LEGO: The Latest Architecture and News

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After 10 years of exploring the world and making LEGO interventions to city walls and masonry in disrepair, artist Jan Vormann invites you to contribute to the ongoing project Dispatchwork. Vormann began making these toy-block repairs in Bocchignano, Italy, and since has made colorful additions to Tel Aviv and Berlin.

Jan Vormann has visited nearly 40 cities across Europe, Central America, Asia, and the United States. Some of the installations use a handful of toy bricks while some have used up to 20 pounds.

Can you even call yourself an architect if you don’t have an old box of LEGO that you can’t bare to throw out stored away in an attic somewhere?

LEGO has become a part of architecture’s collective conscience – an inspiration, a modeling tool, a nostalgic driver, a raison d'être for architects who grew up piecing worlds together and imagining alternative realities. With the completion of BIG’s LEGO House in Billund, LEGO is once again in the spotlight. But, as this short documentary explains, it never really left.

In a career market where young people are changing jobs more often than ever before, the Curriculum Vitae becomes a crucial way to differentiate yourself from the crowd. Andy Morris’ LEGO Résumé does just that.

A recent design graduate from the University of South Wales, Morris used his design skills and philosophy to develop a LEGO mini-figure and appropriate packaging to show potential employers exactly what it is that he does.

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LEGO has revealed the latest kit in their Architecture series, and it’s a bit meta: a 774-piece model of the nearly complete LEGO experience center in Billund, Denmark, designed by BIG to resemble a stack of LEGO blocks.

Last time we checked in on the progress of the upcoming BIG-designed LEGO House experience center in Billund, Denmark, the structure had just topped out, with all of the major structural elements in place. Now, in drone footage released earlier this summer by LEGO, many of the building’s final finishes, surfaces, and colors can be seen as it prepares for its grand opening next month.

One of last year’s most long-awaited buildings may have just met its match in terms of complexity – and it comes in the form of its own LEGO replica.

Created by LEGO sculptor Brick Monkey, the LEGO version of Herzog & de Meuron’s spectacular Elbphilharmonie was constructed from more than 20,000 individual LEGO pieces, featuring point perfect scaled versions of the concert hall’s signature features, including the building’s elevated public terrace, glass facade and sail like roof, made up of hundreds of precise umbrella shaped elements. But most impressively, the model can be opened in half to reveal a detailed recreation of the structure’s main concert hall.

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Dutch architectural firm, Studio Komma, in collaboration with concept-developer The Men of Foam, have won the Lot 2 Urban Lab Challenge, with their proposal, ZIP2516. Located in The Hague, The Netherlands, in an upcoming living and working district, the project “seeks to create an iconic building that is an accelerator for the transformation of an industrial area into a new energetic urban district.”

ZIP2516 will house a variety of programs, including social and commercial entrepreneurship and public space. The ground floor of the building will accommodate the flagship store of social entrepreneur, Happy Tosti. The first floor of the building will feature a public square and “urban playground,” with office and start-up space on the floors above, and a “gin bar with roof terrace” on top.

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As any architect who has played with LEGO can tell you (which, let’s face it, is nearly all of us), one of the most exciting yet struggling steps is just starting off on that tabula rasa of the standard, flat LEGO base. But for anyone looking to build something within the context of their environment, you were flat out of luck. Now, that all may be changing, thanks to a new LEGO-compatible tape, currently being funded on Indiegogo.

The BIG-designed LEGO House has topped out and is headed toward completion ahead of its just-announced grand opening date on September 28. Located near LEGO’s corporate campus, in the heart of Billund, Denmark, the LEGO experience center will provide an estimated 250,000 yearly guests with a variety of LEGO-themed activities within its 12,000 square meters, inviting visitors of all ages to play and unleash their creativity.

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Videos

It’s a project out of every architect’s childhood fantasy: a 100 foot (31 meter) long suspension bridge, constructed completely out of LEGO.

Envisioned as part of the ongoing Bridge Engineering exhibition at London’s Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE), the massive bridge utilized over 250,000 individual LEGO bricks in shattering the World Record for the longest LEGO suspension bridge. Stretching further than the length of three London City Buses end-to-end, the bridge weighs in at over 1,600 lbs (75 kg).

LEGO® has unveiled the newest kit in their Architecture series: The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Originally designed by architect William Thornton in 1793, the building has gone through several iterations, including the addition of its iconic white, cast-iron, neoclassical dome in 1866. The 1,032 piece LEGO® set portrays the building in its current form, with its “striking white, columned façade with its famous steps and lawns.” The kit also features a removable dome, which, when lifted off, reveals “a detailed interior depicting the famous National Statuary Hall, complete with columns, statues and tiled floor.”

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LEGO® today unveiled “Big Ben” as the company’s newest kit in its Creator series. Aimed at adult LEGO® fans (meaning 16 and older) the 4,163 piece design pays tribute to the engineering and architecture of the 19th century Gothic Revival clock tower adjoining the Palace of Westminster and Elizabeth Tower. Highlighting the set’s complexity, LEGO® has outlined the its unique features, including “detailed facade with statues, shields and windows, and a clock tower with 4 adjustable clock dials and a removable roof allowing access to the belfry, plus buildable exterior elements including a sidewalk, lawn and a tree depicting the building’s location.” Big Ben measures over 23 inches (60 centimeters) tall and will be available to purchase on July 1, 2016.