If this wasn’t part of your childhood, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
Do you remember the excitement of a brand new box of LEGO® bricks when you were a kid? Now there are LEGO® bricks made just for grown-ups. For architects, in fact, and some are design tools created for the creator who still likes to play with toys once in a while.
Here’s what you can find inside the new boxes:
These Iconic Bricks Have Had a Makeover
Don’t let any purist hear you call them Legos. They’re LEGO® bricks, which kids and adults alike have obsessed over since the days when the only variety was a set of primary color pieces in only a handful of sizes.
The special kits with loads of colors and specialty bricks changed everything, including how likely it was for a brick to make its way into a vacuum cleaner or under the bare foot of someone walking through the house.
There were clear bricks, which made excellent windows, and little men and women, too. But now the company has created bricks in every imaginable color, shape and size to let you build some of the most famous architectural landmarks in the world. There’s the Louvre, the Flatiron Building, the Lincoln Memorial, and more. And they’re fairly realistic in scale and detail.
There’s just something therapeutic about clicking together little plastic bricks.
LEGO® Bricks Can Create New Masterpieces
Along with the kits for building famous buildings, the company has also developed what they call their LEGO® Architecture Studio. This kit contains bricks in only two colors – white and clear. There are trays where you can sort the bricks, which might help keep them off the floor, and a booklet that explains in detail how to use the materials to design and build models of your own.
This all seems like a really fun toy or a game, and of course that’s part of the appeal. But these blocks, and especially the kit, are endorsed by professionals in the field of architecture. According to the company, “World-renowned leaders in building design have given the innovative Studio series their enthusiastic seal of approval.”
We may never really know whether the enthusiasm is due to the enthusiasm is because the tools are so useful of if it’s because building with these familiar little bricks is so much fun. It’s probably a little bit of both.
Learn More About Classic Buildings
Whether the bricks are for architects or prospective ones (or maybe both), each kit teaches the history of the building that it represents and the architect who designed it.
For example, the United Nations Headquarters in New York City is one of the larger kits available in the architecture line. The building was designed by a team of architects that included Oscar Niemeyer of Rio de Janeiro.
While you’re locking together bricks to create your own scale model of the UN headquarters, you can learn how Niemeyer was fond of abstract lines and that he was a pioneer in using reinforced concrete. You’ll also learn details about the building, such as why the site was chosen and which materials were used in its creation. Every kit contains similar materials.
The holidays are drawing near, and everyone loves to play with LEGO® bricks. Imagine how surprising it would be to open a present and find not just any old building bricks, but ones that tell a story and let you design your own click-together masterpiece.
Being an architect isn’t always a game; much of the time it’s serious business. But every once in a while something comes along to make it fun. Building bricks are fun, and they always have been. And when it’s time for the serious task of keeping your professional development hours up to date, PDH Academy has what you need. Check out our courses for architects when your next credit hours are due.