Housing creativity Imagine a house built from enormous, white LEGO bricks. You enter, and in the spacious foyer, you see a massive staircase snaking around a giant, ancient tree. As you walk closer, the tree starts to look a bit funny, with its gnarly bark and chunky leaves. You take a closer look, the 15-metre tree soaring towards the sky above you, and realise that every part of it is built using LEGO bricks. The spiralling staircase awaits, each step taking you closer to a new adventure. By Louise Older Steffensen | Photos: LEGO House
LEGO House in Denmark’s brick capital Billund has been built for all LEGO fans, from the tiniest DUPLO devotee to the most hardcore ‘adult fan of LEGO’ (AFOL) and everyone in between. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the owner and third generation of Denmark’s LEGO family, got the idea for an interactive experi64 | Issue 128 | September 2019
ence house and museum back in 2010, and much like the tree and the company itself, the concept grew bigger and bigger with great little ideas branching off in all directions until the whole thing needed 12,000 square metres and 25 million LEGO bricks to incorporate it all.
The result is a thoroughly modern building, designed by BIG architects, where digitalisation aids but doesn’t take away from the traditional creative experience. Upon arrival, visitors are given a digital bracelet, through which they can record their memories and see their creations come to life.
Create your own experience The house celebrates the core of the LEGO universe: building things. “As with all of the LEGO universe, the most important thing here is play and creativity,” says senior communication and PR manager Trine Nissen. LEGO sets may have changed through time, and