Frank Lloyd Wright licenses to LEGO in deal?

[ki-adi-windu]

Forgive me if this has been posted, (I did a quick search), or if it's even in the right forum, but while Stumbling I came across a site that announced this: http://www.prairiemod.com/prairiemod/2009/05/frank-lloyd-wright-lego-sets.html

Apparently the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and LEGO made a deal to produce a few FLW buildings including the Guggenheim Museum and Falling Water.


Having done a biography on FLW and interested in engineering and architecture, I was very excited to hear this. And it's about time!

[onions]

i edited your title to reflect the true nature of the announcement since it's not a merger but rather a licensing agreement.

thanks for the link.

[Solo]

The architecture series has been around for a while, it's no surprise they went with something as iconic as FLW's works. I've always loved Fallingwater and wouldn't mind grabbing that kit (though I'm sure it will be priced high for the part count).

[onions]

availability is a bit iffy. the guggenheim set is only sold at the frank lloyd wright exhibit that's currently there. ugh. i wouldn't mind picking up both myself.

[Obi-Wan Skywalker]

I think the falling water is cool. I do not like the other one though.

[LL918]

Ahh - Frank Lloyd Wright - one of the few architects that those outside the architectural community know about. I wonder how many architects have received unwanted FLW books, calenders etc from well meaning friends and family. And if only those non-architects who do buy the books would demand a higher level of design input in the housing that commecial builders and developers provide... oops I am going off on a tangent here.

I have known about Brickstructures for quite a while and when I heard about the collaboration to create official LEGO architectural models I was interested. I was a little disapointed with the tiny scale of the first models, but I can live with it. However for the these two Frank Lloyd Wright buildings the small scale really compromises the design. That Guggenheim is shocking.

And as an aside - has anyone ever seen the Architecture series on the non-North American LEGO website? And maybe the next time someone complains about the cost of Star Wars LEGO they could look at these - price per piece around twentyfive to thirtyfive US cents! And no minifigs!

Has anyone here got any of the past sets? What is the booklet like?

[gfxguy]

availability is a bit iffy. the guggenheim set is only sold at the frank lloyd wright exhibit that's currently there. ugh. i wouldn't mind picking up both myself.

The Guggenheim is actually available to order right now from the brickstructures website... $45 + $10 S&H (US), or $45 + $25 S&H (Canada).

EDIT: I wanted to add that, when you buy it directly from brickstructures, it comes autographed... at least the ones I ordered from earlier in the first series did.

[Draykov]

Bring on the I.M. Pei!

[Iesous]

I wasn't aware of this line. I'll definitely be asking for these for my birthday (and I make it my policy not to ask for legos for birthdays since I'm 25).

[gfxguy]

I wasn't aware of this line. I'll definitely be asking for these for my birthday (and I make it my policy not to ask for legos for birthdays since I'm 25).

What are legos?

[DaVille2007]

Wow, this is really interesting. My father is a Frank Lloyd Wright fanatic so I know a great deal about his architecture. I like these kind of sets that LL918 mentioned more bricks for a lower amount of money. I haven't kept up with Lego lately this looks like a series I might get into.

[gfxguy]

Has anyone here got any of the past sets? What is the booklet like?

I have the first four sets; the booklet is just building instructions with a page of information (size, year of constructions, etc.), nothing special, really.

A note about building these yourselves... it's definitely possible to get most, if not all, of the pieces on BL... the problem is getting them in the color you want from as few places as possible, otherwise you get slaughtered on the shipping and handling anyway. And there were a few pieces I ran across that are VERY uncommon.

If you wanted to cheap out (not that there's anything wrong with that) and build it on your own, then I'd truly just go ahead and build it on your own with the pieces you have.

I did find some instructions for the first two sets online before I actually had the sets. Google "21000 instructions" or "21001 instructions."

Probably the hardest to actually get the pieces for would be Seattle Space Needle, it's got two odd technic pieces with three axles and an axle hole.... and I couldn't find the hoses in the correct color.

[Iesous]

I wasn't aware of this line. I'll definitely be asking for these for my birthday (and I make it my policy not to ask for legos for birthdays since I'm 25).

What are legos?

I don't think that you're seriously asking me, but rather being sarcastic. If not, for my entire life, 'legos' has been synonymous with 'LEGO bricks/sets'. If you are being sarcastic, read this.

[onions]

i think gfxguy just made a bad joke. it's been established long ago that the plural of LEGO is just LEGO; this came from TLG directly.

[LL918]

To gfxguy - thanks for the reply about the instructions. From the Brickstructures site I can see the instruction booklet open on some kind of general info page, I had been wondering if this was part of something more significant and interesting or as you have confirmed, just one page. Thanks for the detail.