LEGO House taking shape; opening delayed until 2017
Posted by Huw,
I'm indebted to Mel Caddick for bringing this somewhat hidden website about the construction of The LEGO House in Billund to my attention.
If you've ever visited Billund you'll find the aerial photos of progress during 2014 fascinating. They show the old buildings before they are demolished and the first walls of the new one being erected.
Although progress is being made, it appears "that the LEGO House construction is complex and unique and therefore a technical challenge to construct" which has resulted in the opening being postponed until 2017.
It's being built without the use of internal columns. "This way of constructing is easy with LEGO bricks because of the brick’s unique clutch power. However, in the real world it is a challenge to develop the exact right way to solve the task in concrete and steel. The consequence is that we choose to postpone the opening of LEGO House to the second half of 2017 because we want to be sure to deliver the right experience." (source)
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Yes, odd that it's not more widely publicised and linked to from LEGO.com, isn't it.
Interesting!
Quote: "It's being built without the use of internal columns." I can't imagine the columns on these pictures (https://wwwsecure.lego.com/en-us/legohouse/steal-beams-gallery) being temporary. I guess they mean there will be no free-standing columns in the rooms.
That's what it says... " Inside is a 2,000 square meters indoor square built without use of columns"
Those are beams, mounted horizontally, not columns.
Hmm, technic liftarms and a few pins clearly aren't strong enough ;-)
Going to enjoy keeping an eye on this ... great find !!
OK then my first ever trip to Denmark will be in 2017. Hopefully their aren't any other problems with the construction of the building. I will try and make it on opening day if possible.
@Huw, I'm talking about the supports for the beams. I'd call them columns. ;-)
Neat find.
Great, now my wife is going to think that my wanting to move ot Europe is going to be because of this.
It does not hurt.
This is very interesting - but how are they designing sets at the moment? And producing them?
@Thunderburt. All those 'columns' look like they are in the basement to me. Wait till they get to the rooms above ground to see if there are any columns.
Well, the supports for the beams are temporary to hold up the beams until they can get everything together with more construction.
Cool webstite! TLG & the contractors will figure it out. Others already have - This one even supports a rooftop garden, complete with trees and a 'river + waterfall' off the roof:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LDS_Conference_Center
(NOT a plug for religion - just a link to photos & info of a structure that is similar to - only much larger - than what LEGO is attempting to do with the LEGO house)
Info from the article:
"The auditorium is large enough to hold two Boeing 747s side by side. All seats in the audience have an unobstructed view of the pulpit because the balcony is held up by radial trusses."
"About 3 acres (12,000 m²) of grass and hundreds of trees have been planted on the roof. Twenty-one native grasses were employed to conserve water and showcase local foliage."
"A 92-foot (28 m) glass-centered spire denotes the religious purpose of the building. A 67-foot (20 m) stepped waterfall descends from the spire."
If these folks could do it, then so can LEGO. ;-)
Isn't the so called 'hidden website' just part of the Lego.com website? The only thing that seems to make it hidden is that all the other tabs don't work. That definitely sounds like a lego website.
@NBJ2002. The Lego House is going to basically be a Lego museum. It's not going to be or is Lego's headquarters, that is in Copenhagen, I believe.
Just thought I'd let you know that you can actually see Ole Kirk's House, the original building where the LEGO story started, in a couple of the pictures. In the February picture, number two from the top, it's the building in the top left corner. It's also visible right below the text "next step" in the first of the two May pictures.
In the second May picture, you get an idea of how much of Billund is actually taken up by LEGO - most of the city centre is in the picture, and all those big structures to the left of Ole Kirk's house are LEGO buildings. The big one all the way to the right is, unless my sense of direction messes with me, the building where, among other stuff, the action themes and Creator sets (including the Expert stuff) are designed.
And if you look at the top of that picture, to the right of the middle, there's a small building with a light blue extension at the back. That's the very first and original LEGO fire station - built by the company :)
Will be interesting to see some proper creator or architecture set of this house.
@ToaTaruho - the HQ is in Billund, and so is the main R&D office, several manufacturing plants (although the packaging plant was shut down last year), and a whole bunch of other buildings. For the most part, Billund = LEGO.