Springing from the site of the former City Hall building in Billund, Denmark, a new LEGO experience hub looks like it was built out of giant, colorful LEGO blocks. Bjarke Ingels Group and COWI designed the 12,000-sm LEGO House.
The 23-meter-tall building is conceived as an urban space and as an experience center. Twenty-one overlapping blocks are placed like individual buildings and frame a 2,000-sm “LEGO Square” that is illuminated through the cracks and gaps between the volumes. The plaza has no visible columns and is publicly accessible, allowing visitors and citizens of Billund to take a shortcut through the building.
Photo: Iwan Baan
The LEGO Square contains a café, restaurant, LEGO store, and conference facilities. Above the square is a cluster of galleries that overlap to create a continuous sequence of exhibitions. Each gallery is color-coded in LEGO’s primary colors to act as a simple wayfinding strategy.
Colors are also used on the first- and second-floor play zones. The play zones are arranged by color and programmed with activities that represent certain aspects of a child’s learning: red is creative, blue is cognitive, green is social, and yellow is emotional.
Photo: Iwan Baan
A “Masterpiece Gallery” sits atop the structure and contains a collection of LEGO fans’ creations that pay tribute to the LEGO community. The Masterpiece Gallery is made to resemble the 2X4 LEGO brick and uses eight circular skylights that resemble the brick’s studs. Visitors can venture to the top of the Masterpiece Gallery to get a 360-degree panoramic view of the surrounding city. Some of the rooftops can be accessed via pixilated public staircases that double as informal auditoria for people watching or seating for performances.
Photo: Iwan Baan
On the lower level is the “History Collection.” Here, visitors can experience an archival immersion into the LEGO company and the brand’s story. The Vault, meanwhile, is located underneath LEGO Square and presents visitors with the first edition of almost every LEGO set ever manufactured.
LEGO House is now open and is expected to attract more than 250,000 visitors annually. To celebrate the opening of LEGO House, LEGO released a 774-piece, 197-step kit that replicates the structure. It is part of the LEGO Architecture line and is sold exclusively at LEGO House.
Photo: Iwan Baan
Photo: Iwan Baan
Photo: Iwan Baan
Photo: Iwan Baan
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