Back in 1998, LEGO (or as we casually refer to them, Legos) was one of the original toys to be inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, and there are good reasons why. In a way, Legos can be seen as the iconic "building blocks" of so many people's childhoods all over the world. Even if you never loved Legos, you definitely know what they are (and you probably appreciate its role in keeping your brother out of your hair for hours). And Legos aren't just for kids. Plenty of adults have stayed fond of the ubiquitous bricks (or, like us, have recently rediscovered that fondness via the awesome new Lego Movie, which is definitely made for grown-ups). Whichever the case is, take a quick break from your LEGO set, and read these 11 totally awesome facts about LEGO. 1. LEGO is 82 years old. The LEGO Group was founded in 1932 in Denmark. It went from a small carpenter's workshop to the world's third largest manufacturer of toys. A vintage LEGO set from 1985: 2. A LEGO brick from 1958 would still interlock with a LEGO brick made today.
LEGO bricks are part of a "universal system," so that regardless of the year it was made and the set it belongs to, each piece is compatible with existing pieces. 3. The name has a very special meaning. The LEGO name was created by using the first two letters of the Danish words "Leg" and "Godt," meaning "play well." Here's Escher's "Relativity" recreated in Lego: 4. You can combine six of the eight-studded LEGO bricks in 915,103,765 ways. Here's a challenge for your brain: Try to figure out the 24 different ways two LEGO bricks with eight studs can be combined. Here's a woman wearing a dress made out of LEGOs: 5. The nation of minifigures would hold the record for the world's largest population (if they were humans, of course). The first minifigure was created in 1978, and since then, four billion have been made. Here are Prince William, Duchess Kate and Baby George in LEGO form: 6. Someone built a real house made entirely of LEGO.
In 2009, a man named James May in Surrey, Great Britain, constructed the world's first full-size LEGO house, using 3.3 million bricks. The house contained a working toilet and shower and a bed... all made out of LEGO. Legoland offered to take the house and put in their Windsor, Berkshire theme park, but took back the deal after deciding it would be too expensive to move it. They also criticized May for not asking for their help when building the house. 7. LEGO Duplo bricks (the large ones for little kids) can connect with regular LEGO bricks. Even though they are eight times the size of regular bricks, the DUPLO LEGOs connect perfectly with the regular ones. Here's a 150,000-piece LEGO creation of Helm's Deep, from "Lord of the Rings": 8. The world's largest LEGO tower contains over 500,000 bricks. Students at John Dickinson High School in Delaware built this tower in August 2013. It stands 112 feet and 11 stories high. 9. There are artists who sculpt exclusively from Legos.
You may have heard of Nathan Sawaya, a New York-based artist, who makes art out of unlikely materials. He was the first artist to ever take LEGO into the art world and currently has a touring exhibition called "The Art Of The Brick." Fellow artist, Sean Kenney, has also made a career of creating "contemporary sculpture" made out of Legos for clients and corporations worldwide. Kenney, who calls himself a "professional kid," says he likes to work with Legos because "unlike traditional art, kids love it; it gets them excited and creative. And seeing that makes it all worth while." This sculpture is part of Kenney's touring exhibit, "Big Leagues Little Bricks," which is "celebrating the beauty and lore of baseball as a part of Americana." Kenney's six-foot long map of Iowa that was displayed at the Iowa State Fair in 2013. 10. The largest commercially produced LEGO set is the Taj Majal. The set contains over 5,900 pieces. 11. This amazing kid created a Braille printer with his LEGO set.
Earlier this year, a 12-year-old child prodigy from California used his LEGO MINSTORMS EV3 set to make a functional Braille printer. Shubham Banerjee used the $350 LEGO set to make the printer after he saw a flier asking for donations to help the blind. His prototype is a fraction of the cost of other Braille printers, which retail for around $2,000 online. Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the LEGO house was in Surrey, British Columbia. The house was actually in Surrey, Great Britain.While the Lego Architecture Studio includes a great selection of bricks for creative architectural sketching, I found the selection of bricks is lacking in two main areas: bricks needed for advanced building techniques, and specialty bricks for accents and detail work. Over the course of my Lego Architecture Studio 30-day challenge, I’ve identified the top 10 bricks that were not included in the set but should have been. Later in this article, I’ll teach you how to buy these bricks to augment your Architecture Studio.
The Technic 1×1 and 1×2 bricks are very versatile for two reasons. 1) They allow you to attach a normal stud at a 90 degree angle allowing SNOT construction. 2) They have a hollow stud on top which allows you to attach bricks on top with a 1/2 brick offset. I used a couple of 1×1 bricks to attach the sign to the top of my #17 Art Deco Theatre model. The set includes a nice selection of 1×1 and 2×2 round bricks. I don’t know why they didn’t include some cones to add some nice accents to your models. I used the 1×1’s for light fixtures on #22 Craftsman home and #20 Castle, and I used the 2×2’s for the lamp in #8 Furniture. Flags make excellent accents to buildings, and they can also be used to represent tapestries or hanging art in your models. I used them for wall coverings inside rooms in #28 Living Room and I should have used them to decorate #20 Castle. Sometimes you need a slender component when building a detailed or microscale model.
I prefer the versatility of the bars which can be inserted into a jumper to use it vertically, or held horizontally with clips. I used these in several models including projects #30 Library, #26 Ski Lodge, #22 craftsman, #11 skyscraper and #8 furniture. Any brick which can allow me an 1/2 brick offset is an immediate winner. The 2×2 jumper allows offset in both directions, replacing the use of three normal 1×2 jumpers. (I also tripled the number of 1×2 jumpers in my collection, as they are extremely useful!) I used these in most of my projects, notably for light posts in #22 craftsman and to attach the castle to the baseplate in #20 Castle. The Architecture Studio includes a good number of this brick’s cousins with studs on more sides (4733 or 47905), but I find the simplest version with an outward facing stud on just one side to be the most versatile, because the second stud on the version with studs on 2 sides can get in the way when you don’t need it. The Architecture Studio set includes plenty of the more common 4070 Headlight brick (also known as the Erling brick), but I find the 1/5 brick indentation to be unattractive and inconvenient.
I just got these, so I haven’t been able to use them yet! Clips are necessary to attach slender round components, Minifigure accessories, and can grab the side of plates. (Minifigure hands have the same diameter opening as clips.) I used these to attach the ski racks in #26 Ski Lodge and to attach the wall-mounted lights in #30 Library. They can be a substitute for a hinge in some instances. Architectural models look a lot cleaner with a smooth surface. I’ve added well over 50 additional white tiles in a variety of sizes to my set, and I still wish that I had more (I especially like the 2×2 and 1×8 plates, and recently ordered a few 1×3 plates to help with odd-width models.) Prominent use of tiles included the gate for #20 Castle, the sign and sidewalk in #17 Art Deco Theatre, and were critical for #5 Shed home. It boggles my mind that the set included so many bricks but absolutely no hinges whatsoever. Each type of hings offers the ability to bend your model in different directions.
For example, the 2429/2430 hinge is great to build walls in unorthodox angles, and I have found the 60478/63868 hinge to be incredibly useful for building large peaked roofs using common plates, and the 44301/44302 locking hinges are nice as they click into specific angles for more strength. Examples of their use include the roofs in #27 Rustic Cabin, #22 Craftsman, #5 Shed home or in the front-facing SNOT facade for #17 Art Deco Theatre. Suffice it to say, the set should have at least included a white 16×32 or 32×32 baseplate. I really like using a colored baseplate with these stark white bricks, so you might also want a green or blue baseplate. Almost all of my projects used at least one baseplate! There a couple of ways to buy these crucial “missing bricks” to make your architecture studio more versatile. Before you go any further, I encourage you to make a list of all the parts you would like to acquire and the # of each brick you would like to buy. This will help you decide where to shop.