Lego Architecture

Lego Architecture

Sub‑themes	Landmark Series Architect Series
Subject	Buildings
Availability	2008–Present
Total sets	26 + 8 special editions
Official website

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”.^[1] 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.

Development

Adam Reed Tucker earned a degree in Architecture at Kansas State University in 1996.^[2] 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 Sears Tower (21000-1), 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. The Willis Tower (21000-2) was also released in 2011, this kit was a re-issue of the original Sears Tower kit; the only change was the printed tile to reflect the building's re-naming.

An eleventh and twelfth set, the Robie House (21010) and the Brandenburg Gate (21011) were released in September 2011.^[3][4]

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	Location	Released	Number of Pieces	Retired Product	Comments
21000	Landmark	Sears Tower[5]	Chicago	2008	69	Yes
		Willis Tower		2011
21001	Landmark	John Hancock Center	Chicago	2008	69	Yes
21002	Landmark	Empire State Building	New York City	2009	77	No
21003	Landmark	Seattle Space Needle	Seattle	2009	57	No
21004	Architect	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum[6]	New York City	2009	208	Yes
21005	Architect	Fallingwater[6]	Pittsburgh	2009	811	No
21006	Landmark	The White House	Washington, D.C.	2010	560	No
21007	Landmark	Rockefeller Center	New York City	2011	240	Yes
21008	Landmark	Burj Khalifa[7]	Dubai	2011	208	Yes
21009	Architect	Farnsworth House[8]	Plano, Illinois	2011	546	Yes
21010	Architect	Robie House[9]	Chicago	2011	2276	Yes
21011	Landmark	Brandenburg Gate	Berlin	2011	363	No
21012	Architect	Sydney Opera House[10]	Sydney	2012	270	Yes
21013	Landmark	Big Ben[11]	London	2012	346	No
21014	Architect	Villa Savoye[12]	Paris	2012	660	No
21015	Landmark	Leaning Tower of Pisa	Pisa	2013	345	No
21016	Architect	Sungnyemun Gate[13]	Seoul	2012	325	Yes
21017	Architect	Imperial Hotel[14][15]	Tokyo	2013	1188	No
21018	Landmark	United Nations Headquarters[16]	New York City	2013	597	No
21019	Landmark	The Eiffel Tower[17]	Paris	2014	321	No
21020	Landmark	The Trevi Fountain[18]	Rome	2014	731	No
21021	Landmark	Marina Bay Sands	Singapore	2014	602	No
21022	Landmark	Lincoln Memorial[19]	Washington, D.C.	2015	274	No
21023	Landmark	Flatiron Building	New York City	2015	471	No
21024	Landmark	Louvre	Paris	2015	695	No
21050	Architect	Lego Architecture Studio[20]		2013	1210	No

Special editions

Set	Name	Location	Released	Number of Pieces	Retired Product	Comments
4000002	LOM Moulding	Monterrey	2011	174	Given to employees
4000005	KOM Moulding	Billund	2012	315	Given to employees	Kornmarken Factory is the first and largest LEGO moulding and production factory
4000006	Kladno Campus	Kladno	2012	250	Given to employees
4000009	HMV Production	Billund	2013	285	Given to employees
4000010	LEGO House[21]	Billund	2014	250	No	Only sold in Billund
4000011	Nyiregyhaza Factory	Nyiregyháza	2014	327	Given to employees	Factory of Lego
4000015	LOM Moulding B	Monterrey	2014	215		Additional packing building. A building, which expands the footprint of the existing facility
4000016	Billund Airport	Billund	2014		No	Only sold at Billund Airport

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".^[22]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lego Architecture.

References