LEGO Architecture: The Visual Guide

A rather over lavish production when it only shows images of twenty-two Lego models. The square format book is mostly gloss black pages (good for attracting finger prints) that examine the models. Each gets an introduction spread followed by four or five spreads that have a short essay and photo of the real building, photos of the model and with several a beautiful, fascinating exploded view with arrowed captions detailing the construction and the types of bricks used. The last spread for each model has a big color photo of the real building and some text. It's rather unfortunate that these photos vary in quality unlike all the model photos which were taken in a studio and have a uniform look.Most of the models were created by Adam Reed Tucker, they were then worked on by builders who find the best way of producing the model using LEGO. Tucker makes a very interesting comment about the Guggenheim Museum: 'This was probably the trickiest of all the buildings in the series to interpret in LEGO bricks. The key is that the model is a representation, not an exact replica.' As they are not exact replicas excuses what I think are some of problems with the models, so many of the real buildings have curves which are difficult to create using right-angle bricks. The Guggenheim's spiral gallery is abandoned and replaced with six frisbee like shapes. The bottom to top tapering of Chicago's John Hancock Center is replaced with four reducing in thickness cubes and the distinctive lattice work on each side is gone. The buildings that I think work best are the Rockefeller Center and Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, both are essentially right-angled structures though the Villa has a large curved section on the roof but the model creates this quite successfully.It seems the model builders try to use existing LEGO bricks rather than create ones that only apply to a model and can't really be used with any LEGO. The sail like roofs of the Sydney Opera House have curved bricks mostly used for the fuselage of an aircraft or rocket ship models. It's a shame that any aerials on the top of some buildings don't have a much thinner rod like piece (look at the book's cover) those on the Empire State, Hancock Center, Willis Tower, Burj Khalifa, Seattle Space Needle and the Eiffel Tower look really out of proportion to the rest of these buildings.Will the next twenty or so models get a volume two? Possibly, though it needn't be as lavish as this one with its heavy slipcase, all the text in silver ink and basically reprinting all the information about the real building that comes with each model's construction booklet.

My husband and I bought this as a Christmas gift for our ten-year-old grandson, who says he wants to be an architect. We also gave him one of the Lego models shown in the book. The book covers a wide range of architectural landmarks which are included in the Lego Architecture set of models. If our grandson continues with his wish to be an architect, we will buy other models in this set for him as time goes on. We took a sneak peek at the book, and are very impressed with the layout, the information about the buildings, and the integration of the models with the real buildings. Lego had some impressive obstacles to overcome in creating the models -- many of them have rounded lines, and Lego blocks tend to be square. The Lego folks had to come up with some interesting solutions. We think this book and the models that go along with it will certainly stimulate our grandson's imagination.

As someone else wrote, as a middle-aged modeler with happy LEGO memories (as a child in Germany, it was everywhere), I love these representations, and the book wasn't bad. The photography is excellent, and I don't consider it LEGO's self-grandiose promotion of their own product. HOWEVER... disappointed in the lack of accuracy by Philip Wilkinson and Adam Reed Tucker. The timeline pages (10 & 11) are incorrect in which models are in the Architect and Landmark series. Sungnyemun Gate should be in Architect, and Burj Khalifa and Marina Bay Sands should be included in the Landmark group. I can see making that mistake, IF they weren't also including photos of the front of the LEGO boxes, which clearly stipulate which series each model is from. Perhaps a little inconsequential to some, but not to me, if I was going to attempt to collect one set or the other. But otherwise, no complaint about the content of the book. Well done.

The book was a gift to my grandsons who are enchanted with Lego architecture sets. They love it and were almost immediately pouring over the information about both the sets they already have and the sets they want.

I bought this as a christmas gift for my Lego-loving adult boyfriend. He is a big fan of the architecture series, but doesn't own any of the individual building sets. The book offers details about the different sets, and about the real buildings themselves. He wants to try to assemble some of the architecture buildings with the Legos he already has using the book. We were surprised at the quality and look of the book as well. It has nice glossy pages, very clean and beautiful presentation, and it comes in a hard protective book shell which is great. I would totally buy it again.

I purchased this visual guide as the same time as LEGO Architecture Studio 21050 Playset. It is a beautiful book, well-printed.It is more an accompanying text and visual guide to the individual models of famous architecture in Lego's architecture series, one building per model.It is not a how to book to build specific models.But, you know this book would be a great sourcebook for young people considering a career in Architecture.

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately it is a pretty superficial look at the 21 sets released so far in the "LEGO Architecture" series. I was hoping for more insight into the design process that the LEGO artists went through in designing these sets, but in practice, that's just 4 pages in the introduction.It is, however, a very well designed catalog of the sets, with a premium slipcover and a premium price. I especially like the exploded "In Focus" spreads which show how the model is assembled, but sadly, this is only included for about half of the models.

Brilliant book for Lego lovers, especially from age 10 and up. The text paired with photos of construction make this book truly interesting.Pair it with a Lego Architecture model from the book and its a wonderful gift.

Amazing

Excelente adición para la colección.Vienen varios datos e ilustraciones que complementan los que incluyen los folletos de cada set.Solo vienen los primeros modelos, ahora que ya han salido varios mas seguro estará próxima un siguiente volumen con los nuevos sets.No viene empacado, pero el libro lleva una funda que es la que sirve de protección.

El empaque es hermoso, el tamaño increíble, los graficos con un color excelente.

Es un gran libro, los datos y detalles mostrados son geniales

I have loved building the Lego Architecture sets and have wanted this book so I can delve a little deeper into the models and how they go about producing them. The book is lovely, comes in a cover/sleeve. Great diagrams inside of the models and some interesting facts about design and build. Perfect companion to go with the Architecture range.