Review: 21031 Burj Khalifa
Posted by Huw,
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is a remarkable building. Not only is it the tallest in the world, at 829.8m, but more importantly (!) it's the first building in the world to have two LEGO 'Landmark series' Architecture sets produced of it.
The 333-piece 21031 is the fourth Architecture set to be released in January. See how it shapes up when compared to 21008, the 2011 version, after the break.
Box and contents
The box is the same size as New York's.
Inside are a thick instruction manual and two bags of parts, including the accessory you can never have enough of: another brick separator...
The build
The base...
The building's base is a petal shape which has been reproduced pretty well here, using 1x3 curved slopes and the relatively new Brick 1X4X1 Inv. Bow, which appear for the first time in light grey.
The triangular section of the tower itself is formed using several 3-Branch Cross Axle W/Cross H with each one connected to three 1x2 Technic bricks with axle hole.
Then it's simply a case of stacking bricks and plates onto each side until the required height is reached. Plate hinges are used further up the tower to keep the sides together.
Next, 'cladding' is added to the three sides to bulk it out which tapers at different rates on each side to create the asymmetrical shape of the building. At the bottom, the cheese slopes are mounted to plates so all is good, but at the top, where they are affixed to just one stud of the 1x2 bricks with side studs, it's a job to align them.
Finally, a section is added to the top, mounted using a Technic pin. It uses two Flat Tile 2X2 Inv., new in light grey.
The completed model
The completed model stands about 40 cm tall, so 1/2000th the height of the real building!
Here's how it stands up next to the 2010 version:
Although the old one looks crude in comparison it does convey the cross-section of the 'fins' of the building better, which could be well represented by Palisade Brick 1X2 at the right scale.
The base of the tower is a vast improvement on the new one but I'm not sure about the width:height ratio of the tower itself. I haven't been able to find out the width of bottom of the 'fins' but they look too narrow to me.
Verdict
Overall, the new one is much better than the old, although both are recognisable for what they are meant to be, and the old one does have certain purist charm to it.
If you are already an Architecture landmark collector, you will want to buy this set but if you are not, it doesn't have a lot going for it, particularly compared to the new Cityscapes which are far more appealing in my opinion.
I don't know its price, but I suspect it will be $25-30 and £30-35.
This concludes our reviews of the 2016 Architecture sets. Many thanks to the LEGO CEE team for providing them to us for review.
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13 comments on this article
I have the 2011 version and now it look awful
Great reviews, thanks!
How is the scale of this model with respect to the others in the new series?
I think the 2011 version captures the actual tower structure much better, there's no attempt to replicate the distinctive stacked/layered look with the new model.
Agreed. The 1x1 round bricks did a good job of that on the old version.
You meant £25-30 and $30-35 I assume. ;)
I think some combination of the two would yield the most accurate model. There is definitely something to be said about the effect those 1x1 round bricks had on the old model.
Every year I'm disappointed that Lego waits until January to release the Architecture sets. Had they been released Dec 1, I would purchase a few as gifts...by the time the following holiday season comes around the sets are kinda stale. A shame.
It looks much better than the old model... which, while it resembles the Burj Khalifa, looks terrible. New one fails to look like a skyscraper in exchange for being bigger and shaped properly.
I have a simple solution: Not buying either.
I love it! However, the images kind of make me think of the N-1 Soviet Moon Rocket, more then the Burj Khalifa skyscraper building. I like the old one too, and loved it even more when I extended the build to be twice the height, which gave it a profile more like the actual building (and looks impressively tall too, next to the other LEGO Architecture buildings).
Finally! Brick 1X4X1 Inv. Bow in light bley! I've needed that for about six months now.
Wow, the 2011 one looks like a 5-year-old built it now. This one looks amazing, but it feels too fat...
I wonder how big this is at minifig scale?