Hasta La Ideas

Following the popularity of 2009′s release of a blocky version of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Fallingwater and the Guggenheim, and currently making the rounds, is the announcement that LEGO will now be selling a build-your-own Farnsworth House. The latest in their Architect Series, the kit will include all the 546 blocks you’ll need to recreate Mies van der Rohe‘s classic piece of modern architecture. The go-to man for all things van der Rohe, Edward Lifson, has a handful of great photos of the kit in action, from assembly to images from the instruction manual. Here’s a bit from the artist behind the set, Adam Reed Tucker:

Farnsworth House celebrates our 10th model in the LEGO Architecture series. As a minimalist “Steel & Glass” modernist symbol of the 1950s, it delicately balances clean lines, volume of space, minimal structure, and expansive glazing, creating an inviting relationship between the natural and built environments.

In order to effectively replicate the balance between the refined white structural elements and expansive clear glazing, I started with the smallest cross section I could make for the vertical exterior columns. After several attempts, the most promising turned out to be using basic 1×1 bricks. Everything else essentially fell into place: the inviting steps, the floating floor and roof decks, the understated furnishings and cleverly designed built-ins. It’s fitting that recreating a minimalist symbol of modern architecture was done so with the simplest of LEGO bricks, the humble 1×1.

No word on how the financial side of this project worked out, if LEGO would be giving a portion of the sales back to Farnsworth, was a lump sum licensing fee up front, or if any money changed hands. We bring it up because we hope there was at least some consideration following all the costly and time-intensive restoration work that’s gone on at the actual house over the past few years.

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