen, Pillbox

And then an observation tower.

Nic Pehkonen, Observation Tower

Another tower - this time it could be a water tower...

Nic Pehkonen - Water Tower

A factory

Nic Pehkonen, Factory

A chapel maybe...

Nic Pehkonen, Chapel

And then a ruined building.

Nic Pehkonen, Ruined building

Looking inside

...from another angle

...and another

One final interior shot

Lastly, here are a couple of buildings you can make from actual instructions, assuming you have the correct set/s. I think there were seven Minibrix and three Tudor sets in all.

Minibrix - Modern Flats

Minibrix - The Moot Hall, Aldeburgh

Bawdsey

Whilst in Suffolk recently, I had the pleasure of re-visiting the trio of concrete wartime buildings situated out on the coast at Bawdsey. Although only about three miles from Felixstowe and it's huge container port, there is no direct road access across the river Deben to Bawdsey which results in a greater feeling of remoteness than it really has.

WW2 Machine Gun Battery, Bawdsey.

In very close proximity there is a small round pillbox built during the first world war, an observation tower on the other side of the road and a machine gun battery right up against the sea wall both dating from the second world war.

WW1 Pillbox and WW2 Observation Tower, Bawdsey.

The local council have conveniently provided some brief information about the site for the visitor. In terms of military history though, Bawdsey has even more to offer, including the pioneering development of radar at Bawdsey Manor during the Second World War and the stationing of  Boodhound missiles in the Cold War.

A very brief history of the site for the visitor.

It has been some years since my first visit but it was great to still be able to wander freely in and around the buildings. The only discernible changes are that the observation tower has been subject to some text-based art installations both inside and out. Here is one of them.

Bettina Furnee, stencil, 2005

These are ok and I like the slightly wonky stencilled red lettering and font but for me the real aesthetic appeal comes from the forms and materials of the structures themselves. You just can't beat decaying reinforced concrete buildings for visual appeal with their striking combination textures and colour and form.

Here are some nice examples to illustrate...

Machine Gun Battery with internal steel work gradually emerging.

Observation Tower revealing something of it's inner structure
 (note another part of Bettina Furnee's text installation on right).

Inside the observation tower with ladders to the basement and first floors.

The inside of the machine gun battery is slightly more sinister looking, especially the partially flooded corridor that joins the two posts although you could wade through quite easily if you really wanted to. Just look at the amazing greenish walls and exposed rusting steel of the re-enforced ceiling.

Link corridor.

You can see the line of the passage connecting the two posts from the photo below. Although it is only partially subterranean the reinforced concrete ceiling would have been enough to provide reasonable protection when walking between the two gun posts.

Exterior view of the machine gun battery. The sea is only a few yards beyond.

Although the two gun posts differ slightly in construction the overall impression is one of satisfying symmetry and they have settled nicely into the landscape over the years.

Machine gun post - Northern end

On top of the southern gun post. Note the Martello tower
in the background (one of a number along the Suffolk coast).

Inside the southern machine gun post.

The Pillbox and Observation tower are on the edges of the fields either side of the narrow lane a hundred yards or so from the sea.

Bawdsey - Observation tower with pillbox in the foreground.

This pillbox is cylindrical in construction with a slightly overhanging roof which gives a clue as to how they came to be named although there were a great many other non-round designs. 

Bawdsey - Pillbox close up.