Our European Headquarter – Brick by Brick.

As a child I used to play a lot with LEGO; it kept me busy for hours and hours. That’s probably the reason why I wanted to become an architect; but life decided otherwise. Later on, other interests showed up and I didn’t touch any LEGO at all for over 30 years.

Then suddenly, in November 2017, dark clouds gathered when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. For a moment our world stopped turning and we had to rely on doctors and an intensive treatment to fight this poison inside. Almost 15 months later, the sky cleared again, and good news came our way. Although you can never be certain again when it comes to health, we could start making new plans for the future. And so, my wife bought me a LEGO set: The Big Ben (London). This was her way of saying ‘Thank you’ for being there for her, in difficult times. And as from that moment, my interest in LEGO was triggered again; and even much stronger than ever before.

Quickly I realized I needed a bigger challenge and so I decided to start designing my own creations. First, I made a small version of our own house. After a successful attempt to make the 4-Cylinder tower of BMW Headquarters in Munich (almost 1m high and 13000 parts), I focused to build a replica of BMW-dealership De Schepper in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. Several months and hundreds of working hours later, the general management decided to put my creation (19548 parts) in their showroom.

I already worked 20 years for Fujifilm Belgium (FFBE) when I had the chance to support the European Compliance Team in Germany. On May 24th 2022, I had to visit my German colleagues in Ratingen. I drove on the Balcke-Dürr-Allee, turned round the last corner and there it was… the impressive new building of the Fujifilm European Headquarters. Immediately I knew, this had to be my next LEGO-project! After a few weeks of thinking and a lot of ‘try and error’, I could finally start building. I chose a particular part in Dark Transparent color which I would use for each window. During my next visit to Ratingen, I measured one window and so I could determine the final scale. Each side of the building had 25 windows and so my MOC also had to have the same amount on each level. Although the building looks like a simple square, several challenges had to be solved, like the descent to the underground garage, the stairs in front of the lobby, some unusual angles, the trees and plants,… Four months later, the result was much better as I could have imagined. A few lamps next to the entrance of the garage and the European, Japanese and German flags would be the finishing touch.

Feedback is highly appreciated and any comments or request for more information can be sent to valere.vossen@fujifilm.com