LEGO: The Latest Architecture and News

As cultural institutions advanced major preservation projects and new demographic data reframed understandings of urban growth, this week's architectural discussions centred on how cities and museums adapt to evolving social, environmental, and infrastructural conditions. Efforts to safeguard modern heritage, developments in long-term urban planning, and reflections on architectural legacy intersect with global observances such as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, highlighting the ongoing need for more inclusive and accessible environments within the built landscape.

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From Bangkok to Billund, a new wave of architectural project announcements is reshaping how spaces for work, culture, mobility, and public life are conceived. Across Norway, Thailand, the United States, Denmark, Australia, and Thailand, these projects reflect an increasing emphasis on technological integration, sustainable construction, and flexible, future-ready environments. Whether designing production hubs for digital creators, adaptable media campuses, or civic landscapes layered with history and ecological intent, each scheme offers insight into how architecture is evolving to support emerging industries, cultural programming, and new forms of public engagement. This edition of Architecture Now brings together a selection of recently announced projects that highlight the intersection of design, technology, and innovation in a global context.

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LEGOs are universal world-building units and a popular gateway into architecture. Of course, you can build almost anything with them, cars, spaceships, you name it, but buildings of all kinds — from police-stations to castles — are some of the most popular subjects. What makes LEGOs so appealing to young, and not-so-young architects? What, specifically, makes them a good analogy for the design of buildings? In this episode, Stewart purchases a box of LEGOs and uses it as a springboard to talk about what he’s learned from the toy block system. From lessons on modularity and proportion, to grammar and resolution, to compositional categories of additive and subtractive, the video breaks down how these fundamental concepts apply to both LEGOs and to the history and design of architecture.  

Lego China has teamed up with CAA Architects to create a vision for a modular city in space. Designed by Liu Haowi, the city is made with a spacecraft below and a larger urban center above surrounded by an artificial gravitational field controlled by AI. Called "Crystal Space City", the project is constructed by modules and combines a city, oasis and an energy power system all together.

The Inspireli Awards have announced the winners of the student competition for the Czech Embassy in Addis Ababa. The fourth year of the competition offered students a unique opportunity to design in Ethiopia. This special competition category was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Faculty of Civil Engineering CTU in Prague, Department of Architecture.

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Architects always find themselves searching for the most innovative ways of presenting their projects, going for elaborate models or Virtual Reality technologies driven by a passion for design, building, and creation. Perhaps this passion of architecture was triggered at an age earlier than expected, playing around with LEGO’s.

Now that LEGO has created an architecture-themed collection, the brand gave architecture lovers the opportunity to explore famous landmarks and recreate their structures with basic geometric blocks. Innovative architecture firm WAY Studio discovered the possibilities of model-making with LEGO’s and used its blocks as a design tool for a series of their projects.

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LEGO has revealed the newest addition to its Architecture set. The "Trafalgar Square" set will feature London landmarks such as the National Gallery, Nelson’s Column, and accessories such as micro-lion statues, fountains, and the city’s famous red double-decker buses.

Earlier this year, LEGO announced that they were beginning production on a new line of botanical-themed pieces made from sugarcane. This new line is just the start of the company's goal to only use sustainable materials in all major products and packaging by 2030. Here we will explore the process behind LEGO’s “going green” initiative, and the challenges they’ve faced in making more environmentally-friendly building blocks along the way.

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The LEGO House by Bjarke Ingels Group now has its own Netflix documentary. Taking viewers on a journey through the conception, design, construction, and opening of the LEGO House, the documentary offers an insight into the challenges faced throughout the process, and the thoughts and reflections of the project’s key contributors, including Bjarke Ingels.

“LEGO House – Home of the Brick” offers the most thorough insight yet into the scheme’s creation, detailing major early construction issues, delays, and (spoiler alert!) the ultimate successful completion of one of the most iconic pieces of architecture created in recent years. The documentary dives into the history of the LEGO brand, the vision, and importance placed on the LEGO House by the company’s directors, and perhaps most interestingly, a series of interviews with Bjarke Ingels in which he reflects on the role of LEGO in the development of his own career.

Videos

Mecanoo has released images of their competition-winning social housing proposal for the city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The 234-unit-scheme embodies Mecanoo’s philosophy towards social housing, “defined by flexibility, the right balance of private and communal spaces, mixing housing types, connection with the environment and identity.” Comprised of two buildings linked by a green canopy, the scheme is designed for a variety of users, including students, young families, the elderly, or people with special needs.

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For all those Brickheads out there, interior designing has just reached another Lego-filled level. Created by an Italian team of designers, Stüda has made the dream of Lego compatible furniture a reality. Their modular furniture comes in an array of colors textured in studs that are capable of holding the infamous bricks and can be customized to your heart’s content.

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In its 2017 annual report, the LEGO Group has announced a decline in revenue for the first time in 13 years. But fret not brickheads – this news has already led to a reduction in prices, and may continue to do so moving forward until the company can unload its excess stock.

LEGO is going green. The Danish company has announced that they have begun production on a range of pieces made from a plant-based plastic sourced from sugarcane.

As a nod to their plant-based origins, the first sustainable pieces will take the form of LEGO botanical elements such as leaves, bushes and trees.

It’s hard to find an architecture enthusiast who wasn’t obsessed with LEGO as a kid. Many of us would spend hours carefully placing the small, colorful blocks to make our crazy, imaginary environments in our heads a reality—well, somewhat. Whether it was building a dream home for your dolls or simply trying to construct the tallest tower, LEGO was certainly responsible for the first flirtations with the profession. It is no question this tool unleashes our creativity, and this can be demonstrated in a variety of ways.

For this reason, we searched our archive for some architects which highlight the creative and innovative ways LEGO is being used in adult-life. From a few pieces of the LEGO® Architecture Series to the appropriation of some important offices such as Zaha Hadid Architects and MVRDV, urban interventions are being inspired by toys and even serving as a furniture mold.