Lego architecture and 3D printing

Lego is a company that has been through more than many other major companies out there, having been formed in 1949, Lego has manufactured more bricks than many things on the planet which has made the company a center point of many fun facts around the world.

After starting the Lego Architecture sets in 2008, Lego has made it possible to rebuild some of the most popular landmarks by hand, the Lego way. But the Architect sets ignited a fire which was first thought about in the early 60s, how Lego bricks could be used to take Architecture from 2D pages and sheets to the reality of the 3D world.

Lego Architecture Studio

From small sets with under a hundred pieces for the new starters to larger sets with around a thousand pieces for the experienced and patient. Lego has released over a couple dozen of them to the public and their employees with the only complaints being that the models aren’t big enough.

Then came the Lego Architecture Studio in 2013 with over a thousand different types of blocks and a manual of more than 200 pages, aimed at engineers and architects alike.

Working with the architects

Lego has worked with many architects over the years and has inspired many people to take a professional journey towards architecture.

With the studio set being endorsed by well known names in the world of architecture such as REX architecture, Sou Fujimoto Architects, SOM, MAD Architects, Tham & Videgård Arkitekter, and Safdie Architects and the guidebook being written by many leading architects, the Lego Architecture Studio has to be one of the many things on the shopping list of every new architect.

Lego. Bringing Architecture from 2D to 3D

Regardless of how good a drawing or graphic representation of an object is, it’s true beauty can only be shown to others in its physical form. Lego understands this and has done a great job at making sure that when all else fails, designers have a way to show the physical form of their ideas to others in a manner that’s both easy to set up and simple to understand.
The 200+ paged manual comes loaded with information about many different concepts of architecture with diagrams along with examples of different projects built with the bricks included.

The bricks themselves

With white and transparent bricks of different types and sizes, Lego has provided people with everything they need to bring out their inner architect. From the usual sized bricks to the much smaller, one-third height bricks, this set has everything they need to bring ideas to their minds as they build.

The future of Lego and 3D printing

A Lego brick made years ago will fit on one that was made today and also on every brick that will ever be made. This has been Lego’s philosophy and they have stayed away from anything that would make older bricks obsolete.

Their molds have been perfect and the bricks have been the same and the it’s a fact that the current technology in 3D printing that’s available to the average household user is nowhere close to perfection when it comes to Lego bricks, it’s only a matter of time until they can be printed at home with similar if not the same quality as a brick molded by Lego.
Lego has been using 3D printing in their own offices for quite some time but not as a replacement to their molding process which they have been using to make billions of pieces every year. Their sole argument being that 3D printing just isn’t the same quality as the bricks they molded themselves.

3D printing, Lego and Architecture

Let’s just assume that Lego does decide to put its feet into the 3D printing world and makes it possible for owners of these printers to make Lego pieces that do fit in with the ones that they already own.

Being able to print different types of pieces as need be and the ability to adjust them accordingly will not only help when you lose a piece by accident. But it’ll also help when you’re building something remarkable, maybe twenty-four pieces of a simple 2×4 brick just aren’t enough for some people, maybe they need a lot more than that to finish their masterpiece and show it to the world.

Well 3D printing will be able to solve all those problems and still be able to print the odd brick that you may have misplaced. Regardless of whether or not Lego decides to put its feet into the market, we can be sure that as soon as it’s possible to accurately print these bricks, people will do it.