LEGOs aren’t just for the amateur builder. With the LEGO Group’s opening of its new campus in Billund, Denmark, the company has added to their growing list of architectural standouts. Two years ago the Danish toy brand opened their expansive BIG-designed LEGO House to the public, which included playrooms, a LEGO store, outdoor playgrounds, galleries, and restaurants within a complex of stacked blocks. The new building, which opened Monday, is the first phase of a C.F. Møller-designed campus project that will wrap up in 2021. Altogether the completed project will be 580,000 square feet and house over 2,000 of the company’s employees in Billund, a small town in Denmark’s Jutland region. The LEGO House alone is expected to bring in 250,000 visitors every year to a town with a population of only 6,000.
As an international toy company, LEGO Group put forward a playful design prompt for the campus. The House’s design is an obvious ode to the famous brick shape of the LEGO toys, cast-concrete LEGO bricks are interspersed on the facade, and a yellow brick-like structure sits on top of the buildings in another less-than-subtle reference.
“The team has worked hard to create a workspace that reflects our values and instills a sense of fun,” said Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group, in a statement. “Our mission is to inspire children so it’s important we provide our talented colleagues with an environment that is playful and inspires creativity and innovative thinking.” The LEGO Group was intentional about reflecting its sustainability focus in the new campus. Half of the building’s energy will be sourced from the solar panels on the parking garage’s roof, and materials were chosen to minimize the building’s carbon footprint.
“In the same way you build with LEGO bricks, we took elements our people love and brought them all together to create something unique,” explained Anneke Beerkens, senior workplace anthropologists for LEGO Group. “For example, employees told us that they wanted the freedom to choose an environment that suited them best for whatever they were working on, but also liked to stay close to teammates. So we built team ‘neighborhoods’ which are a mix of individual and collaborative workspaces designed to create a caring environment where people can do great quality work.”
