Talented LEGO artists recreate famous structures all the time, and while we never get sick of seeing the incredible work they do, the bar has just been raised—or rather the bar has been “popped”—after seeing this LEGO building of a Japanese castle that opens just like a children’s pop-up book.
Made and posted online by YouTube user talapz, this castle starts off as a flat structure that looks like a one story underground garage parking lot, but when he starts to unfold it a replica of the Himeji Castle, “widely considered Japan’s most spectacular castle for its imposing size and beauty,” springs into being, actually locking into place as it comes to its full standing.
Amazingly, talapz says this project uses no adhesives, which makes it hard to understand the engineering behind it, but obviously makes it way more impressive. He says it took him 15 months to finish and weighs over 27 pounds.
This isn’t the first time he has made one of these amazing pop-up LEGO pieces, either. Six years ago, he shared his pop-up Kinkaku-ji (a Buddhist temple in Kyoto), which, while still impressive, started off a lot thicker, and didn’t open with as much of a flourish (though in fairness, making it look like it was stored in its own box is awesome, and it still clicks into place like his latest one).
(These kind of look like the sequence in Inception where the dream world folds over on itself.)
LEGOs and pop-up books might be mostly for kids, but this is no child’s work. Have you seen anything like this before? If so, share it with us in the comments below.
Image: talapz
