Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published April 8, 2022.

Join us as we tell the story of a super-exclusive tour of LEGO’s new Campus in Billund—two months ahead of its official opening this week!

LEGO CAMPUS, from LEGO’s own press release. Photo by Adam Mørk

Technically, it’s not entirely correct to say that LEGO’s new headquarters opened this week. The business part of the building, with offices for people working in company management, has been operational for a while, but the part of the building that recently opened its doors for the first time was the so-called People House, which will undoubtedly have an incredible impact on the everyday life of all LEGO employees in Billund. You will understand why later when I explain what this building is all about.

LEGO SET #4000038 LEGO Campus, only for LEGO employees. Photo courtesy of Brickset

But for the official opening, collectors all over the world were amazed to see a new Architecture-style set depicting the building, only to be handed out to the employees who are lucky enough to work in the actual HQ itself—which is only around 2,000 people. I haven’t been able to get my hands on one of those sets (Edit: That’s still technically correct, but I now know I will in September!) but I got pretty lucky, too, way back in January: Along with a select few other Scandinavian AFOLs, I was allowed to see the inside of the building before the vast majority of the actual employees had a chance to do the same!

An Inconspicuous Request

In late November last year, the former chairman of our Norwegian LUG, Brikkelauget, posted a message on our forum saying that they’d had a request from LEGO for some MOCs to be displayed at the new headquarters, LEGO Campus, in Billund. The models would be put in special glass cases of various sizes like the ones in LEGO House, and the deadline for applying was very short, only a couple of weeks. That meant attempting to build something specifically for this was not a good solution, so they were mainly looking for AFOLs who had something already built that they could lend to LEGO for a few months.

This suited me perfectly, as I don’t like building under pressure—am I a weird AFOL for not doing that? It also means I’d never consider being on LEGO Masters and don’t really do contests. I just don’t enjoy them! I also haven’t built much in the past few years because my LEGO time has simply been eaten up by other things such as BrickNerd, events and… marriage (not a bad thing). So I basically volunteered up a lot of MOCs I had sitting around—the Hoonicorn which I wrote about last year, my LEGO LEGO store (see what I did there?) and quite a few models from my everlasting Updated Classics project (which I promise to eventually do a separate article about).

LEGO LEGO Store, headed for LEGO Campus!

In mid-December I got the email I had been hoping to get: I had been selected as one of the builders for the Campus Display! We were told that we’d have to get to Billund by ourselves, with all our MOCs, and in my case that meant travelling from Bergen, Norway to Copenhagen, Denmark by plane, renting a car and driving the not-quite three hours to LEGO Campus. LEGO would cover our stay in Billund, but not our travel—although for those of us who had the furthest to go, they would offer “compensation in the form of LEGO sets”. Which is always a very nice sentence to hear as an AFOL.

The MOCs were selected and assigned to the various glass cases, and the only things left to do were to make sure I had time off from work and to pack everything as safely as possible for the flight—the clue is to avoid as much air as possible and pack compact so that anything potentially fragile has nowhere to go—and then head to The Promised Land! Which is how, with a negative COVID-19 test in place and the mandatory online LEGO Health & Safety course completed, I found myself outside Hotel Svanen in Billund on a lovely morning in late January, in the rather exclusive company of the seven other selected builders.

Lars and myself, representing Norway and Brikkelauget on this beautiful Billund morning

Initial Impressions

LEGO had reached out to the three Scandinavian LUGs, Brikkelauget in Norway, Byggepladen in Denmark and Swebrick in Sweden, so the builders in question were myself, my fellow countryman Lars Barstad (Lego Fjotten), Swedes Anders Horvath (Anders67), Oscar Cederwall (oOger, the guest writer behind our lovely SNOT articles) and LEGO Masters Sweden finalist Peter Ilmrud (Zilmrud), and Anne Mette Vestergård (Anne Mette V) and the father/son duo (LEGO Masters Denmark celebrities) Kim Petersen and Rune Lander Petersen (The Dragon Builder) from Denmark.

We met up with Jan Beyer from LEGO outside the hotel—he was going to help us get into the building, which would otherwise be pretty much impossible. Security, as we would later discover, was super tight, especially in the People House. With Jan, we were able to unload our cars and get everything inside easily, after having been equipped with some super cool looking LEGO ID badges (which we sadly had to hand in at the end of the day):

As you might be able to tell from the picture, it was an early start. And in case you were wondering: No, LEGO hasn’t started with racial profiling. “White” is the colour code for which areas at LEGO Campus we were allowed to visit…

We were led to the area where our builds would be on display, and where the glass cases were waiting for us: The giant, multi-storied atrium by the main entrance to LEGO Campus. If you get the opportunity to visit the building before the Skærbæk Fan Weekend in September when we’ll be onsite to take them back home with us when their time at LEGO Campus is finished, you’ll find them at the far end of the hall after having walked through the entrance.

This also gave us a first glimpse of the architecture of the interior of the building, which is certainly impressive—just have a look at this:

The grand atrium by the main entrance to LEGO Campus. Technicians were working on the giant screens as we were setting up our models in the glass cases just visible in the far end of the room at the bottom of the picture

Then it was time to set everything up. Luckily, Scandinavian Airlines had been kind to my MOCs, so there were no major disasters, but it still took a while to get everything into place—I had, after all, been forced to pack things a bit more sturdy than the others, who all had come to Billund by car, so I didn’t feel that bad about being the last to finish. I wanted to enjoy the occasion as well and had to take some pictures, too—especially as this was pretty much the only part of the building where we were allowed to do just that. Plus, being a car guy, I just had to have a closer look at this:

This is the real deal, a one-of-a-kind, driveable, full-size lego bugatti chiron

Yep, that’s the one and only full-scale, driveable LEGO version of the Bugatti Chiron supercar. How cool is that? This is parked in the atrium. I had seen the video of it actually moving, obviously, but being able to see the real thing up close, even if it was standing still and being prepared for the opening of the building, was just amazing. Especially because I was actually present at the LEGO Fan Media Days back in June 2018 when the Technic Chiron was first unveiled. At that point, there was an actual Bugatti Chiron on display in LEGO House, which is nice and all… but this one is arguably even more exclusive!

The Jutlandia, by Arjan Oude Kotte, safely on display at LEGO Campus. good to see, particularly as she was at one point lost and then rediscovered by accident… in a norwegian warehouse, of all places

We spent the better part of three hours getting everything done, only interrupted by lunch in the LEGO Campus canteen—needless to say, lovely and healthy food—and along the way discovered that there was also at least one other fan-made creation on display in the building, namely the wonderful LEGO version of the Danish hospital ship Jutlandia, made on commission by Dutch ship builder extraordinaire Arjan Oude Kotte a few years ago.

On our way back to the atrium we walked past another intriguing feature of LEGO Campus: A super exclusive restaurant where the quality of the food is promised to be Michelin-star level—but that one is by invitation only, much like Le Gourmet in the LEGO House before it closed. At least now the top brass actually have a place in Billund to take their business partners when they visit!

Finally, all the MOCs were set up, the cool custom-printed 1x16 bricks with our names and LUGs on them were added to the displays, the glass lids were lifted in place, and we could take a (very brief) moment to discover what the other builders had brought: Some truly gorgeous models spanning from my City-themed stuff to science fiction and fantasy to a Harry Potter train station.

Browse the gallery below to see what we brought!

The Grand Tour

But everything we had experienced thus far was about to be eclipsed completely by the next item on our schedule—and probably the thing you’re most excited to read about—namely a super exclusive tour of the building, particularly the People House part, which is surely unique in its kind, at least outside of Silicon Valley.

Hacker Square, the centre of FACEBOOK HQ, now Meta

Quite a few years ago, when the now omnipresent giant tech companies like Meta/Facebook, Google and Apple started growing enormously, pictures of their amazing headquarters, or campuses, as they were commonly referred to, went viral. Indoor slides, big halls full of slot machines and pinball games, restaurants with free food, sports facilities — these were all regular features. And one can understand the idea that creative people will perform better in their job with creative surroundings—plus, of course, the added bonus of employees staying at work for longer hours because it’s quite simply fun to be there.

What LEGO has now built in Billund—not only for employees, but also for employees’ families and, we were told, even retired employees and their partners!—is most certainly a place that you could understand people wouldn’t want to leave.

About to embark on the super top secret tour of LEGO Campus

We were given this tour on the condition that we didn’t take pictures, so any illustrations for this next part are from LEGO’s own press release. We also had to promise not to talk about what we saw until the building was officially opened and the embargo was lifted. And the tour happened so early that very few of LEGO employees had even been allowed to enter the building (one of the employees who accompanied us admitted that he did so mainly because he was so curious to see what it looked like because he hadn’t been allowed in there before). In fact, us wandering around in there at all was pretty much unheard of.

This led to us, on more than one occasion, being stopped by security guards simply insisting that we were not allowed to be in there and that we would have to leave immediately, upon which our guides would have to refer to the people higher up the ladder who had given permission for the tour. So the only people in the building were us, the security guards, and the odd contractor working on electronics and adding finishing touches to the interior.

The fact that we couldn’t take pictures means I have to rely on my memory to tell you what we saw. That shouldn’t be too difficult though, because it left a big impression. I have been fortunate enough to visit the Silicon Valley headquarters of both Meta (back when it was Facebook—that was, weirdly, also LEGO related, but let’s save that for another article) and Google, and those are the only two places I’ve seen that are vaguely reminiscent of this. But LEGO Campus still comes across as cooler and fresher… and, as is expected in this day and age, it’s obviously all environmentally friendly, to the extent that all outdoor furniture has been made from waste LEGO bricks.

A House for the People

So what does the People House contain? Put simply, it’s a playground that all the LEGO people in Billund, and their families, can visit as often as they want, stay at as long as they want, use as much as they want, for free. They can cultivate their hobbies, find new ones, just have a coffee with colleagues, or—maybe particularly in the case of the significant others, or the kids—connect with other people in a similar life situation.

And the possibilities are almost endless. There are, of course, build rooms for kids to build with LEGO. There are yoga rooms, meditation rooms, and prayer rooms. There is a big kitchen with space enough for a whole master class, where people can take food courses or run them. An arts and crafts room with 3D printers, sewing machines, and equipment to print on T-shirts. And this:

A big high-tech sports hall that, at first glance, doesn’t have any markings on the floor—until you push the button on the wall that says “volleyball” upon which LED lights embedded in the floor surface will form the required markings for volleyball. Or badminton. If you select basketball, the baskets automatically are lowered from the ceiling.

I looked at this picture and realised that these yellow things must be the foundations for the mini golf course! DRONE photo by LEGO

There are rooms that employees can book for celebrations and anniversaries, and several of them are themed—one that we were shown had a wall covered with LEGO rubber tires, and the brand awareness shines through in everything. There are coffee places in several locations, one of them next to a corner where milestones from the company history are highlighted. And right next to that, one of my favourite features:

A mini golf course that starts inside the building and then continues on the roof, next to the greenhouse where people can grow their own flowers or herbs. I wish I had a picture of that!

Oh, and I almost forgot! LEGO Campus has a hotel. With sixty-odd rooms. But of course it does! Not the kind of hotel where you and I can book a room, but a hotel for LEGO employees from other parts of the world so they won’t have to stay elsewhere when they visit the Mothership in Billund. The rooms are cozy but small; this is on purpose, as they are mainly for sleeping. Spare time is obviously better spent elsewhere in the building!

It is, after all, a building that also has a giant fitness studio (if I remember correctly, our tour guide claimed it was the largest corporate fitness studio in Denmark, or at least among the largest), a movie theatre that can maybe spawn a film club or just be a place to go to watch that cinema classic in the quality that it deserves—or use the karaoke facilities, if you’re so inclined—and then there’s this amazingly cozy room with a fireplace:

If this doesn’t exude ***hygge***, I don’t know what does. Photo by Adam Mørk

The image on the big brick wall is there for a reason: It’s a cropped LEGO mosaic version of a big painting by Peter Stimeling that hangs in Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen’s office. When the creative minds of C.F. Møller Architects were working on ideas for the building, their first proposals didn’t quite meet the company owner’s expectations. He wanted the new HQ to be more playful, and showed them the painting to inspire them. Now a brick-built copy is located at the very hub of People House.

The original painting from Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen’s office that inspired the architects

We walked past this area for the second time as we headed back out of the building, our minds spinning from all the impressions. I was certainly thinking that if I were ever offered a job inside LEGO and had to consider bringing my family to Billund with me, this building is the kind of thing that would make that decision much more likely to swing in the favour of becoming a Dane.

Filling Up Empty Suitcases

After having thanked our tour guides thoroughly for this unique experience, we were very kindly allowed into the employee store, another LEGO Campus treasure trove now relocated in the main building. The new premises are much lighter than the old ones, but let’s be honest: That’s not what our main focus was. We gave our best “kids in the candy store” impression and made sure that any luggage space that had been freed up by the MOCs (that were now safely in place in their glass boxes) was exploited to the maximum on the way home… and then we were handed the “travel compensation”, which didn’t make things easier. Oh, the pain.

The art of Tetris: Good luck cramming all this into two checked bags on the flight back home (I managed!)

So what more is there to say? I have a nice employer, and I like my job. But my employer doesn’t spend millions upon millions of dollars on a building solely dedicated to making me enjoy my spare time more. Granted, my employer doesn’t make eight billion dollars a year, either, but still—it’s easy to be envious of the LEGO employees in Billund.

Now, I’ve never wanted to become a LEGO designer. At least not seriously, after getting to know quite a few people who do that for a living—not even those who insist that this is their dream job. I’d be too afraid to lose the fun of the hobby, and of the restraints that are provided by tight deadlines, quality control, the need to deliver understandable instructions, and so on. But maybe a job in LEGO’s PR department? Or something AFOL-related?

I have to admit it: Knowing that I would have the People House at my disposal does make it a whole lot more tempting.

The gang after having installed the MOCs in the atrium, left to right: Anne Mette Vestergård, Rune Lander Petersen, Oscar Cederwall, Peter Ilmrud, Are M Heiseldal, Jan Beyer (LEGO), Kim Petersen, Anders Horvath and Lars Barstad

Would you want to visit LEGO Campus? Does the new building make it more tempting to attempt to land a job at LEGO in Billund? Are you dying to get your hands on that sweet new Architecture set? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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