Where creativity knows no bounds
Everyone knows them, loves them and had at least
one box of them as a child. We‘re talking about
LEGO building blocks. The creative modular system
whose success story began in 1932 in the Danish
town of Billund continues to delight young and old
alike. The small town in Denmark, home to the world‘s
first Legoland, has been enriched by yet another
attraction since September 2017 – the spectacular
LEGO House designed by the famous architectural
firm BIG -– Bjarke Ingels Group. The 23-meter-high
complex consists of 21 stacked boxes and, covering
a total area of 12,000 square meters, allows fans
from all over the world to feel the magic of the LEGO
universe and discover LEGO all year round. The
building, which was worked on for about four years,
houses around 25 million LEGO bricks, which visitors
can use have fun with in four different color-coded adventure
zones. The color concept of these individual
areas uses the classic LEGO colors, each of which
represents a special aspect of children‘s playing and
learning: Red stands for ingenuity and spontaneous,
free-form creativity, blue for cognitive learning, green
for role-playing as well as storytelling and yellow for
the emotions that are part of the game. When it came
to the choice in floor coverings, too, the architectural
office paid close attention to matching the floors with
the aforementioned LEGO colors, deciding in favor
of the solution from nora systems due to the positive
properties of nora’s rubber floors, such as environmental
sustainability, robustness, and ease of cleaning. These
can be adapted on a large scale to individual and
customer-specific color design requirements, even if
they are outside the standard range. Finally, nora‘s
complete solution won them over, and the nora steptreads
fit seamlessly into the overall design and create
a seamless transition into the different color worlds of
Lego.
To show one’s true colors
In the planning of the LEGO House, it was especially
important to design the exhibition areas as well as the
public spaces while taking into account the values and
colors of the LEGO brand and combining these aspects.
„The colors, especially the most important colors of the
Lego bricks – red, blue, yellow and green – play an
important role here and are used in the play areas on
the first and second floors, where they reflect the different
aspects of child learning,“ explained Finn Nørgaard,
project manager and partner of BIG. In addition to the
matching furniture, it was also a major concern of the
Danish architectural group to get the floor covering in
the appropriate color. „We wanted a smooth, solidcolored
floor in the main LEGO colors for the adventure
areas. We also needed a black and white floor for both
the historical collection and the Masterpiece Gallery,
which is an exhibition area for particularly outstanding
LEGO creations,” Nørgaard continued.
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Making the customer’s wish come true
The company nora systems, which has already realized
a project with LEGO in China in 2015, quickly turned
out to be the ideal partner for color design and customization.
The nora development team confidently set
itself the task of creating the desired color shades. “Our
task was to exactly match the four LEGO specific shades
as well as another three shades per main shade
– that‘s a total of twelve shades,” explained Arnold
Ungar from the Design Department at nora systems.
“Although it was a long process, after about three
rounds of voting, it was finally time and we had the right
shades and once again proved that we do everything
humanly possible to implement individual customer
requirements,” Ungar added. The black and white
variant that was additionally requested could be taken
from the standard assortment. And so the LEGO House
in Denmark now has around 6,000 square meters of
noraplan® uni in a wonderfully colorful mix – perfectly
reflecting the spirit of the LEGO philosophy. Moreover,
the seamless installation creates a pleasant, spacious
room feeling.
Proven nora quality
Further requirements from the toy manufacturer for the
floor covering were longevity and the possibility of
easy cleaning. The rubber floor coverings from nora impressed once again: Due to their leakproof surface,
the “Made in Germany” floors are particularly wearresistant
and require no coatings, which makes them
easy and economical to clean. Another plus: They
are low in emissions and have been awarded all the
internationally significant environmental certificates. And
because they contain no plasticizers (phthalates) or
halogens, they contribute significantly to a healthy and
pleasant indoor climate in the LEGO House. In addition,
the nora coverings provide excellent ergonomics
and acoustics. This makes them very comfortable and
almost noiseless – a factor that should not be underestimated
in a relatively large public building that has
large, open spaces and some long corridors. “With
their uniform, smooth, color-coordinated surface, the
rubber coverings blend in perfectly with our design
concept and harmonize with their surroundings. nora
hit the mark with the color hues – and that, in combination
with the product features, was and is the perfect
solution,” Nørgaard said. This makes Denmark’s unique
LEGO House a new architectural landmark in the eyes
architects and building owners and a prime example of
innovation and creativity.
Denmark | English
