Designer insight: Rok Zgalin Kobe
Posted by Huwbot,
Many LEGO set designers use our BrickLists feature to maintain a list of the sets they've worked on and often provide interesting insights about their involvement.
Once a week we publish an entry from one of their lists on the home page to increase awareness of this information and to encourage more designers to create them.
Rok Zgalin Kobe wrote this about their work on 10307 Eiffel Tower:
Just like how the original tower wasn’t designed by Gustave Eiffel, but initially conceived by three of his employees - the initial sketches and calculations of the proposed tower were made by office manager Emile Nouguier and engineer Maurice Koechlin in collaboration with architect Stephen Sauvestre; the initial LEGO concept model at this scale was designed by extremely talented LEGO designers, Nicolaas Vás and Joel Baker, with help from Alice Geiger. Nicolaas, Joel and Alice managed to find a perfect LEGO scale, that captured the tower in all its glory, but more importantly, helped convince all the relevant stakeholders that such a LEGO model would be incredibly attractive.
After their clever work that laid the foundations, I was tasked to make the LEGO model feasible. My wish at the time was to execute the final model so that it would look just as good as the concept one.
With models of such size, stability is a big concern, model must be easily moved around without any pieces falling off. This is where the expertise of model coach Charlotte Neidhardt ensures that the LEGO set is meeting and fulfilling all our high LEGO design standards.
The biggest challenge of a set this size was to make it buildable, to translate the final model into a logical flow of building instructions. To create a way which would be both intuitive, yet still leave room for a surprising building techniques, to be easy enough to follow without mistakes yet still challenging enough to be engaging throughout the build. This is done with the close collaboration with building instruction specialist Peter Lønbæk.
It became my goal, to marry a great LEGO execution with the design principles of the original tower. I tried to follow the structural principles of the original tower as closely as the LEGO System would allow. The load bearing trusses connected with LEGO clips, are placed just like on the original. The arches between the legs on the Eiffel tower are not load bearing, they are purely decorative – this is translated into the LEGO model as well, the arches connect from above to highlight that fact about the structure.
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16 comments on this article
I desperately want this, I have looked at it so many times on display in the Lego store. But I don't have the space, the money, or the time for this beast
I guess I'll have to make do with my 21019
I’ve heard the original was meant to be dismantled, but everybody just liked it so much they left it up. But I don’t know if that’s true.
It is interesting that LEGO can always be dismantled, assuming it’s not kragled.
@peterlmorris said:
"I’ve heard the original was meant to be dismantled, but everybody just liked it so much they left it up."
Apparently not everyone liked it. There's a story about a newspaper journalist that everyday wrote an article about how much he hated the thing. But at the same time, he'd always have lunch in a restaurant in the tower. Why? Because it's the only place in the city where you couldn't see the darn thing...
As for the Lego set, I think the designers did an amazing job. Yet there's no way I would want to build this. As stunning as it looks, the build just seems so utterly repetitive, and once finished, I simply have no way to properly display such a huge thing.
What a wonderful collection of sets... 19 I have, and most of the rest that I wish I'd left my dark age before they retired!
The Eiffel Tower is superb, but I just don't have the room to display it... maybe a remake of the smaller version one day.... or a bigger house!
@ICAbricks said:
"Y'all really need to change the Designer Insight template because every time I see it I think LEGO's designers are all non-binary or something "
Why? They/their has always been a perfectly normal general description for anyone who's name you don't recognise and therefore don't know (or care) if they're a he, a she, or anything else.
I love reading input from the designers. The entire process is so fascinating!
@ICAbricks said:
"Y'all really need to change the Designer Insight template because every time I see it I think LEGO's designers are all non-binary or something "
We do not have their gender recorded in the database, because it's not important, so 'their' is all we can use.
Many thanks for bringing us insights into this wonderful set. Appreciate the time you took to describe the design process and to give credits to all colleagues involved.
Another one I'd like to have, but only if I get rich enough to by a house big enough to put it somewhere.
All designers involved in designing the Eiffel tower did a great job. A model this size is very challenging. Rok as the lead designer has shown in various sets that he's really skilled in arhitecture and makes great models of real buildings. He's definitely showing his legacy as a trained architect.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Another one I'd like to have, but only if I get rich enough to by a house big enough to put it somewhere."
I suppose there's always the garden.
If it works for Legoland....
@sjr60 said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"Another one I'd like to have, but only if I get rich enough to by a house big enough to put it somewhere."
I suppose there's always the garden.
If it works for Legoland...."
If only I had a garden as big as theirs.
Incredible design work, nearly unattainable set. I guess it's nice for those few who can have the space and funds for it.
But given the brief, the designers did a wonderful job!
Great teamwork. This is the best Lego version of the Eiffel Tower. It looks fantastic. Seeing this in person was a highlight of my trip to Europe, years ago. When it lit up at night, it was so beautiful.
So I splurged and added this to my collection. I even found the perfect spot. Can't wait to build it. I might even buy a light kit and light it up.
Kobe. (swish)
Funny, I saw an ad for a brand-new PBS special about Gustav Eiffel and his works the same day this was posted.
Coincidence? I think NOT!