Lego Architecture

I saw this post today on Lynn Becker‘s blog, about building the Nagakin Capsule Tower out of Legos:

via Lynn Becker

It’s strikingly similar; and it got me thinking – what influence has Lego had on modern architecture? Old, ornate buildings like the Taj Mahal require special pieces and a lot of them, but a lot of more contemporary buildings are recognizable even with only basic bricks:

Sears Tower, via Lego.com

Famous skyscrapers, via BrickStructures

Then there’s some buildings that look pretty Lego-inspired. I searched for an hour today to re-locate a photo I saw of a new art center (or school?) in Chicago, that is basically a short box striped in Lego colors. (Anyone have any idea what it is?)

[will post photo when I finally track it down]

THEN there’s an actual fusion of Lego and architecture, in which building design is all at Lego scale, and/or Lego bricks are physically integrated into the building.

Exhibit A: Flickr pool of Lego Architecture and Design

Exhibit B: Artist Jan Vormann, who “repairs” cracked and damaged buildings with Lego bricks

Lego brick building repairs, via Urban Prankster

Exhibit C: The (now demolished) Lego House

Lego House exterior, via Daily Mail

How could one go about studying the influence of Lego on architecture – not just its color scheme and blockiness, but its modularity and flexibility? After all, it’s been around for 50 years now… by now there are multiple generations of architects who have no doubt played with them at one time or another… Would interviews or surveys work? Study of Lego sales to architecture studios and offices? Attendance at Lego conventions?

Hmm… I bet there’s a story there for someone who wants to pursue it.

UPDATE: I still haven’t found that building I had in mind, but maybe this was it – Blair Kamin just posted about a youth center on Chicago’s South Side. I think it’s safe to say you could Lego that up pretty handily!