LEGO Sungnyemun - LEGO Architecture: Scale Models in the 1960 s

The‘ScaleModel’line–LEGO
®
Architectureinthes
ThehistoryofcurrentLEGO
®
Architectureseriescanbe
tracedbacktothebeginningoftheswhentheLEGO
brick’spopularitywasstillsteadilyincreasingGodtfred
KirkChristiansenthethenownerofthecompanybegan
looking for ways to further expand the LEGO system
andaskedhisdesignerstocomeupwithasetofnew
componentsthatwouldaddanewdimensiontoLEGO
building

Theiranswerwasassimpleasitwasrevolutionaryfive
elementsthatmatchedtheexistingbricksbutwereonly
onethirdtheheightThesenewbuilding‘plates’madeit
possibletoconstructmoredetailedmodelsthanbefore
ThisgreaterLEGOflexibilityseemedtomatchthespirit
oftheagewheremodernistarchitectswereredefining
howhouseslooked andpeople weretaking anactive
interestinthedesignoftheirdreamhomeItwasfrom
thesetrendsthattheLEGO‘ScaleModel’linewasborn
inearly
Thenameitselfwasadirectlinktothewayarchitectsand
engineersworkedanditwashopedthattheyandothers
would build their projects ‘to scale’ in LEGO elements
AswithLEGOArchitecturetodaytheoriginalsetswere
designedtobedifferentfromthenormalbrightlycolored
LEGO boxes andalso included ‘AnArchitecturalBook’
forinspiration
Though the five elements remain an integral part of
theLEGObuildingsystemtodaythe‘ScaleModel’line
phasedoutin
– it would be over
yearsbeforeits
principles would
be revived in the
LEGO Architecture
series we know
today
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21016.indd 81 24/02/2012 5:22 PM