Deconstructing LEGOs

Not every professor has a LEGO-filled office. Then there’s Chris Ingraham. His shelves are lined with builds, from a red VW bus to an entire Japanese village dotted with pink cherry trees. The U associate professor of communication and environmental humanities was only a lukewarm LEGO fan until recently, however. While co-editing the book LEGOfied: Building Blocks as Media with fellow academic Nicholas Taylor, Ingraham gained a newfound appreciation for the colorful bricks and what they represent. Here, he shares his insights.

How did you initially start studying LEGO academically?

My colleague had been playing LEGOs with his kid and sold me on the idea that there’s more to these little plastic bricks than we realize. We came up with the concept that a single 1x1 LEGO brick is the equivalent of a pixel in physical form.

Why is this physical toy so popular in such a digital world?

Part of it is precisely the dominance of digital culture. With toy blocks like LEGO, you’re playing with your hands. You’re hearing them click together. You’re trying not to step on them. It’s a sensory experience that a flat screen doesn’t quite give you.

What do you mean by “LEGOfied”?

We define “LEGOfication” as “the process of translating material—a photograph, a sentiment, an architectural diagram, a cultural icon, an idea, and so on—into LEGO form.” The basic idea is that nearly anything can be translated into LEGO.

You point out that the reverse is true, too.

There are whole worlds in a bunch of bricks. You can make a castle, then say, “the heck with this, I’m going to make a spaceship.” I like to believe we can apply this concept of plasticity to life. One of LEGO’s recent campaigns was “Rebuild the World.” That nails it. You can build something, take it apart, try again, and make it better. We’re trying to use LEGO to explain complex ideas that can help people understand the real worlds that we build and destroy.