Recently a second year Interior Architecture and Design Student, William Mansell, came in to the office to use LEGO as part of his Final Major Project. We asked William to share his thoughts and this is what he said;

As an Interior Architecture and Design student, the Disruptive Media Learning Lab at Coventry University invited me in and gave me the opportunity to experiment with the LEGO Architecture kit and also the 3D Lix pen. In connection with my Final Major Project, I was able to use the two together to create simple models. With the LEGO Architecture kit I built a water tower, which I am basing my project on. I found the kit easy to use and with the added textured and different architecturally shaped pieces created a nice looking basic, but informative sketch model. I then used the 3D Lix pen to create small objects to give scale such as trees, cars and people. I found this a fun way to create sketch models, however I felt that there needs to be a level of skill to create descent looking models and it is time consuming in comparison to the LEGO. Having completed the models, I was pleased with the outcomes as they got my designs across clearly. Overall I feel both these tools have a future within the design process and will allow designers to create quick models to show off. I think that the LEGO especially will be useful for bridging the language barrier, as it will allow people to communicate and get their ideas across effectively. Already used by some designers such as the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, LEGO is sure to make its home in the model making process. I highly recommend the use of both products for students and designers.

You can see some photos of the models William created below: