Lego does Frank Lloyd Wright

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/frank-lloyd-wright-lego-sets/

by mnemonicsloth • 17 years ago

30 9 17 years ago

zimbabwe• 17 years ago

I haven't used Lego in a decade and yet I might buy this set. Architecture fascinates me, Lego used to, and I'm really happy they're doing an entire series on architecture.

patrickg-zill• 17 years ago

If they truly have a dimensionally accurate Fallingwater, I have to admit that my ability to resist it even at a high price would be quite low...

gibsonf1• 17 years ago

I can tell by looking at the model that the proportions are off, but Falling Water doesn't look that bad considering. The Guggenheim, though, is a proportional disaster, and of course they can't match the iconic reverse vertically sloping walls. But I sure do applaud the effort :)

zackattack2• 17 years ago

Here's hoping they come out with a Robie House, which has a very special place in my heart.

yason2• 17 years ago

This product line has a good feeling about it. However, I do have an awkward feeling about the new Legos these days.

While delighted about Lego's new success I'm more afraid that Lego seems to have begun to productize their pieces too much since my childhood in the 80's. These days I have kids myself and the Legos I've bought them have more special parts designed to fit one particular model, and to merely make them look cool.

It was different back then when I was playing with Legos. The model you bought (well, or more likely were given as a present...) was merely a single example of what you could do with the given pieces. The gist was to build and scrap the model and then combine the new, cool bricks and gears and mechanisms with everything else that you got before.

You basically bought new models to get new parts and more parts. The new parts were all very generic which was the whole point: they didn't look as realistic as now but you could make anything from them. You could use all parts in a helicopter model to build the greatest Jeep ever.

My kids Legos have large, special pieces like an automotive chassis, that are only useful for that particular model. In the 80's you built the damn chassis yourself, and you could invent a hundred different ones yourself. This was so even in the sets designed for 5-6 year old kids, and totally so for those designed for teenagers.

Ok, my kids are young enough to not have the large Technics sets yet but what I've seen doesn't look promising. The Technics sets also seem to have specially curved / formed pieces to make the model good look but that are rather useless elsewhere. I haven't even found Technics supplementary packs like in the 80's where you could buy packs of girders, gears, axles, electrict equipment, motors etc. as a separate expansion pack.

Now everything seems to be about the models and themes themselves: the Technics sets I've reviewed also contain many special parts that aren't generally useful. It feels like the mindset now is to have the kid build that one model and play with it -- which is exactly the most boring thing ever about Legos! Why build something that's pre-designed when you can build anything you can come up with?!

Granted, Legos are so good that you can still build other things from basic Legos and Technics these days. And there's the programmable MindStorm thing, too. Still the percentage of generic parts seems to be lower. But what is more alarming that the mindset seems to be toward predesigned models only.

I hope I'm wrong.

zackattack2• 17 years ago

Yeah, I loved playing with Legos as a kid. I think having spent long hours playing with them significantly boosted my developing creative/intellectual abilities.

There are studies that demonstrate mice from environmentally-rich cages (lots of stimuli) become better capable of recovering from hippocampal damage.

P.S. "I hope I'm wrong" on its own, conclusive line. Nice.

axod• 17 years ago

I think you are wrong. My daughter just made me a boat with flowers all over it, 2 drivers, and a guy with a light saber on a throne in the middle.

I agree there's more 'formed' pieces in LEGO these days, but I don't think that takes away from the creativity at all. It just gives you a few more bits to play with.

There's always been a sort of divide between people who prefer to only make the models in the instructions, and those who get creative and make whatever they like. It's a skill that needs developing. I'm sure Lego could do more to prompt kids to do that, maybe with generic sets that just have ideas and no instructions - "Build a crane", etc then ask the kid to photograph and upload it for a possible prize.

You can still buy specific general technics sets, they're part of the 'education' range, but afaik anyone can buy them.

http://www.legoeducation.com/store/detail.aspx?ID=1277&b...

Similarly you can buy a pack of about 30 minifigures which is fun, and part of the same range.

http://www.legoeducation.com/store/detail.aspx?CategoryID=15...

Also go into a LEGO store, and you can get a tub, and fill it up with whatever bits they have in the wall that week.

Lego is still one of the best toys for developing creativity, mathematics, etc.

BTW, If you missed it last time, http://gizmodo.com/5022769/exclusive-inside-the-lego-factory

yason2• 17 years ago

Thanks for the legoeducation.com link; I probably wouldn't have found it myself. I've just crawled all over the main Lego website a couple of times and found nothing.

johnyzee• 17 years ago

If you look hard enough you can still get the plain, generic pieces. They're just more difficult to find between all the flashy sets and branded stuff.

I too prefer the open-ended play that results from the generic pieces so those are the ones I get for my son and he enjoys them a lot. We once built some huge, complicated robot together, and while the building was very fun, the piece now sits on a shelf (you can't actually play with it as it will fall to pieces instantly).

Lego does Frank Lloyd Wright

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