LEGO Contest - Japanese Architecture Represented - UPDATED

Here's something from Caroline, a recent reader of the blog - but one who has gone back and actually read every single word I have ever written here. Wow. My wife refuses to read my writing.

She passed along a link to Architizer News... no idea why Caroline would even be there, but I am glad she thought of us here anyway.

This Architizer discusses LEGO's Architecture Series, and how they recently held a contest to PERHAPS find the next LEGO architectural model they should offer for sale - they chose Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67. Click HERE to read about that.

Some of the architectural buildings currently up for sale by LEGO include: Sydney Opera House; Robie House; Farnsworth House; Burj Khalifa; Fallingwater; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Brandenburg Gate; Rockefeller Center; The White House; Seatle's Space Needle; Empire State Building; and Willis Tower  

All well and good... but what has that to do with Japan - It's A Wonderful Rife? Well, besides me being a big fan of LEGO products, the toy brick manufacturer has just started another contest to create the next great Architectural masterpiece, and Japan is represented!

Yup! Check THIS out and see the Nakagin Capsule Tower (when you go to the INSPIRE link at the bottom). Located in Shimbashi, Tokyo, Japan, this mixed residential and office building was constructed in 1972 by Japanese architect Kurokawa Kisho (surname first), and is considered to be a rare, but great, example of the Japanese Metabolism style that is supposed to be representative of the country's post-war cultural resurgence.

I'm not even going to pretend I know what that means.

There's even a second Japanese building in the contest! Check out Myonichikan! Located in the Toshima area of Tokyo, Jiyu Gakuen Girls' School Myonichikan was dubbed the "House of Tomorrow," and was designed by the famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and was completed in 1921.

Myonichikan

The Myonichikan consists of four buildings; the main, the east, and the west buildings and the auditorium. The main building stands with the two classroom buildings to the west and the east forming a U-shape. Constructed of 2 x 4 wood and plaster, Jiyu Gakuen featured a central section with double-height volume and soaring windows facing south onto an open courtyard, with symmetrical wings on the east and west. It was built to child scale, with an architectural richness belying its budget. Myonichikan is also given a Japanese touch by Wright's extensive use of gray-green Oya stone from the town of Oya near the capital city of Utsunomiya in Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture) for pavements, columns and the lanterns standing in the corridors.

Check out this Wikipedia entry HERE for more information on the very cool building - image at the top. 

Oh... and don't forget to vote for your favorite architectural design for LEGO. 

As for Caroline - thanks! You know... if bigamy were legal... just saying, is all.

Andrew Joseph