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The ‘Scale Model’ line – LEGO
®
Architecture in the 1960s
The history of current LEGO
®
Architecture series can be
traced back to the beginning of the 1960s when the LEGO
brick’s popularity was still steadily increasing. Godtfred
Kirk Christiansen, the then owner of the company, began
looking for ways to further expand the LEGO system,
and asked his designers to come up with a set of new
components that would add a new dimension to LEGO
building.
Their answer was as simple as it was revolutionary: five
elements that matched the existing bricks, but were only
one third the height. These new building ‘plates’ made it
possible to construct more detailed models than before.
This greater LEGO flexibility seemed to match the spirit
of the age; where modernist architects were redefining
how houses looked, and people were taking an active
interest in the design of their dream home. It was from
these trends that the LEGO ‘Scale Model’ line was born
in early 1962.
The name itself was a direct link to the way architects and
engineers worked and it was hoped that they and others
would build their projects ‘to scale’ in LEGO elements.
As with LEGO Architecture today, the original sets were
designed to be different from the normal brightly colored
LEGO boxes, and also included ‘An Architectural Book’
for inspiration.
Though the five elements remain an integral part of
the LEGO building system today, the ‘Scale Model’ line
phased out in 1965
– it would be over
40 years before its
principles would
be revived in the
LEGO Architecture
series we know
today.
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