From the Series
Danish/Icelandic architectural practice Krads have collaborated with toy manufacturer Lego to create Playtime, a traveling workshop.
The workshops are aimed at students of architecture and in these playful and fast-paced sessions they are encouraged to explore and study using the Lego.
Students are required to do various exercises and projects, relating to an array of architectural themes and principles. Krads tell students to put computers, pens and tracing paper aside, in favour of doing their “sketching” directly in 3D with the Lego.
Working with Lego bricks ensures an element of play as well as providing a parametrical platform for the students to work with. As a strictly modular system the bricks pose challenging obstructions. Lego is the only medium allowed in the workshops as it is ideal for building up forms and spaces, testing ideas, taking them apart and reassembling them.
Each workshop has two tutors, provided by Krads, to guide the students. Lego supplies the materials, a total of 65kg of Lego bricks.
A recent installation at the Reykjavik Art Museum was a small offspring of the Playtime project. It had videos from previous workshops projected on the floor of the museum and a big podium filled with Lego bricks inviting visitors to build up their own cityscape.
