THE architect behind V&A Dundee has given his backing to a campaign to turn the landmark building into an official LEGO set.
Brian McNicoll, founder of the Dundee mobile and web studio 532 Design, has created a near-3,000-piece LEGO recreation of the iconic museum and submitted it to LEGO Ideas. If the project reaches 10,000 public supporters, it will enter LEGO’s formal review process for consideration as an official set.
The campaign currently has 3,000 votes and has been boosted by the support of the building’s architect, Kengo Kuma, whose work includes the Japan National Stadium built for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Speaking about the LEGO version of the museum, he said, “It’s an honour to see my building recreated in LEGO and I’m impressed with how well Brian has translated the design. The building design was inspired by the Scottish landscape and now the building is inspiring Scottish designers.
“I always wanted the building to be a gate through which the city can connect with the world, reflecting Dundee’s once thriving global trade routes on the river. If this design becomes an official LEGO set, then people all over the world will be building a Dundee landmark. It’s a joy to see the city get behind the project, especially so many school children, and I hope the support continues until it reaches 10,000 votes.”
Kuma’s Tokyo office has shared the campaign with its own audience on Instagram.
V&A Dundee, which opened in 2018, is clad in 2,500 precast concrete panels arranged in horizontal bands that shift as they rise – a form Kuma drew from the cliffs of the north east Scottish coastline. It is that banded, angular façade that is said to make the building unusually well suited to reconstruction in LEGO bricks.
Brian McNicoll built the model using a 3D version of the building contained in a Dundee Waterfront mobile app, allowing him to rotate, zoom and check scale and angles from every side as he worked.
“This model captures the angular design and textured façade of the V&A Museum Dundee,” he explained. “Getting to 10,000 is the hard part. Every vote needs a free LEGO Ideas account, and that one extra step is where most campaigns die. It takes about a minute, and we’ve now put a step-by-step guide online to make it as easy as possible.”
Alongside Kuma, the campaign has been backed by V&A Dundee itself and by broadcasters and writers with strong Dundee and Scottish connections, including Lorraine Kelly, Brian Cox, Edith Bowman and Danny Wallace promoting the campaign on social media. Schools across the city have taken part, with pupils creating posters to promote the project.
The campaign runs at legovadundee.com, which includes a guide to registering and voting, images of the model, and a link through to the LEGO Ideas project page.
