Lego Architecture

Lego Architecture
Sub‑themes	Landmark series; Architect series; Skyline series
Subject	Buildings
Licensed from	The Lego Group
Availability	2008–present
Total sets	66
	Official website

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

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.


Product number	Series	Name	Location	Release date	Retirement date	Piece count	Image
21000	Landmark	Sears Tower^[6]	Chicago	July 1, 2008	December 31, 2013	69	Lego Architecture Sears Tower
21000	Landmark	Willis Tower	Chicago		December 31, 2013	69
21001	Landmark	John Hancock Center	Chicago	July 1, 2008	December 31, 2011	69	Lego Architecture John Hancock Center
21002	Landmark	Empire State Building	New York City		December 31, 2014	77
21003	Landmark	Seattle Space Needle	Seattle		December 31, 2015	57	Lego Architecture Space Needle
21004	Architect	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum	New York City	May 1, 2009	December 31, 2013	208	Lego Architecture Guggenheim
21005	Architect	Fallingwater	Mill Run, Pennsylvania	July 1, 2009	June 30, 2015	811
21006	Architect	The White House	Washington, D.C.	July 1, 2010	December 31, 2016	560	Lego Architecture White House
21007	Architect	Rockefeller Center	New York City		December 31, 2013	240	Lego Architecture Rockefeller Center
21008	Landmark	Burj Khalifa	Dubai	June 1, 2011	December 31, 2013	208	Lego Architecture Burj Khalifa
21009	Architect	Farnsworth House	Plano, Illinois	April 1, 2011	July 31, 2014	546	Lego Architecture Farnsworth House
21010	Architect	Robie House	Chicago	September 1, 2011	December 31, 2013	2,276	Lego Architecture Robie House
21011	Landmark	Brandenburg Gate	Berlin	September 1, 2011	December 31, 2015	363	Lego Architecture Brandenburg Gate
21012	Architect	Sydney Opera House	Sydney	March 1, 2012	December 31, 2014	270	Lego Architecture Sydney Opera House
21013	Landmark	Big Ben	London	June 1, 2012	December 31, 2016	346	Lego Architecture Big Ben
21014	Architect	Villa Savoye	Paris	September 1, 2012	December 31, 2015	660	Lego Architecture Villa Savoye
21015	Landmark	The Leaning Tower of Pisa	Pisa	June 1, 2013	December 31, 2015	345	Lego Architecture Leaning Tower of Pisa
21016	Landmark	Sungnyemun	Seoul	June 1, 2012	January 31, 2013	325	Lego Architecture Sungnyemun
21017	Architect	Imperial Hotel	Tokyo	March 1, 2013	December 31, 2015	1,188	Lego Architecture Imperial Hotel
21018	Landmark	United Nations Headquarters	New York City	October 1, 2013	December 31, 2015	597	Lego Architecture United Nations
21019	Landmark	The Eiffel Tower	Paris	January 1, 2014	December 31, 2018	321	Lego Architecture Eiffel Tower
21020	Landmark	Trevi Fountain	Rome	June 1, 2014	December 31, 2016	731	Lego Architecture Trevi Fountain
21021	Landmark	Marina Bay Sands	Singapore	December 1, 2013	December 31, 2013	602
21022	Landmark	Lincoln Memorial	Washington, D.C.	January 1, 2015	December 31, 2016	274
21023	Landmark	Flatiron Building	New York City	May 1, 2015	December 31, 2016	471
21024	Landmark	Louvre	Paris	September 1, 2015	December 31, 2017	695	Lego Architecture Louvre
21026	Skyline	Venice	Italy	January 1, 2016	December 31, 2017	212	Lego Architecture Venice
21027	Skyline	Berlin	Germany	January 1, 2016	December 31, 2017	289	Lego Architecture Berlin
21028	Skyline	New York City	United States	January 1, 2016		598	Lego Architecture New York City
21029	Landmark	Buckingham Palace	London	September 1, 2016	December 31, 2018	780
21030	Landmark	United States Capitol Building	Washington, D.C.	September 1, 2016	December 31, 2019	1,032	Lego Architecture U.S. Capitol
21031	Landmark	Burj Khalifa	Dubai	January 1, 2016	December 31, 2018	333	Lego Architecture Burj Khalifa
21032	Skyline	Sydney	Australia	January 1, 2017	December 31, 2018	361	Lego Architecture Sydney
21033	Skyline	Chicago	United States	January 1, 2017	December 31, 2018	444	Lego Architecture Chicago
21034	Skyline	London	United Kingdom	January 1, 2017		468	Lego Architecture London
21035	Landmark	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum	New York City	April 1, 2017	December 31, 2018	744
21036	Landmark	Arc de Triomphe	Paris	August 1, 2017	December 31, 2018	386
21037	Landmark	LEGO House	Billund	August 1, 2017		774	Lego Architecture Lego House
21038	Skyline	Las Vegas	United States	January 1, 2018 (not released)	Replaced^[a]	487
21039	Skyline	Shanghai	China	January 1, 2018	December 31, 2020	597	Lego Architecture Shanghai
21041	Landmark	Great Wall of China	China	June 1, 2018	December 31, 2019	551	Lego Architecture Great Wall of China
21042	Landmark	Statue of Liberty	New York City	June 1, 2018		1,685	Lego Architecture Statue of Liberty
21043	Skyline	San Francisco	United States	January 1, 2019	December 31, 2021	565	Lego Architecture San Francisco
21044	Skyline	Paris	France	January 1, 2019		649	Lego Architecture Paris
21045	Landmark	Trafalgar Square	London	June 1, 2019	December 31, 2021	1,197	Lego Architecture Trafalgar Square
21046	Landmark	Empire State Building	New York City	June 1, 2019	December 31, 2021	1,767	Lego Architecture Empire State Building
21047	Skyline	Las Vegas	United States	September 1, 2018	December 31, 2020	501	Lego Architecture Las Vegas
21050		Studio	—	August 1, 2013	December 31, 2017	1,210	Lego Architecture Studio
21051	Skyline	Tokyo	Japan	January 1, 2020	December 31, 2022	547	Lego Architecture Tokyo
21052	Skyline	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	January 1, 2020	December 31, 2022	740	Lego Architecture Dubai
21054	Landmark	The White House	Washington, D.C.	June 1, 2020	December 31, 2023	1,483	Lego Architecture White House 2
21055	Landmark	Burj Khalifa	Dubai	December 1, 2019 (only in Europe)	December 31, 2022	333
21056	Landmark	Taj Mahal	Agra	June 1, 2021	December 31, 2024	2,022	Lego Architecture Taj Mahal
21057	Skyline	Singapore	Singapore	January 1, 2022	December 31, 2024	827
21058	Landmark	Great Pyramid of Giza	Giza	June 1, 2022		1,476	Lego Architecture Great Pyramid of Giza
21060	Landmark	Himeji Castle	Himeji	August 1, 2023		2,125
21061	Landmark	Notre-Dame de Paris	Paris	June 1, 2024		4,383	Lego_Notre-Dame_De_Paris_21061
21062	Landmark	Trevi Fountain	Rome	March 1, 2025		1,880
21063	Landmark	Neuschwanstein Castle	Bavaria	August 1, 2025		3,455
21068	Skyline	Shanghai	China	August 1, 2025 (in China only)		597

^ 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	Comments	Image
4000002	LOM Moulding	Monterrey	2011	174	Given to employees.
4000005	KOM Moulding	Billund, Denmark	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, 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^[7]	Billund, Denmark	2014	250	Only sold at the LEGO House in Billund. Lego House opened in Billund in 2017.	Lego House
4000011	Nyíregyháza Factory	Nyíregyháza	2014	327	Given to employees. Lego model of the Nyíregyháza Factory.
4000015	LOM Moulding B	Monterrey	2014	215	Given to employees. Additional packing building, which expands the footprint of the existing facility.
4000016	Billund Airport	Billund, Denmark	2014	281	Only sold at Billund Airport. This set 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 Lego factory in Jiaxing, China.^[8]^[9]
40199	Billund Airport	Billund, Denmark	2018	286	Only sold at Billund Airport. New edition from 4000016, only 10,000 units sold, no longer available.
4000038	LEGO Campus	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”.^[10]

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”.^[11]^[12]^[13]

References

^ ^a ^b "BrickLink Reference Catalog - Sets - Category LEGO Architecture". Bricklink. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
^ "About Lego Architecture". Lego Group. Retrieved 29 December 2009.^{[dead link]}
^ "Brickstructures". Retrieved 29 December 2009.
^ Official Announcement: 21010 Robie House, 13 July 2011, archived from the original on 22 July 2011, retrieved 11 August 2011
^ 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
^ "Sears Tower now named Willis Tower" . CNN. July 16, 2009
^ Exclusive: 4000010 LEGO House Brickset.com 17 March 2014
^ "Newsroom - About Us - LEGO.com". www.lego.com.
^ Ruijter, Michiel de (28 November 2016). "Exclusieve LEGO 4000023 Jiaxing Factory set - Bouwsteentjes.info".
^ Jenny Williams (23 May 2009). "Frank Lloyd Wright + Lego = Awesome". Geekdad. Wired.
^ Araki, Hirohiko (2017). Escape from Mount Hanarero. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881443-8.
^ Araki, Hirohiko (2018). North of the Higashikata Household. The Orchard. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881452-0.
^ Araki, Hirohiko (2018). Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Wu Tomoki. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881596-1.

External links

Official website

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

[BrickLink-1] "BrickLink Reference Catalog - Sets - Category LEGO Architecture". Bricklink. Retrieved 2021-04-12.

[2] "About Lego Architecture". Lego Group. Retrieved 29 December 2009.^{[dead link]}

[3] "Brickstructures". Retrieved 29 December 2009.

[4] Official Announcement: 21010 Robie House, 13 July 2011, archived from the original on 22 July 2011, retrieved 11 August 2011

[5] 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

[6] "Sears Tower now named Willis Tower" . CNN. July 16, 2009

[8] Exclusive: 4000010 LEGO House Brickset.com 17 March 2014

[9] "Newsroom - About Us - LEGO.com". www.lego.com.

[10] Ruijter, Michiel de (28 November 2016). "Exclusieve LEGO 4000023 Jiaxing Factory set - Bouwsteentjes.info".

[11] Jenny Williams (23 May 2009). "Frank Lloyd Wright + Lego = Awesome". Geekdad. Wired.

[12] Araki, Hirohiko (2017). Escape from Mount Hanarero. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881443-8.

[13] Araki, Hirohiko (2018). North of the Higashikata Household. The Orchard. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881452-0.

[14] Araki, Hirohiko (2018). Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Wu Tomoki. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-881596-1.

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