Temple Fortress Building Blocks -- Basic Blocks -- 19 Variations

These are the Temple Fortress -- Basic Building Blocks, which go with four other additional accessory blocks and pieces in this set. See below for the links for the other groups of pieces.

UPDATE 2026-04-26:     Uploaded an additional piece, "Basic - Strong Beam - 2x12," which is intended to be a 12-block long, double-wide, single block height beam, for spanning wider gaps and adding strength for heavier loads.

The Temple Fortress Building Blocks (TFBB) are a hybrid of looser fitting, LEGO-style (button and socket friction fit) and traditional old-school stackable building blocks that rely on gravity. There are 223 different TFBB pieces, all based on and expanded from a 15mm cube. These are primarily designed for the purpose of creating culturally significant buildings and structures. With so many different pieces, they have been grouped into five separate sub-categories, each with a different URL on Printables:

•“Temple Fortress - Basic Blocks” (19 variations, including Corners, Crosses, Straights & Ts). (This model page)

•“Temple Fortress – Caps & Spacers 5mm” (22 variations of 5mm Caps [no button on top] and 5mm Spacers [1/3 height blocks with buttons and sockets]).

• https://www.printables.com/model/1645899-temple-fortress-building-blocks-caps-spacers-30-va

•“Temple Fortress – Foundations” (43 variations of Floors/Bases, Single Perimeters & Double Perimeters).

• https://www.printables.com/model/1645903-temple-fortress-building-blocks-foundations-43-var

•“Temple Fortress – Specialty Blocks” (66 variations of Arches, Columns, Corbels, & Windows).

• https://www.printables.com/model/1645912-temple-fortress-building-blocks-specialty-blocks-4

•“Temple Fortress – Toppers” (73 variations of Domes [Hemispherical, Lowered-Geometric, & Onion], Tiled Roofs [Square & Rectangular], & Spires [Regular & Fluted]).

• https://www.printables.com/model/1645921-temple-fortress-building-blocks-toppers-domes-roof

NOTE:     These Temple Fortress Building Blocks are not meant to compete with or replace LEGO blocks. The LEGO figurine in the photos is only for size comparison. These blocks ARE NOT COMPATIBLE  with LEGO brand blocks.

NOTE:     I made a generic building with each of the different types of domes, and one with a spire. It is essentially the same building with just the Toppers changed, to present a different style. This example  building also includes various other pieces, such as, Floors/Bases, Windows, Arches and Perimeters. I built it quickly, with little forethought, so it is not very noteworthy. When I get a chance, I will build a better example. :D See the included photos. I have not made an example building with the Tiled Roofs, other than the simple stacked pieces included in the photos.

NOTE:     Due to the inconsistencies and inaccuracies of 3D filament printing, compared to precision injection molded ABS LEGO parts, these TFBB parts will have some variances which will make some pieces fit together tighter than others. This is especially the case when multiple buttons of one piece are joined with another piece (it is not a good idea to sandwich two 12x12 floors together – you might need a screwdriver to pry them apart).

NOTE:     All of the models have been uploaded in what I feel is the best orientation for printing. Some models are printed on their sides, which means that the buttons at the tops of the blocks print best with a small quantity of support painted manually on their surface. I found that “manual, tight, tree supports” worked pretty well, and were fairly easy to remove.

NOTE:    Test fit the pieces after printing; some clean-up might be required.

PRINTING INFO.: I printed exclusively with Basic PLA, 0.4mm nozzle, 0.20mm layer height, 3 perimeters (x, y, & z), 10% infill with Gyroid pattern.

BACKGROUND

I have roughly 50 kilos of LEGO pieces, some of which are from the 1960s – I received a basic set for my birthday shortly after LEGOs began selling in the U.S.A. Back then, there were far fewer types of bricks and pieces, especially for building houses and buildings. So, with fewer highly design-specific parts, I think that the early basic LEGO sets required a little more creativity and ingenuity. Building modern LEGO sets seems to be more like putting together a 1000-piece puzzle to arrive at a very specific end goal; except that the puzzle comes with instructions that show you exactly where each piece fits. Not to disparage modern LEGOs in any way, but rather, to point out that the satisfaction of building a modern LEGO model seems to come more from assembling and completing a step-by-step 3D puzzle, and less from actually creating the puzzle in the first place.

For some crazy reason (I think it was when Printables had the recent Stackable Toy Contest), I became interested in entering the ‘rabbit hole’ of designing a building block set that is simpler and less ‘end-design specific’ than most LEGO-type, button-and-socket building sets. Meaning, that the majority of these TFBB parts are not for a very specific purpose, and are not part of a very specific model or replica (i.e., a Star Wars X-Wing, Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle, Formula 1 Race Car, Bonsai Tree, etc.).

I wanted to focus on designing blocks for building significant structures from around the world, such as, temples, castles, churches, mosques, synagogues, capitols, and other major architectural landmarks, but without being too specific. For this reason, I designed various shapes of windows and arches, and more particularly, different styles of ‘toppers’ (roofs, domes, & spires). The toppers give more of the feel of different types of buildings. I did not include every possible style of topper, but the included designs should have some familiarity for people from many regions and religions of the world.

I also wanted to make blocks that fit together a little bit easier than LEGO blocks, especially for younger children. However, the drawback to having loose-fitting blocks is that you need to work with gravity, and build from the foundation to the roof, using good supporting construction methods – more like you would have to in real life when building a structure with stones. Unfortunately, this will make it so that toddlers will be greatly tempted to knock over creations in progress. :D But there is some hope, the semi-loose-fitting button and socket design of these blocks will help mitigate the frustration (to some degree) of having your whole creation tumble to the ground. Nonetheless, keep the toddlers at bay.