THE LEGO ARCHITECTURE

 

Lego Architecture

Lego Architecture is a sub-brand and product range of the Lego construction toy, which aims to “celebrate the past, present and future of architecture through the Lego Brick”. The brand includes a series of Lego sets designed by ‘Architectural Artist’ Adam Reed Tucker, and each contain the pieces and instructions to build a model of a famous architectural building in micro-scale.

Contents

• 1 Development
• 2 Sets
• 3 Impact
• 4 References

Development

Adam Reed Tucker earned a degree in Architecture at Kansas State University in 1996. Whilst there, he sought a method to join his two passions of art and architecture, and hit upon the idea of using Lego bricks. From this, he founded Brickstructures, Inc., and began to design and build models of famous landmarks. His work was noticed by the Lego Group, and together they formed a partnership to release some of his models as commercially available Lego sets under the Lego Architecture brand.

Sets

By the beginning of 2010, six sets had been released in the range, under two ‘series’. Within the 'Landmark Series' are models of the Willis Tower (21000), John Hancock Center (21001), the Empire State Building (21002), and the Seattle Space Needle (21003). Within the 'Architect Series' are models of the Guggenheim Museum (21004) and Fallingwater (21005).

In the beginning of July 2010, a seventh set, the White House (21006), was released. An eighth set (21007) was released in November 2010: New York’s Rockefeller Center. The ninth set (21009), Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois), was released in April 2011. A tenth set (21008), The Burj Khalifa, was released in June 2011. An eleventh and twelfth set, the Robie House (21010) and the Brandenburg Gate (21011) were released in 

September 2011.

In January 2012, it was announced that the next Architecture set would be 21012 Sydney Opera House. The set was 

released in March 2012.

In June 2012, the Big Ben (21013) was released. In July 2012, The Namdaemun Gate (Renamed Sungnyemun Gate (21016) was released. In September 2012, the Villa Savoye (21014) was released. The Eames House (21015) was scheduled and then canceled, as it never came out as a set.

In June 2013, The Leaning Tower of Pisa (21015) was announced for the Lego Architecture series. Its set number (21015) replaced the original Eames House after it was canceled. United Nations Headquarters (21018) then came out in the Lego Architecture series. In October 2013, the next architecture set, Marina Bay Sands was announced. Also, in October 2013, the  

Eiffel Tower was announced.

Set	Series	Name	Released	Number of Pieces	Comments
21000	Landmark	Sears Tower	2008	69
21000	Landmark	Willis Tower	2011	69
21001	Landmark	John Hancock   Center	2008	69
21002	Landmark	Empire State  Building	2009	77
21003	Landmark	Seattle Space Needle	2009	57
21004	Architect	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum	2009	208
21005	Architect	Fallingwater	2009	811
21006	Landmark	The White House	2010	560
21007	Landmark	Rockefeller Center	2011	240
21008	Landmark	Burj Khalifa	2011	208
21009	Architect	Farnsworth House	2011	546
21010	Architect	Robie House	2011	2276
21011	Landmark	Brandenburg Gate	2011	363
21012	Architect	Sydney Opera House	2012	270
21013	Landmark	Big Ben	2012	346
21014	Architect	Villa Savoye	2012	660
21016	Architect	Sungnyemun Gate	2012	325
21017	Architect	Imperial Hotel	2013	1188
21015	Landmark	Leaning Tower of Pisa	2013	345
21018	Landmark	United Nations Headquarters	2013	597
21019	Landmark	The Eiffel Tower	2014	321
21020	Landmark	The Trevi Fountain	2014	731
21021	Landmark	Marina Bay Sands	2014	602
21022	Landmark	Lincoln Memorial	2015	274
21023	Landmark	Flatiron Building	2015	471
21050	Architect	Lego Architecture Studio	2013	1210

Impact

The product range has been reviewed favourably by many commentators. Journalist Jenny Williams said "The scale on these kits is pretty small, though, so don’t expect exquisite detail. But creating with Lego bricks is quite a fun way to pay homage to great architects".