LEGO Icons 10307 Eiffel Tower was designed with ‘no specifications’ on size or price
The LEGO Group has revealed that 10307 Eiffel Tower – one of the biggest sets of all time – was designed without a specific size or price point in mind.
Coming in at £554.99 / $629.99 / €629.99 for 10,001 pieces, 10307 Eiffel Tower is second only to 31203 World Map in terms of the number of bricks in the box. It surpasses last year’s flagship LEGO Icons set, 10294 Titanic, by almost 1,000 pieces, and is also the tallest LEGO set of all time at 149cm. But the aim wasn’t always to achieve those benchmarks right out of the gate.
In fact, according to the set’s designer Rok Žgalin Kobe, 10307 Eiffel Tower was actually designed without a specific budget or piece count in mind – instead, the only aim was to make it as ‘true to scale as possible’, says Zusammengebaut.
“There were basically no specifications regarding size, price or number of parts,” the LEGO Fan Media reports from a conversation with Kobe. “Ultimately, the decisive factor was the implementation of the arches with the rails between the four feet. This determined the other dimensions, as well as the height.” Those arches around the base use inverted dark grey roller coaster tracks – one of several clever part usages in 10307 Eiffel Tower.
The exact number of pieces in the Icons set apparently then fluctuated throughout the design process, but was ultimately guided by the detail imbued into the build. Kobe did admit that had the set fallen just short of what he calls the ‘magical’ 10,000-piece mark, he would have added just enough to take it over the five-figure threshold – but clarified that this was a personal goal, rather than due to any directives from the LEGO Group.
In the end, 10307 Eiffel Tower is the first non-LEGO Art set to edge past 10,000 pieces – if only by one solitary brick. The result is a set that, from our review, is so awkwardly massive that you’re perhaps best displaying it away from the rest of your collection. But it wasn’t always planned that way from the beginning…
10307 Eiffel Tower launches on November 25 for £554.99 / $629.99 / €629.99, kicking off the weekend’s Black Friday celebrations. Purchase before the close of play November 28, and you’ll also receive 40579 Eiffel’s Apartment. Check out our LEGO Black Friday deals page for all the latest offers.
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I had a feeling the roller coaster track dictated the scale, but I wonder if tubes were considered.