{"id":263178,"date":"2025-09-08T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?page_id=263178"},"modified":"2025-09-08T11:17:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:17:57","slug":"lego-group-boston-hub-bdg-architecture-and-design","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/lego-group-boston-hub-bdg-architecture-and-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick By Brick: Rediscover Play at the Lego Group Boston Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The custom desk and ceiling treatment in reception both reference Lego, while ducks made from the bricks nod to the Make Way for Ducklings children\u2019s book and Nancy Sch\u00f6n sculpture in Boston Public Garden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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September 8, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Rebecca Dalzell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>Eric Laignel\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Brick By Brick: Rediscover Play at the Lego Group Boston Hub<\/h1>\n\n\n

Ask an architect how they got started, and there\u2019s a good chance they\u2019ll mention a childhood obsession with Lego bricks. \u201cOur entire team loves them,\u201d affirms Lydia Randall, director and ESG lead at BDG Architecture + Design<\/a>, recalling building toy bridges with them. That history came in handy as she, creative director Mitch James, and their BDG associates conceived the Lego Group Boston Hub, otherwise known as the Danish company\u2019s U.S. headquarters. Everyone intuitively understood how two Lego connect, she says, and that simple concept informed the design of the 157,000-square-foot workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lego grip together when round studs on the top of one piece click into the tubes on the bottom of another. \u201cThey interlock to give you a unique clutch power that holds your creation together but can be disassembled to make something new,\u201d says Skip Kodak, a Lego Group senior vice president and lead executive for the Boston Hub. \u201cIt\u2019s a key part of our brand. That versatility and ability to iterate had to come through here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step Into a World of Imagination at the Lego Group Boston Hub<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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At the Lego Group Boston Hub, the Danish toy company\u2019s six-level, 157,000-square-foot U.S. headquarters by BDG Architecture + Design, each floor has a color identity, which, in a collaboration area on six, is carried out in acoustic-felt Buzzijet pendant fixtures, Proto sofas by Nick Ross, and letters framed in clear acrylic filled with Lego bricks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BDG has worked with the toy company for many years, formulating sales offices and production facilities around the world. But the Boston project is a much larger scale, a global hub for 800 employees spread across six floors. For 50 years, the Lego Group\u2019s U.S. base was in Enfield, Connecticut; it moved to Boston to expand its capabilities and attract top talent. An inspiring workplace that forged a sense of community was crucial to this strategy. The Lego Group asked BDG to create an office that felt both playful and sophisticated, incorporating its identity in fresh and subtle ways. (Lego, by the way, is an abbreviation for leg godt<\/em>, Danish for play well<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program includes a barista bar, more than 90 casual and formal meeting areas, and unique spaces like a novelty showroom and a creative play lab, where the innovation team explores ideas for new Lego sets. BDG conceived a floor plan that, Randall says, \u201ccreates attractive destinations and dynamic journeys up and down the building.\u201d The team placed collaborative and social zones on the interior of each floor and open workstations along the perimeter, democratizing the views, which encompass Back Bay, Fenway Park, the Charles River, and the Emerald Necklace parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BDG Architecture + Design Brings Fun Into The Lego Group Workplace<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The custom desk and ceiling treatment in reception both reference Lego, while ducks made from the bricks nod to the Make Way for Ducklings children\u2019s book and Nancy Sch\u00f6n sculpture in Boston Public Garden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Circles representing the stud and tube of a Lego brick appear throughout in various scales, from penny tiles to meeting rooms. The scheme centers on a colorful spiral stair wrapped in tubular acoustic felt; a semicircular huddle space marks each landing. \u201cWe planned little moments of discovery and different types of areas for people to work in,\u201d James adds. Employees may use curtained circular rooms for focused work or informal meetings, or hunker down in cozy nooks hidden under the stairs. They can also noodle around in a play space with buckets of botanical-themed Lego and green base plates along the walls, or idly stack pieces applied to the side of columns. For the Lego Group, the toy\u2019s ubiquity is strategic. \u201cPlay helps people unlock potential,\u201d Kodak explains, \u201cbecause as they physically do something, it enables their brain to move as well, as opposed to being stuck.\u201d Thus, there\u2019s a bin of Lego in every meeting room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t easy to bring such playfulness into a professional setting. \u201cA challenge with Lego is making it feel fun and creative without it looking like kindergarten,\u201d James continues. \u201cIt requires a controlled use of color while adding different types of materiality, texture, and pattern.\u201d BDG ensured that workspaces feel calm and neutral and reserved louder tones for common areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unleash Your Inner Child at This Colorful HQ<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Custom lacquered-millwork islands with colored Formica doors anchor each pantry; this one on the green 8th floor also has upholstered Hula stools by Benjamin Hubert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The team dialed back on the primary shades used in the brand\u2019s logo and incorporated a wider palette that also informs wayfinding. Each floor has a color identity balanced with complementary hues. The reception level is green, a nod to the Emerald Necklace, while the barista bar is swathed in trademark Lego yellow. Passersby can see the stack of colors from the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it goes beyond simply splashing bright paint on the walls. Color is brought in through a variety of materials, like ceramic tile, acoustic felt, and Formica. \u201cThe number of finishes in this project is massive\u2014much more than we usually use,\u201d James notes. For instance, in the pantry on the orange floor, the color appears on the lacquered island, pendant fixtures, and banquette upholstery; for the backsplash, glossy white tiles have circular reliefs that subtly reinforce the stud and tube motif. \u201cThere are repeated themes, so even if the color changes, there\u2019s a sense of familiarity on every floor,\u201d Randall says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See How Legos Are Incorporated Into the Workplace Design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Custom barista-area pendants made of Lego. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Lego Minifigures in an elevator lobby. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Moveable Lego on a column.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lego infuse the decor in surprising ways. In the elevator lobbies, painted high-density foam forms inspired by them serve as lift signs, and integrated circular niches contain Lego Minifigures chosen by employees. Pendants in the barista bar look like glass orbs but are in fact made entirely of Lego; BDG produced them in collaboration with the company\u2019s model shop. The bricks also compose color blocks along the wall in reception, continuing in vinyl streaks across the ceiling\u2014and a single, nearly 13-foot-long one in white solid-surfacing forms the desk. \u201cLego bricks are considered part of the architecture, they\u2019re baked into the design,\u201d James says. But that doesn\u2019t make them any less fun: A line of plastic yellow ducks near the desk honors a classic children\u2019s book set in Boston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees are loving all of it. \u201cThe space has a spirit and an energy that makes them excited to show up,\u201d Kodak says. Hybrid workers are spending more days in the office, and colleagues feel connected. And BDG keeps building this vibe: The firm is currently working on the Lego Group London Hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside The Lego Group’s Colorful Boston HQ<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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A Lego mural of the Boston skyline animates the 7th-floor collab area outfitted with Bob sofas by Thomas Bernstrand and Stefan Borselius and Ola Giertz\u2019s LIV stools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Lego form the logo behind the reception desk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tubular PET acoustic felt wallcovering wraps the stairway; BDG worked with the structural engineer to design a stepped cut for circular stair openings, reducing the amount of material removed from the slab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Floor colors are visible from outside the office, which occupies a 20-story new-build by Elkus Manfredi Architects.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Knolling artwork with vertical lines of Lego hangs in an open office area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Architecture Meets Imagination at This Workplace<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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LED pendants and acoustic ceiling baffles curve above the town hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cork-rubber floors much of the office, including this pantry on 10 with a custom sofa and a Bond side table by Aust & Amelung. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The stair color changes depending on the floor, this stretch going from nine to 10.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In reception, color blocks made of Lego transition to self-adhesive vinyl stripes on the ceiling. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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RBW\u2019s Print pendant, an Ionna Vautrin Pion table, and chairs by Form Us With Love furnish a huddle nook on 10.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ceiling fixtures, acoustic rafts, and air-conditioning channels form concentric circles in meeting rooms enclosed by demountable glass partitions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Workplace Rooted In Creativity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Lukas Peet\u2019s Column pendants, Santi Moix\u2019s Flora Bloom rug, and a Lego raven mark the 10th-floor stair landing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Niels Diffrient Liberty task chairs and height-adjustable Q40 desks stand on ReForm Maze carpet tile in an open office area on eight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pantry backsplashes are fitted with glossy ceramic tiles by Kho Liang Ie, this one on six also furnished with Vimini chairs by Patricia Urquiola.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A mosaic mural made from Lego in a 9th-floor collab area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A reception desk detail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Another Lego Minifigure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Elevator signs in painted high-density foam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A Lego Botanical set in a play space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Johan Ansander\u2019s Max chairs on the 7th-floor stair landing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
PROJECT TEAM<\/h6><\/div><\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

BDG ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN: <\/strong>TOBY NEILSON; TANIA BAGULEY; YATIN PATEL; JOYCE PUN; SHUCHEN WANG. MOBILE OFFICE ARCHITECTS:<\/strong> ARCHITECT OF RECORD. THE FURNITURE PRACTICE: <\/strong>FURNITURE CONSULTANT. ACRYLICIZE:<\/strong> BRANDING, SIGNAGE. LUX COLLABORATIVE:<\/strong> LIGHTING DESIGN. MCNAMARA SALVIA:<\/strong> STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. SYSKA HENNESSY GROUP:<\/strong> MEP. MARK RICHEY WOODWORKING:<\/strong> MILLWORK. STRUCTURETONE:<\/strong> GENERAL CONTRACTOR. OPTIMIST ADVISORY; REDGATE:<\/strong> PROJECT MANAGERS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRODUCT SOURCES<\/h6><\/div><\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

FROM FRONT<\/strong>
+HALLE:<\/strong> SOFAS, TABLES (6 COLLAB, 9 COLLAB), CHAIRS (NOOK). BUZZISPACE:<\/strong> PENDANT FIXTURES (6 COLLAB, PANTRIES). BL\u00c5 STATION:<\/strong> SOFAS, TABLES (7 COLLAB), CHAIRS (7 LANDING). TURF DESIGN:<\/strong> CEILING BAFFLES (TOWN HALL), WALLCOVERING (NOOK). COR:<\/strong> SIDE TABLE (PANTRY). CREATACOR:<\/strong> CEILING VINYL (RECEPTION). FEELUX LIGHTING:<\/strong> NEON STRIPS. SANCAL:<\/strong> TABLE (NOOK). RBW:<\/strong> PENDANT FIXTURE. OBJECT CARPET:<\/strong> RUG. KVADRAT:<\/strong> CURTAIN FABRIC. ARCH STREET:<\/strong> PARTITIONS (MEETING ROOMS). BENTLEY MILLS:<\/strong> BLUE CARPET. NANIMARQUINA:<\/strong> RUG (10 LANDING). A-N-D LIGHT:<\/strong> PENDANT FIXTURES (LANDINGS). ARCHITECTURAL FLOORING RESOURCE: <\/strong>FLOORING (GREEN PANTRY). ANDREU WORLD:<\/strong> STOOLS. LUMENWERX:<\/strong> CURVILINEAR PENDANT FIXTURE (PANTRIES). TEGAN LIGHTING:<\/strong> CURVILINEAR COVE. EUREKA:<\/strong> PENDANT FIXTURES (OFFICE AREA). HUMANSCALE:<\/strong> TASK CHAIRS. HOLMRIS B8:<\/strong> DESKS. MOSA: <\/strong>BACKSPLASH TILE (ORANGE PANTRY). KETTAL:<\/strong> CHAIRS.
THROUGHOUT<\/strong>
ZANDUR: <\/strong>CORK-RUBBER FLOORING. EGE: CARPET TILE. FORMICA:<\/strong> CABINETRY. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.; SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY: <\/strong>PAINT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n