Incredible Lego builds from around the world

From rocket ships to race cars, police stations to pirates and all that’s in between – Lego has been a staple toy for more than 75 years.

Allowing kids and adults alike to bring creations to life, the bricks have been the foundations of imagination play for decades.

But what happens when someone – shock horror – decides not to use the instructions or even worse, mixes up different sets? BBC Bitesize explores some of the biggest and boldest Lego builds from around the world.

Lego finds a way

There’s nothing scary about Lego – unless, of course, you stand on a piece barefoot.

But artist Nathan Sawaya has created a fearsome version of a Tyrannosaurus rex entirely out of the plastic bricks.

A former lawyer in New York City, Sawaya quit the legal profession and dedicated his life to one of his childhood passions – Lego.

A Lego version of a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur made up of more than 80,000 beige coloured Lego bricks. It is cast in a green light. — Image caption,
It took more than 80,000 bricks to make this fearsome T.rex

His creations have been off the scale, using the plastic bricks to bring giant ideas to life.

He now travels the world with his exhibition The Art of the Brick, which includes a record-breaking dinosaur.

At 6m (20 ft) long in length, Sawaya’s Dinosaur Skeleton is made up of more than 80,000 individual bricks.

It took Sawaya a whole summer to build it – but it was worth the effort, earning him a world record for largest brick skeleton.

The world’s first functional Lego prosthetic

David Aguilar from Andorra was born without a fully developed right forearm, as the result of a rare disorder, Poland syndrome.

His parents noticed he was a creative child and bought him some Lego at an early age, to boost his development and dexterity. He built planes, cars and a guitar – and then at the age of nine, took things one step further.

He created a prosthesis out of Lego bricks – recycling a toy boat he’d previously built – but it wasn’t strong enough to be used practically.

But when he was 18,in January 2017, he tried again. Using a Lego Technic helicopter set, he built an entirely mechanical and fully functional arm, capable of picking up objects and even being strong enough to do press ups.

David Aguilar, wearing a navy and sky blue horizontal striped t-shirt, holds up a black and sky blue Lego prosthetic arm — Image caption,
David's MK-V Lego prosthetic arm - his fifth iteration - is fully mechanical and functional

He named it the MK-1 – using the same naming convention as Tony Stark does in the Iron Man comics and films.

Aguilar didn’t stop there. Over various iterations of the prosthesis, he created fully motorised versions – meaning they don’t rely on his muscles to activate and are less tiring to use.

He was named a world record holder for creating the first fully functional Lego prosthetic arm – and even took a commission from a family to create prosthetics for a boy born with both arms underdeveloped.

Traditional prosthetic limbs can be prohibitively expensive. Aguilar created a pair of them out of Lego for the little boy for less than £15.

Built for pole position

We’re used to seeing the world’s best Formula One drivers in incredible cars – but fans at the 2025 Miami Grand Prix in the United States saw the likes of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in rather more unusual vehicles.

Lego made 10 life-size, fully working cars – one for each F1 team – and drivers took to the brick-based vehicles for their pre-race parade.

Each car was made up of more than 400,000 individual bricks and also had to support an electric motor and drivetrain. The vehicles were limited to 13 mph – significantly slower than the real life F1 cars – and weighed twice as much as a typical race vehicle.

Three Lego versions of Formula One cars are shown on a track. The front car is an orange and black McLaren, driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. It's followed by a red Ferrari driven by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, then a teal and black Mercedes, driven by George Russell and Kimi Antonelli — Image caption,
Ready, steady, Lego! British drivers Lando Norris (front, orange car), Lewis Hamilton (rear, red car) and George Russell (front, teal car) race at speeds of up to 13mph in their brick-based cars

It took a team of 22 designers, engineers and Lego builders more than 22,000 hours collectively to complete the project.

The finished cars, which were made big enough for both teams’ drivers, were more than 30 times as big as the typical F1 lego car kit – and all 10 successfully completed their lap, although not without a few racing incidents.

A couple of the cars crashed into each other at low speed, sending Lego debris flying – but Hamilton described it as the most fun drivers’ parade he’d ever had.

Brickingham Palace

The real version of Buckingham Palace in London is 355 feet (108 m) across, by 390 feet (120 m) deep, by 80 feet (24 m) high.

In other words, it’s massive.

And while its counterpart in Miniland at Legoland Windsor Resort is significantly smaller, that doesn’t mean it’s any less impressive.

A Lego version of Buckingham Palace displaying a coronation scene, with a figure of King Charles III and Queen Camilla stood on the balcony — Image caption,
Tens of thousands of bricks were used to create a Lego scene of King Charles III's coronation at Buckingham Palace

Built using tens of thousands of Lego bricks, ‘Brickingham’ Palace is one of the main attractions in a land of miniature replicas of world landmarks.

In 2023, it was given a makeover ahead of the coronation of King Charles III.

Tiny versions of the King and Queen Camilla were placed on the palace balcony alongside members of their families – with Lego members of the public cheering them on from the palace gates and a version of the Victoria Monument.

The Lego team also gave Windsor Castle a full makeover creating a replica of the setup for the coronation concert, even including a tiny version of Take That – presumably singing a Lego remix of their hit Brick for Good…

This article was published in January 2026