A plastic fantastic, life-size LEGO teardrop trailer made from over 200,000 assorted LEGO bricks boasts electric power, running water and a fold-up bed.

Given enough LEGO bricks, plenty of time and a LOT of patience, one can construct just about anything. Of course, really big things like, say, life-size vehicles, demand exorbitant amounts of LEGO bricks. In the case of this Guinness World Record-winning “largest caravan built with interlocking plastic bricks,” the number of bricks required comes to exactly 215,158. Give or take a couple of extras to step on in the dark.

“Caravan”, by the way, is the British term for tow-able travel trailers. The term is being used here (and at Guinness) because the trailer’s public debut took place at the British National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire. A total of 12 modelers worked for over two months and racked up more than 1,000 man-hours to construct the trailer, which appears perfectly authentic – from a distance, at least.

Closer in, there’s an “8-bit-ish” look to the trailer and its many accessories, a consequence of its unique construction. Step inside and the brick brilliance rises to another level: a two-element oven range and frying pan “cooks” a brick breakfast of eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes, soon to join a vase of fresh-cut flowers on the kitchen table.

A LEGO milk carton chills in the ‘fridge while off in the bathroom, matching toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste await beside the functional sink. After dinner, relax with a game of chess – it isn’t just the castles that are made of bricks.

This LEGO teardrop trailer can support such a roomy, well-equipped lifestyle because it’s, well, life-sized at 3.6 meters (11.8 ft) in length and standing 2.2 meters (7.2) in height. Plastic or not, the trailer’s anything but fragile, tipping the scales at a hefty 1,200 kg or 2,645 pounds. It’s not all LEGO, though: construction involved layering LEGO bricks over a conventional trailer chassis. This method results in a “practical caravan” that showcases the innate strength and versatility of LEGO’s plastic bricks.

One caveat restraining the designers was that only standard, off-the-shelf LEGO components could be used. Even so, the trailer looks – and works – much like a factory standard classic T@B 320 teardrop trailer. That includes fully-functional electric lighting, plumbing that provides running water, and folding seats that do double-duty as a bed.

This unique LEGO “caravan” made its public debut at the British National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, where it took pride of place at the Caravan and Motorhome Club collection. Bright Bricks, a renowned LEGO building specialist (yes, such a thing exists) constructed the trailer for the National Caravan Council’s “Freedom to Go” campaign.

“Freedom to Go is delighted to have the LEGO caravan on display at the National Motor Museum,” stated Dan Connolly, Freedom to Go’s Campaign Director. “The LEGO caravan was built with the intention of building awareness of leisure vehicles and the great adventures you can have with them,” he added.

A nifty video from Freedom to Go illustrates (with time-lapse effects and an integrated brick counter) how the Bright Bricks team built the trailer. Good thing they documented the process… if YOU had to assemble something from a quarter-million LEGO bricks, would you want to do it again?

Designed by architects from BIG, the new LEGO House is itself huge: a 130,000-square-foot ‘experience center’ welcoming people of all ages to play with and appreciate this ubiquitous toy.

“It has been a dream for me for many years to create a place that will give our visitors the ultimate LEGO experience,” said former president and CEO of LEGO, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen. A mesmerizing set of drone videos below show the building under construction and upon completion.

“With LEGO House, we celebrate creativity and the strength of learning through play. When they play, children learn the basic skills that they need, such as creativity, collaboration and problem-solving abilities.”

Located on the company’s main campus in Billund, Denmark, the building looks like it was made of 21 supersized blocks. Inside, differently colored zones denote different functions — red areas are for creative skills, blue for cognitive skills, green for social skills and yellow for emotional skills.

The venue includes paid attractions as well as experiences that are free and open to the public. Approximately 250,000 guests are expected annually, with around 2,500 visitors on peak days. Fans of their visit can take home something tangible from the experience as well:

The LEGO House opened its doors to the public in late September, coinciding with the release of a 744-piece kit of the building itself.

A London building appears to have fallen victim to an earthquake tremor or foundation collapse, with a jagged section of its brick facade split in half and threatening to collapse altogether. But the deteriorating appearance of this otherwise pristine structure isn’t quite what it seems. Artist Alex Chinneck used 4,000 bricks to create the effect of a ripped piece of paper to create ’Six Pins and a Half Dozen Needles,’ a nearly 66-foot tall sculpture outside a mixed-use complex known as Assembly London.

With the paper reference, the artist pays tribute to the site’s former life as home to the publishing company Hammersmith. Chinneck says he spent months scanning torn sheets of paper to find just the right pleasing edge for the split. The sculpture blends into the main building behind it, partially obscuring a few windows, and its elevated position makes it a real eye-catcher. It’s two bricks deep, and took 14 months to complete, with the help of structural engineers, steelworkers and brick makers. Its stainless steel framework is bolted and welded to the building behind it.

Chinneck previously dropped jaws and raised eyebrows in London with two particularly dramatic installations: an upside-down car clinging to a curling piece of pavement outside the Southbank Centre, and a brick facade sliding off the front of a building in Kent. Unlike these previous works, however, ‘Six Pins’ is permanent.

“The work was onceived to engage people in a fun and uplifting way,” says Chinneck. “Although we use real brick, it was designed with a cartoon-like quality to give the sculpture an endearing artifice and playful personality. I set out to create accessible artworks and I sincerely hope this becomes a popular landmark for London and positive experience for Londoners.”

Presumed a prank at first by online skeptics, authorities have since confirmed that these precisely-stacked cinder blocks were indeed carefully assembled and bonded together to fully block the door of an S-Bahn train in Hamburg.

Placed inside the actual sliding doors, the bricks proved a surprise when the aperture slide open to reveal the blockage. Passengers who managed to board before the intervention was reported were forced to exit at an upcoming station while an investigation was performed and the problem ultimately fixed.

While some may be amused and no one was trapped inside the car, blocked by blocks, the impacts were significant for those faced with cleaning up after this vandalism. The train was routed to a depot and the wall carefully broken down piece by piece, the story ending 12 hours and an estimated 10,000 dollars later.

With no sign of the perpetrators, the biggest clue is the professionalism with which the wall was assembled, apparently by a team of people with construction expertise. With no one claiming credit, overtly or anonymously, one is left to wonder whether some reference to the Berlin Wall was intended or if this was an attempt at some other kind of art or message.

Weathered concrete sides suddenly give way to crisp, clean, multi-colored LEGO blocks stretched across thin air, looking more like something from Minecraft (or Photoshop) than reality. Rest assured, the effect is real, though what you are seeing is (thankfully) not made of plastic.

Iconic 3 by 2 blue, green, yellow and red blocks appear suspended from a thin brick above, all the work of German street artist Megx (images by Rolf Dellenbusch and Lukas Pauer), who has moved on from past court penalties to do officially-sanctioned pieces like the one depicted here.

This project took two weeks, and is part of a larger HighLine-like transformation of elevated railways (in the artist’s hometown of Wuppertal, Germany) into pedestrian thoroughfares. This more-vibrant refacing attracts the eye and signals a more playful new use for this old train overpass.