The LEGO greenhouse from London Design Week 2011 got lots of coverage from design blogs last fall.
Image found here.
But since LEGO at one time was practically synonymous with winter holidays in our house, it seems appropriate for a post now, too, because for me Christmas and LEGO will forever be inextricably linked. Up until the age of, oh, maybe 12 or so, the LEGO brick is a mighty adjunct to a child’s imagination. There was a time when boxes of new LEGO in some form or other always sat wrapped and waiting under the fronds of our tree the morning of December 25th. And the tradition apparently continues: Still in the strong grip of the recession, the year 2008 saw sales of LEGO climb a record 38% (Los Angeles Times).
Industrial designer Sebastian Bergne was commissioned by LEGO to build the 100,000 brick greenhouse, which was displayed last September in the Northeast Piazza of Covent Garden during London Design Week 2011. Filled with vegetables and flowers, no doubt growing in pots but mulched by brown LEGO bricks, the greenhouse is a plasticine nod to the age-old farmers’ markets of Covent Garden of London, dating back to the 17th Century. The square that housed the original Covent Garden was designed by architect Inigo Jones.
I had a minor fling with market gardening in my late twenties, growing cut flowers for local restaurants, which is when I became acquainted with packets of seed with names like Gypsophila elegans ‘Covent Garden,’ the annual baby’s breath.
Image found here
My personal Covent Garden was actually a tiny plot in a public allotment overlooking the harbor and fishing fleet docks in San Pedro, California. It wasn’t long before I was augmenting failed or dwindling yields of my flowers with cut flowers from the commercial growers. Market gardening is definitely not for the faint of heart (or twitchy lower back).
The LEGO greenhouse elicited quite a few snarky comments on the design blogs. Where’s the door? (There is a small door not pictured.) Why celebrate mass-produced corporatism? Won’t the clear blocks yellow in the sun? How many gazillions of dollars did this cost? If you’ve never had the living room rug buried in a mulch of LEGO on Christmas morning or can’t fathom the appeal of a modular-built greenhouse, I suppose sensible questions like these might be a concern. My only question is, What’s the actual size of those bricks?
Yes as an Aunt to three small litle boys I can safely say Legos are still very much under the tree…
I wish someone was making clear plastic blocks I could build a greenhouse out of. What a cool idea!
Loree, I’m so jealous! I had no one to buy Lego for this year…
Hoov, yes, greenhouses and garden sheds too.
Covent Garden is a vibrant and popular tourist attraction located in the heart of West End theatreland and each year millions of visitors come here to be entertained. This place was originally a fruit and vegetable garden used by the Monks of Westminster and was known as Convent Garden. By 1631 houses were built here by Inigo Jones, one of the most famous architects in London during that period, and Covent Garden was regarded as the most fashionable place to live. After the Great Fire of London in 1666 which destroyed most of the buildings, a marketplace was set-up here in 1670.
I love seeing what people with imagination can do with little plastic bricks. I have always loved Legos, back to the early 70’s when I was a kid building cars and spaceships and things. Now days these ABS molded bricks come in hundreds of shapes, and still capture the dreams and imagination of our youth. Thanks for sharing.