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"Architecture — a wonderful game"
This was the title, or rather a paraphrase of the French
title ('L'architecture est un jeu ... magnifique') of a 1985
exhibition hosted by the Pompidou Centre in Paris,
where 30 young European architects were given the
opportunity to play with the famous Danish LEGO
bricks. The original idea was actually Dutch, Rotterdam's
Kunststichting arranging a small event the previous year
where ten local architects were let loose on a large
number of LEGO bricks. Such was the success of this first
initiative that the Pompidou Centre decided to expand
the idea to include 30 young aspiring architects from
across Europe—their goal: to each draw an imaginary
villa which would then, brick by brick, be built at LEGO
HQ in Billund.
During the event, many a quotation was used
from the history of architecture. For example, the Italian
Renaissance architect Palladio was quoted alongside
modernists such as Mies van der Rohe and Gerit Rietveld,
the quotes relating to architectural projects from oil
platforms to romantic ruins. It was a case of 'no holds
®
barred' and even though some of the projects produced
by the 30 talents ended in weird and wonderful pseudo-
philosophical comments on opportunities, or rather the
lack of same in the Eighties, it was all, nevertheless, a
wonderful game.
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