Frank Lloyd Wright LEGO Sets

We got word today of the official announcement of the new line of licensed Frank Lloyd Wright LEGO sets! Created in conjunction with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Brickstructures, Inc. and the LEGO Architecture brand, the first two sets in the series are The Guggenheim and Fallingwater. Read more after the jump...

Here are the detail via the press release we received:

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES NEW LICENSEE

The LEGO Group and Brickstructures, Inc. to produce and distribute Frank Lloyd Wright Collection® LEGO® Architecture Building Sets

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation announced today that The LEGO Group is now the exclusive licensed manufacturer of Frank Lloyd Wright Collection® LEGO Architecture sets.

The LEGO Group and Adam Reed Tucker of Brickstructures, Inc. officially introduced the LEGO Architecture line in 2008. The line currently consists of six buildings – now including two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous and recognizable buildings, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and “Fallingwater.”

With models developed in collaboration with architects, LEGO Architecture works to inspire future architects, engineers and designers as well as architecture fans around the world with the LEGO brick as a medium. Builders of all ages can now collect and construct their favorite worldwide architectural sites through these artistic replicas.

Both exclusive Frank Lloyd Wright LEGO Architecture sets contain booklets that feature traditional building instructions along with exclusive archival historical material and photographs of each iconic building.

The LEGO Group will release the first of the LEGO Architecture Frank Lloyd Wright Collection® sets at the opening of the Frank Lloyd Wright Exhibit: From Within Outward at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on May 15, 2009.

Doug Volker of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation:
According to Director of Licensing and Product Development, Doug Volker, “The LEGO product was one that the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation had considered pursuing for several years. It was the vision, passion and creative desire of Adam Reed Tucker to capture the essence of Mr. Wright’s most famous buildings using the medium of the LEGO brick that brought this partnership into being.”

Another exciting aspect of the Architecture Series is the capability to use them for education, team building, or other formats that make the LEGO Architecture series more than just a toy.

“The LEGO Group is known for its creative approach to brick models and now, with its Architecture Series, it will reach even further, to individuals of all ages,” Volker concluded. 

Adam Reed Tucker of Brickstructures and the LEGO Group:
“Mr. Wright’s buildings are a treasure trove of possibilities,” says Adam Reed Tucker, innovator of the Architecture Series for The LEGO Group.  “I wanted to create these marvelous buildings for years, so I’m thrilled to be working with the Foundation in order to include Mr. Wright’s timeless buildings in this series, which conceptualizes the very essence of each building in LEGO bricks.”

As is well known to PrairieMod readers, I have a great love of LEGOs, so merging both Wright and LEGO together is a dream come true. So, what do you think of the new sets? What future buildings would you like to see? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Images copyright LEGO, Brickstructures and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Comments

[Scott T.]

Not sure about the Guggenheim one, but that's a pretty tough building for Lego to tackle, to be fair. Fallingwater, on the other hand, looks like it survived the translation to plastic bricks quite well! I'd love to have that on my desk. Maybe both desks.

[Bubba Two Tone]

Guggenheim is not "Wright".. Jacobs I would be the perfect Lego building.

[Scott T.]

Bubba TT: Jacobs I is the first one that came to my mind, too. That would be an excellent Lego set. But the house just doesn't have the cachet and marketability as the Guggenheim and Fallingwater. Probably not too difficult to work out on one's own, though, given the floorplan and photos from enough angles.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Hey Bubba, just curious -- what do you mean when you say "Guggenheim is not 'Wright'"?
P.S. I agree, Jacobs I would be cool.

[Benjy]

How can I get my hands on these? I'm buying Fallingwater as soon as I can!

[Misty]

Love these, my son will definitely be building these. Inspirational!

[DJ]

OH MY GOSH - I feel like a kid again. I can't wait to get Fallingwater.

[Willie]

Are any of these sets actually available for purchase? If yes, where? If not, when?

Thanks

[Charleen]

What about the Ennis House? (might be the Ennis Brown house, now) I know that they've been restoring it for years, and were having problems with the money; this could help them with that.

[Harold]

These are too simplistic to be of any value! Just too few pieces to do the architecture justice. The final model looks like a cartoon caricature of the real thing. What a waste of a brilliant opportunity!! especially since those of us that would've bought these, would have paid a premium for a complete set. sadness is thy word of the day

[Devlin]

I wonder if they will expand this collection to include other architects? The Sagrada Família would be pretty wild.

[Christine Lindquist]

Does it come with a Frank Lloyd Wright Lego Man?

[equitus]

The scale on these are tiny. FW is maybe 10" across. I guess they need to be affordable.

[garet]

i've been suggesting this for years, its about time!

[v p]

sagrada familia? yeah right. if they ever finish that thing.

[samy]

Hello,
I thought this item might be of interest to you:
“Frank Lloyd Wright on Record”. (Produced by Caedmon Records, Inc., New York.)
I inherited this record from my father-in law who is a huge fan of Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright. The record is in mint condition and I have listened to it and sounds like he is in my living room! Including a copy of the mp3 file (or cd) that I personally recorded.
Here is the link on the item itself and attached pictures of the actual record.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jjcRH_b1OMhWvZruXTec2A?feat=directlink
If interested in purchasing it on e-bay, here is the item number (start bid is .$99): (item number 170334570024): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170334570024

Thank you.

[Dennis Bolt]

The Sears Tower and Hancock Buildings in this series are just as simplistic, or even worse. Sears is just 3 inches of black legos with some gray pieces for antenna. I could have built that myself with my kids leftover legos. Since the market for these things are sophisticated adults or nerdy kids, they could have done better detail. If they can do the death star, than at least they could attempt detail here.

[cameron]

i would rather see them come out with one kit that allowed you to build many different famous landmark structures with the same blocks with included multiple instructions. Lego unfortunately is all about max monetization.

[Bill Bourn]

Cameron, of course, is all about min monetization, whatever that is. I won't be looking to see if you already have, Cameron, but I bet if you made a creditable model of any famous landmark structure, there would be interest in it to correspond to its intricacy and detail. Adam Tucker would quite likely be leading the pack.

With regard to what gets to be a Lego set, there are many, many factors, of which the amount of money that can be made selling it is understandably prominent. I am thoroughly tired of complaints of the form "if only corp. X would make a good Y or Z." To the extent that someone's posted opinion contains such a statement, the rest of the posting gets discounted.

FWIW, Lego's Creator series of sets has featured multiple instructions for the several years now. This is a product line I encourage by buying them. My guess is that in the happy circumstance of the Architecture series becoming as successful as, say, Star Wars, we can hope to see multiple instructions in them too.

[Bill Bourn]

Dennis Bolt laments the simplicity of the early Architecture sets. First, I find it amazing that the structures involved can be so simply rendered and recognized. We were invited to use the same bricks from the Sears tower set to make our own distinctive building during a session at Brickworld.

Second, pick any small piece-count Lego set and observe the recognizability of the model those pieces can make. It makes no sense to complain about the lack of a rearview mirror on a tiny car model, does it?

Third, do you have insider information about Lego's target marketing, Dennis? I think Lego has made a minimal "risk" foray into the Architecture series by starting small and is now extending it to more medium sizes. In the event of continued success, we can look forward to larger, and more detailed models. BTW, target market for Taj Mahal? Eiffel Tower?

[S KU]

The Barcelona Pavillion by Mies would be good a LEGO model.

[MaeEast]

The unfortunate thing about most any Lego product these days is all the 'fun' has already been had by the product manager, when he (usually it's a 'he') designed it. Just check out the Lego website and you'll see.
Instead of various building block sets, like the original versions, and allowing (even encouraging) a kid's creativity, current Lego products are designed to be put together in one specific configuration -- and only that configuration. It's a paint-by-numbers (and not in a good way).

[michael kowalczyk]

A prairie school piece (most likely robie house) would be amazing to be able to build. I've been attempting that for years with my kids' legos. It's fun but you can never get the proportions, colors, etc. correct with standard blocks.
The roofs are impossible as well.
That building is most indicative of his most popular work, as well as being the best known prairie building...
You could also then create your own interpretations as well...
Fun for any aspiring architect:)

[Eric Jackson-Forsberg]

I would love to see Robie House or Martin House sets! One of the great Prairie houses should definitely be next.

[Paul Kaplan]

Wow, I can't wait to get a set! Now, lets see Lego produce of blocks with a Gaudi influence!