The Art of LEGO Design
Fred G. Martin · 1996
There is a real need for better resources for both fledgling and intermediate LEGO builders. The plans that the LEGO company distributes with its kits are very good at showing how to build specific models, but not so good at teaching how to design from one’s own ideas. At the MIT Media Laboratory, we’re working on a project we call the LEGO Constructopedia, a hypermedia resource for LEGO designers that will include LEGO building plans, design principles, textual descriptions, and rendered animations, all interlinked, indexed, and browsable. The project is just beginning and is still in the conceptual stages; this article is my attempt to present some of the content of our proposed LEGO Constructopedia in a more traditional form. The article begins with an analysis of the structural principles of the LEGO system, continues with a discussion of gears, gear reduction, and geartrains, and finishes with a visual assortment of various building tricks or “cliches.” Interspersed throughout are numerous diagrams and sample models to illustrate the ideas being presented. I hope that LEGO aficionados at all levels from novice to expert will find something of interest here.