Lego Architecture

Lego Architecture is a sub-brand and product range of the Lego 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.

Lego Architecture

Sub‑themes	Landmark Series Architect Series
Subject	Buildings
Availability	2008–Present
Total sets	45 + 11 special editions
Official website

Development

Adam Reed Tucker earned a degree in architecture at Kansas State University in 1996.[2] While 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

Sets in the product line contain a premium booklet, that – besides the build instructions – also include various information and pictures of the building itself.

By the beginning of 2009, six sets had been released in the range, under two 'series'. Within the 'Landmark Series' are models of the Sears 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. The Willis Tower (21000) 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 renaming.

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, 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) and Glass House were 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) came out next. In October 2013, Marina Bay Sands and the Eiffel Tower were both announced.

Set	Series	Name	Location	Released	Number of pieces	Retired product	Image
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	Yes
21003	Landmark	Seattle Space Needle	Seattle	2009	57	Yes
21004	Architect	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum[6]	New York City	2009	208	Yes
21005	Architect	Fallingwater[6]	Mill Run, Pennsylvania	2009	811	Yes
21006	Architect	The White House	Washington, D.C.	2010	560	Yes
21007	Architect	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	2,276	Yes
21011	Landmark	Brandenburg Gate	Berlin	2011	363	Yes
21012	Architect	Sydney Opera House[10]	Sydney	2012	270	Yes
21013	Landmark	Big Ben[11]	London	2012	346	Yes
21014	Architect	Villa Savoye[12]	Paris	2012	660	Yes
21015	Landmark	Leaning Tower of Pisa	Pisa	2013	345	Yes
21016	Landmark	Sungnyemun Gate[13]	Seoul	2012	325	Yes
21017	Architect	Imperial Hotel (1923–1968)[14][15]	Tokyo	2013	1,188	Yes
21018	Landmark	United Nations Headquarters[16]	New York City	2013	597	Yes
21019	Landmark	The Eiffel Tower[17]	Paris	2014	321	Yes
21020	Landmark	The Trevi Fountain[18]	Rome	2014	731	Yes
21021	Landmark	Marina Bay Sands	Singapore	2014	602	Yes
21022	Landmark	Lincoln Memorial[19]	Washington, D.C.	2015	274	Yes
21023	Landmark	Flatiron Building	New York City	2015	471	Yes
21024	Landmark	Louvre	Paris	2015	695	Yes
21026	Skyline	Venice	Italy	2016	212	Yes
21027	Skyline	Berlin	Germany	2016	289	Yes
21028	Skyline	New York City	United States	2016	598	No
21029	Landmark	Buckingham Palace	London	2016	780	Yes
21030	Landmark	US Capitol	Washington, D.C.	2016	1,032	Yes
21031	Landmark	Burj Khalifa	Dubai	2016	333	Yes
21032	Skyline	Sydney[20]	Australia	2017	361	Yes
21033	Skyline	Chicago[20]	United States	2017	444	Yes
21034	Skyline	London[20]	United Kingdom	2017	468	No
21035	Landmark	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum	New York City	2017	744	Yes
21036	Landmark	Arc de Triomphe	Paris	2017	386	Yes
21037	Landmark	Lego House	Billund	2017	774	No - Lego House exclusive
21038	Skyline	Las Vegas	United States	2018	487	Replaced[lower-alpha 1]
21039	Skyline	Shanghai	China	2018	597	No
21041	Landmark	Great Wall of China	China	2018	551	Yes
21042	Landmark	Statue of Liberty	New York City	2018	1,685	No
21043	Skyline	San Francisco	United States	2019	565	No
21044	Skyline	Paris	France	2019	649	No
21045	Landmark	Trafalgar Square	London	2019	1,197	No	|
21046	Landmark	Empire State Building	New York City	2019	1,767	No
21047	Skyline	Las Vegas	United States	2018	501	No
21050		Lego Architecture Studio[21]	N/A	2013	1,210	Yes
21051	Skyline	Tokyo	Japan	2020	547	No
21052	Skyline	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2020	740	No
21054	Landmark	The White House	Washington, D.C.	2020	1483	No

1. Due to the 2017 Mandalay Bay hotel massacre, the Mandalay Bay was replaced by Bellagio and released as set #21047.

Special editions

Set	Name	Location	Released	Number of pieces	Retired product	Comments	Pictures
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	HMV is the name of the packing factory at LEGO Billund, which this set is based on.
4000010	LEGO House[22]	Billund	2014	250	Only sold in Billund	Lego House is the Brand new Lego House opening in Billund approx. 2017,
4000011	Nyíregyháza Factory	Nyíregyháza	2014	327	Given to employees	Lego model of the Nyíregyháza Factory
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	281	Only sold at Billund Airport	Billund Airport was made for the 50th anniversary of the Airport.
4000018	Kladno Campus	Kladno	2015	412	Given to employees	Kladno campus is the name of building C at the Czech Lego factory, which this set is based on
4000023	Jiaxing Factory	China	2016	407	Given to employees	Set of the, at the time, new Lego factory in Jiaxing, China.[23][24]
40199	Billund Airport	Billund	2018	286	New edition from 4000016	Only available at the airport in Billund

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".[25]

In popular media

A near-exact replica of set 21006, The White House, appears in the eight story arc of the Japanese manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJolion, where it used by the villain character Poor Tom to activate his "stand" power, "Ozon Baby".[26][27][28]

References

1. "About Lego Architecture". Lego Group. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
2. "Brickstructures". Retrieved 29 December 2009.
3. Official Announcement: 21010 Robie House, 13 July 2011, archived from the original on 22 July 2011, retrieved 11 August 2011
4. Sarah Firsheinn (8 August 2011), Lego to Eternalize the Brandenburg Gate in Architecture Series, Curbed Network
5. "Sears Tower now named Willis Tower" Archived 2010-10-09 at the Wayback Machine. CNN. July 16, 2009
6. "Release of two Frank Lloyd Wright Collection sets from LEGO Architecture". Lego.com. May 9, 2009
7. "The world's tallest building in LEGO® bricks". Lego.com. May 25, 2011
8. "Modernist architectural icon immortalised in LEGO® bricks". Lego.com. April 4, 2011
9. "Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House Joins LEGO® Architecture series". Lego.com. September 19, 2011
10. "Sydney's revered opera house immortalized in LEGO® bricks". Lego.com. February 21, 2012
11. "LEGO® Big Ben celebrates Victorian London's greatest landmark". Lego.com. April 18, 2012
12. "Le Corbusier's French masterpiece becomes a LEGO® Architecture model". Lego.com. August 31, 2012
13. "A Korean landmark recreated as LEGO® Architecture". Lego.com. May 14, 2012
14. Imperial Hotel in Tokyo impresses with blend of old and new The Australian 7 November 2014
15. "Revisit the Imperial Hotel with LEGO Architecture" Archived 2013-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. Lego.com. March 1, 2013
16. " Archived 2014-11-02 at the Wayback Machine. BrickExtra. May 15, 2013
17. Lego Architecture: Der Eiffelturm – das ist Spitze Ukonio.de 14 Oktober 2014
18. BREAKING: Trevi-fontein wordt volgende Lego Architecture set Madpac.nl 13 January 2014
19. Série LEGO® Architecture incluirá o Lincoln Memorial e o Edifício Flatiron Archdaily.com
20. "Architecture | 2017". Retrieved 2016-09-11.
21. " Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine. Brickset. June 29, 2013
22. Exclusive: 4000010 LEGO House Brickset.com 17 March 2014
23. "LEGO Group to build factory in China".
24. Ruijter, Michiel de (28 November 2016). "Exclusieve LEGO 4000023 Jiaxing Factory set - Bouwsteentjes.info".
25. Jenny Williams (23 May 2009). "Frank Lloyd Wright + Lego = Awesome". Geekdad. Wired.
26. Araki, Hirohiko (2017). Escape from Mount Hanarero. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881443-8.
27. Araki, Hirohiko (2018). North of the Higashikata Household. The Orchard. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881452-0.
28. Araki, Hirohiko (2018). Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Wu Tomoki. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881596-1.