But in recent years, practicing architects and the multi-billion-dollar company have engaged in unprecedented collaborations to learn how the tiny blocks can spark new design thinking, on a miniature and grand scale.
Kobe said the process of translating real architecture into bricks starts by getting into the mind of a building's original designer, then sitting down with architects' sketches and floorplans to understand how the building took shape. Below, there is a miniature reconstruction of the dramatic lobby that greets visitors from Fifth Avenue -- it is hidden away in the finished model, but seen by the Lego builder."So behind the building's instructions booklet, while you're building, you have this little call-out that alludes to some of the features of the original.