Lego Architecture
Sub‑themesLandmark series
Architect series
SubjectBuildings
Licensed fromThe Lego Group
Availability2008–present
Total sets66[1]
Official website

Lego Architecture (stylized as LEGO Architecture) is a Lego theme that aims to "celebrate the past, present and future of architecture through the Lego Brick".[2] 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 or city skyline in micro-scale.

Development

Adam Reed Tucker earned a degree in architecture at Kansas State University in 1996.[3] 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.

Architecture sets

According to Bricklink, The Lego Group has released 64 playsets as part of the Lego Architecture theme.[1]

Sets in the product line contain a premium booklet, that – besides the build instructions – also includes 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 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.[4][5]

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. The company tried to add the Eames House in again with set number (21025), but nothing could be done to put it in production.

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 Image
21000 Landmark Sears Tower[6] United States Chicago 2008 69 2014
Willis Tower 2011
21001 Landmark John Hancock Center United States Chicago 2008 69 2012
21002 Landmark Empire State Building United States New York City 2009 77 2015
21003 Landmark Seattle Space Needle United States Seattle 2009 57 2016
21004 Architect Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum[7] United States New York City 2009 208 2014
21005 Architect Fallingwater[7] United States Mill Run, Pennsylvania 2009 811 2015
21006 Architect The White House United States Washington, D.C. 2010 560 2017
21007 Architect Rockefeller Center United States New York City 2010 240 2014
21008 Landmark Burj Khalifa[8] United Arab Emirates Dubai 2011 208 2014
21009 Architect Farnsworth House[9] United States Plano, Illinois 2011 546 2015
21010 Architect Robie House[10] United States Chicago 2011 2,276 2014
21011 Landmark Brandenburg Gate Germany Berlin 2011 363 2016
21012 Architect Sydney Opera House[11] Australia Sydney 2012 270 2015
21013 Landmark Big Ben[12] United Kingdom London 2012 346 2017
21014 Architect Villa Savoye[13] France Paris 2012 660 2016
21015 Landmark The Leaning Tower of Pisa Italy Pisa 2013 345 2016
21016 Landmark Sungnyemun[14] South Korea Seoul 2012 325 2014
21017 Architect Imperial Hotel[15] Japan Tokyo 2013 1,188 2016
21018 Landmark United Nations Headquarters[16] United States New York City 2013 597 2016
21019 Landmark The Eiffel Tower[17] France Paris 2014 321 2019
21020 Landmark Trevi Fountain[18] Italy Rome 2014 731 2017
21021 (limited edition) Landmark Marina Bay Sands Singapore Singapore 2014 602 2016
21022 Landmark Lincoln Memorial[19] United States Washington, D.C. 2015 274 2017
21023 Landmark Flatiron Building United States New York City 2015 471 2017
21024 Landmark Louvre France Paris 2015 695 2019
21026 Skyline Venice Italy Italy 2016 212 2018
21027 Skyline Berlin Germany Germany 2016 289 2018
21028 Skyline New York City United States United States 2016 598 -
21029 Landmark Buckingham Palace United Kingdom London 2016 780 2019
21030 Landmark United States Capitol United States Washington, D.C. 2016 1,032 2020
21031 Landmark Burj Khalifa United Arab Emirates Dubai 2016 333 2018
21032 Skyline Sydney[20] Australia Australia 2017 361 2019
21033 Skyline Chicago[20] United States United States 2017 444 2019
21034 Skyline London[20] United Kingdom United Kingdom 2017 468 -
21035 Landmark Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum United States New York City 2017 744 2019
21036 Landmark Arc de Triomphe France Paris 2017 386 2019
21037
(Lego House exclusive)		 Landmark Lego House Denmark Billund, Denmark 2017 774 -
21038 Skyline Las Vegas United States United States 2018 487 Replaced[a]
21039 Skyline Shanghai China China 2018 597 2021
21041 Landmark Great Wall of China China China 2018 551 2020
21042 Landmark Statue of Liberty United States New York City 2018 1,685 -
21043 Skyline San Francisco United States United States 2019 565 2021
21044 Skyline Paris France France 2019 649 -
21045 Landmark Trafalgar Square United Kingdom London 2019 1,197 2022
21046 Landmark Empire State Building United States New York City 2019 1,767 2022
21047 Skyline Las Vegas United States United States 2018 501 2021
21050 Studio[21] — 2013 1,210 2019
21051 Skyline Tokyo Japan Japan 2020 547 2022
21052 Skyline Dubai United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 2020 740 2022
21054 Landmark The White House United States Washington, D.C. 2020 1,483 2023
21055 (European markets only) Landmark Burj Khalifa United Arab Emirates Dubai 2019 333 2022[b]
21056 Landmark Taj Mahal India Agra 2021 2,022 -
21057 Skyline[22] Singapore Singapore Singapore 2022 827 -
21058 Landmark[23] Great Pyramid of Giza Egypt Cairo 2022 1,476 -
21060 Landmark[24] Himeji Castle Japan Himeji 2023 2,125 -
  1. ^ Due to the 2017 Mandalay Bay hotel massacre, the Mandalay Bay was replaced by Bellagio and released as set #21047.
  2. ^ not retired in UAE
Special editions
Set Name Location Released Number of pieces Comments
4000002 LOM Moulding Mexico Monterrey 2011 174 Given to employees.
4000005 KOM Moulding Denmark Billund, Denmark 2012 315 Given to employees.
Kornmarken Factory is the first and largest LEGO moulding and production factory.
4000006 Kladno Campus Czech Republic Kladno 2012 250 Given to employees.
4000009 HMV Production Denmark Billund, Denmark 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[25] Denmark Billund, Denmark 2014 250 Only sold in Billund.
Lego House opened in Billund in 2017.
4000011 Nyíregyháza Factory Hungary Nyíregyháza 2014 327 Given to employees.
Lego model of the Nyíregyháza Factory.
4000015 LOM Moulding B Mexico Monterrey 2014 215 Given to employees.
Additional packing building, which expands the footprint of the existing facility.
4000016 Billund Airport Denmark Billund, Denmark 2014 281 Only sold at Billund Airport.
This set was made for the 50th anniversary of the Airport.
4000018 Kladno Campus Czech Republic 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 Mainland China China 2016 407 Given to employees.
Set of the Lego factory in Jiaxing, China.[26][27]
40199 Billund Airport Denmark Billund, Denmark 2018 286 Only sold at Billund Airport.
New edition from 4000016.
4000038 LEGO Campus Denmark Billund, Denmark 2022 1,494 Given to employees.
Released to celebrate the grand opening of the LEGO Campus on April 5, 2022.

Impact

The product range has been reviewed favorably 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".[28]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lego Architecture.

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".[29][30][31]

References

  1. ^ "About Lego Architecture". Lego Group. Retrieved 29 December 2009.[dead link]
  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, archived from the original on 2 October 2011, retrieved 11 August 2011
  5. ^ "Sears Tower now named Willis Tower" Archived 2010-10-09 at the Wayback Machine. CNN. July 16, 2009
  6. ^ a b "Release of two Frank Lloyd Wright Collection sets from LEGO Architecture" Archived 2014-07-15 at the Wayback Machine. 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" Archived 2012-04-22 at the Wayback Machine. Lego.com. April 4, 2011
  9. ^ "Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House Joins LEGO® Architecture series" Archived 2012-04-22 at the Wayback Machine. Lego.com. September 19, 2011
  10. ^ "Sydney's revered opera house immortalized in LEGO® bricks" Archived 2012-03-14 at the Wayback Machine. Lego.com. February 21, 2012
  11. ^ "LEGO® Big Ben celebrates Victorian London's greatest landmark" Archived 2012-06-08 at the Wayback Machine. Lego.com. April 18, 2012
  12. ^ "Le Corbusier's French masterpiece becomes a LEGO® Architecture model" Archived 2012-09-07 at the Wayback Machine. Lego.com. August 31, 2012
  13. ^ "A Korean landmark recreated as LEGO® Architecture" Archived 2012-05-30 at the Wayback Machine. Lego.com. May 14, 2012
  14. ^ "Revisit the Imperial Hotel with LEGO Architecture" Archived 2013-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. Lego.com. March 1, 2013
  15. ^ " Archived 2014-11-02 at the Wayback Machine. BrickExtra. May 15, 2013
  16. ^ Lego Architecture: Der Eiffelturm – das ist Spitze Ukonio.de 14 Oktober 2014
  17. ^ BREAKING: Trevi-fontein wordt volgende Lego Architecture set Archived 2018-08-21 at the Wayback Machine Madpac.nl 13 January 2014
  18. ^ Série LEGO® Architecture incluirá o Lincoln Memorial e o Edifício Flatiron Archdaily.com
  19. ^ a b c "Architecture | 2017". Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  20. ^ " Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine. Brickset. June 29, 2013
  21. ^ "Soar into the Singapore skyline with LEGO Architecture". Brick Fanatics. 1 January 2022.
  22. ^ "LEGO Architecture 21058 Great Pyramid of Giza officially revealed". Brick Fanatics. 10 May 2022.
  23. ^ "21060 Himeji Castle revealed!". Brickset. 26 June 2023.
  24. ^ Exclusive: 4000010 LEGO House Brickset.com 17 March 2014
  25. ^ "Newsroom - About Us - LEGO.com". www.lego.com.
  26. ^ Ruijter, Michiel de (28 November 2016). "Exclusieve LEGO 4000023 Jiaxing Factory set - Bouwsteentjes.info".
  27. ^ Jenny Williams (23 May 2009). "Frank Lloyd Wright + Lego = Awesome". Geekdad. Wired.
  28. ^ Araki, Hirohiko (2017). Escape from Mount Hanarero. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881443-8.
  29. ^ Araki, Hirohiko (2018). North of the Higashikata Household. The Orchard. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881452-0.
  30. ^ Araki, Hirohiko (2018). Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Wu Tomoki. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881596-1.

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