Billund, Denmark
“The team has worked hard to create a workspace that reflects our values and instills a sense of fun,” states Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group.
“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. Building this special environment has been a massive collaborative effort and I would like to thank everyone who has contributed.”
After six years of planning and construction, the C. F. Møller Architects-designed new LEGO state-of-the-art campus at the firm’s headquarters in Billund, Denmark is nearing completion.
Located in a large park that is open to the public, the bright and flexible office spaces come together around a spectacular atrium with features and colors inspired by the LEGO Group’s products.
The individual building parts echo the scale of the surrounding LEGO facilities as well as the city of Billund, and the ensemble deliberately avoids uniformity in favor of diversity and playful twists, to reflect the multitude of options that LEGO play represents.
The campus spans 54,000 square meters and houses more than 2,000 employees in eight buildings.
Five hundred employees had already moved into two of the eight new buildings, which also include play areas, lounges, and outdoor parks open to the public.
Hoping to express the core values of the LEGO Group: imagination, creativity, fun, learning, caring, and quality, the inspiration for the new building came from a painting in the LEGO Group owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen’s office.
According to the studio partner Klaus Toustrup, in it, a boy proudly holds up his creation of a building made with LEGO® bricks.
“The painting of the boy and his LEGO creation in the LEGO owner’s office captured this and has been our inspiration and guideline throughout the process,” he added.
“We can learn a lot from the playful and imaginative world that exists in our children.”
This gave the architects license to adopt a more playful approach to their design, something that is apparent in the details of the structure.
These include the use of LEGO bricks in the exterior walls, the placement of two, gigantic yellow bricks on the roof, and an entryway made of bricks.
“The task was to design a super-flexible rational office building, but also a building that could support the strong corporate values and the culture of LEGO,” expounded Toustrup.
The material palette of the buildings, which is dominated by wood and brick, is intended to evoke “light Nordic expression.”
Sustainability is a core tenet for the LEGO Group, referred to as the “Planet Promise.”
To meet this promise, builders covered the roof of the nearby parking garage with 4,150 solar panels to produce more than 1 million kWh which will supply half of the energy of the campus.
The exterior of the garage is decorated with a design inspired by LEGO road playmats in a nod to the company’s iconic products.
The rooftops of the new buildings are covered with Sedum plants which absorb water and CO2 and rainwater will be used to irrigate the green parks in the campus area. ‘
Inside, for example, the consultants chose a special gypsum fibreboard material over standard materials because this stronger material requires less steel framing, saving 22 tons of steel and 650 tons CO2 emissions.
Wherever possible, internal walls are built from gypsum fibreboard to reduce the amount of steel framing and help minimize the building’s embodied carbon.
When finalized in 2022, the central area called “People House” will offer a large auditorium, fitness center, arts and crafts workshop, café, and accommodation for employees visiting Billund.
“Lego campus is like a mini-city, where the houses as neighborhoods are connected by inner streets, stairs, squares, and activity areas,” concludes Toustrup.
“Being a part of this project has been amazing in every way.”
“As a child, LEGO was a big part of my life, so being allowed to revisit this has been like becoming a child again.”
Project: LEGO Campus
Architects: C. F. Møller Architects A/S
General Contractor: KIRKBI
Client: KIRKBI
Photographer: Adam Mørk
