Citations › Citation ID: 151

C151. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 290.

At that time, a major focus of the adult community was something called the Moon Base Project. It was an open-source venture which defined a universal set of measurements and rigid coupling specifications for modules of a Moon base. Anyone could participate as long as they complied with the established rules that ensured that any two builds, no matter who their creator was, could join together. Fans would then gather at conventions and assemble massive bases. This focus on modularity caught Jamie and Steen’s eye.

Almost immediately the designers realised that incorporating modularity precluded a neighbourhood full of different houses: it would not make sense for such structures to join together. However, an urban setting with closely packed buildings would facilitate such construction while also technically meeting the desire for houses. Like the Moon Base Project, they further concluded that for such a layout to work they would also need rigid rules for how models coupled together, which could never be altered. Accordingly, they began their design process by laying down constraints and measurements as well as brainstorming how they could make their models novel without any new parts.

The modular aspect of the Modular Building Series was inspired by the Moon Base standard developed by the burgeoning AFOL community.