LEGO considered revisiting a vintage modular building for 10326 Natural History Museum

The LEGO designer behind 10326 Natural History Museum initially considered revisiting a concept from a previous modular building for the latest entry in the series.

Unveiled earlier this week, 10326 Natural History Museum represents a significant milestone in the Modular Buildings Collection for a number of reasons. It’s the biggest entry so far by piece count, for example, squeezing in a huge 4,014 elements – 12 more than 2017’s 10255 Assembly Square. And it’s only the second modular building to stretch over a 48×32-stud footprint (again following the retiring 10255 Assembly Square).

It’s also the first time olive green has been used as the main colour for a modular building since 2013’s 10243 Parisian Restaurant, a decision that has proven divisive among the fan community. But that wasn’t the only feature designer Chris McVeigh considered borrowing from previous modular buildings for the museum: a vintage building technique almost made the cut, too.

“One of the first building techniques that I explored was for the columns, and for a while to get a column of a specific size, I was considering using the same building technique that we introduced with [10224 Town Hall],” Chris tells Brick Fanatics. “But I wanted to do something that people would find novel and interesting, and so I put the effort into coming up with a different building technique that rolled in a couple of new elements. 

“I think that’s a good example of how sometimes you will revisit concepts, you will revisit building methods, but the starting point is always, ‘What can we do that’s different?’”

That drive to explore new ways of approaching the same problems taps into another key design policy for the modular buildings: ensuring they hold the same appeal no matter whether this is your first or your 15th set in the veteran subtheme.

“I think the strategy for that is just to make sure it’s a great experience for absolutely everyone,” Chris explains. “That does mean making sure that builds, assembly methods and subject matter [are] all fresh, and that they all feel new and different. Again, I use the column construction as an example, because one of the first concepts I had was straight up using the same thing that we saw in the Town Hall. And it could have been fine.

“But I want to have that extra layer, and that extra novelty, so that people who have collected all the buildings aren’t going to build this up and say, ‘Wow, this is just something I’ve seen before.’ Broadly speaking, we try to design these for everyone. And that means keeping the aspect of novelty in, regardless of if we’re designing for new people or people who love modular buildings and have them all.”

10326 Natural History Museum attempts to strike that balance through new building techniques, as per its pillars, and also by delivering something modular fans have been requesting for years. You’ll be able to find out how well it’s succeeded at that task come December 1, when pre-orders start shipping from LEGO.com. Keep an eye out for our review before then.

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