Opening Up: A chat with the LEGO® Architecture Tower Bridge set designer

We recently had a jolly spiffing time returning to a favorite (actually, sorry, favoUrite) destination of LEGO Architecture.

The Big Smoke. The City. London.

Specifically, we were inspired to recreate the iconic Tower Bridge landmark in LEGO® form. The result is an incredible, 3,745 piece set that’s as highly detailed as it is highly suitable for display.

But as with the iconic Tower Bridge itself, there is more to our set than meets the eye… To reveal all, we sat down with Senior Model Designer Jae Won Lee to talk about how this set came to be!

Stepping onto the bridge

After working as an architect in Korea for 14 years, Jae Won made the leap with his family to Billund, Denmark to become a LEGO designer. From there, it was a comparatively quick jump over to the UK to kickstart the Tower Bridge project, as Jae Won explains.   

“In the early design stages, I visited London with my daughter to take reference photos. It was actually our first trip alone together.”

“I remember as I was taking countless photos of the bridge, she kept asking why I needed so many pictures. But I couldn’t explain the real reason, because the project was confidential – even to my family!”

Spot the difference

Now, those of you with a good memory might remember that we have previously released a LEGO Creator Expert Tower Bridge set. So, what makes this one different?

“The biggest difference is the addition of the river”, says Jae Won. “We’ve also dialed up the overall level of realism in the architectural details. Although the scale is actually smaller than the previous version, the proportions and details of this set are closer to the real bridge.”

“Another important improvement is that we specifically engineered the set to be lightweight and easy to move for display purposes.”

And what a display it is! But of course, it’s a LEGO set, so we didn’t just want it to be a display model. It had to be a working model.

“The biggest design challenge was definitely fitting the bridge’s opening, locking and closing mechanism into such a compact space, all while ensuring the set remained stable.” The raised central bascules which can be displayed either open or closed in the finished set was absolutely the most difficult part for Jae Won. But it is also the aspect of the set he is most proud of.

“Being able to create a mechanism that works smoothly, while still maintaining the overall stability of the model was incredibly rewarding!”

Hidden features

Not that there aren’t other parts of the set that Jae Won is especially pleased with!

He highlights, for example, how he used roof plates from the LEGO Architecture Himeji Castle to represent the surface of the River Thames. (Who doesn’t love it when designers find cool new uses for unexpected bricks?!)

In addition, the coat of arms on the bridge was included as a nod to the first LEGO Creator Expert Tower Bridge set and there’s also a super-duper-hidden Easter egg related to some of the bridge’s traffic… but that’s another story for another day.

To finish, we asked Jae Won what he is most excited about, now that the set has been officially announced, and his hard work is finally revealed.

“I think my daughter might finally understand why her dad was so obsessed with photographing the bridge!”

“I think it will make the set even more meaningful for both of us, as it will always remind us of that special first trip together. I’m really excited about that.”

We’re not crying, you’re crying.