More than 180,000 bricks, 11 colors, and 120 shapes make up the new, massive Lego model of Taliesin West revealed Thursday at the life-size version of Frank Lloyd Wright's Scottsdale, Ariz., complex. According to a press release, the Lego model is the first to be built of Taliesin West, and the biggest Lego version of a building designed by Wright.
Lego Architectural Artist Adam Reed Tucker, working with a team of schoolchildren, constructed the 8-by-4-foot Taliesin West replica with mainstream Lego parts and pieces, and did not use any computer software, sketches, or glue in the construction process. Tucker worked in accordance with the Lego Certified Professional Program, the Danish company's community-based program made up of adult hobbyists who build and create professionally. He spent over 600 hours researching, studying, designing, and constructing the final model. Challenges included the standard fare of scale and proportion, but more engaging ones arose, such as the best way to imitate the building's contrasting materials, textures, and colors.
"You have to be creative. You have to be able to interpret subject matter into brick form. In my mind, I have a catalog of over 14,000 unique shapes," Tucker said in an interview with The New York Times.
The model will be displayed in the Pavilion at Taliesin West until the end of April.
"Taliesin West is already one of the great historic and architectural experiences in the world—for visitors from all backgrounds and interest," said Sean Malone, the president and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which is headquartered in Taliesin West, in a press release. "I am so excited that, for the next four months only, people who visit Taliesin West will have the wonderful bonus of experiencing Adam's remarkable and playful work of art in Legos."
