LEGO Architecture Skylines: Dubai 21052 Building Kit, Collectible Architecture Building Set for Adults (740 Pieces)

I had forgotten how much I loved the skyscrapers of Dubai until I put this set together. It’s an excellent gift for anyone who enjoys high-rise architecture or urban design, or who does business in Dubai. I found it very easy to assemble in just a couple of hours. The parts of the different buildings were in separate bags, and the instruction booklet was very clear. Just to see how it worked, I downloaded the instructions onto my phone using the QR code, but the printed booklet turned out to be simpler to use. My only complaints about the set are related to the booklet, though, as it doesn’t lay flat when opened, due to its binding, and that some of the instructions were a bit difficult to see, when darker-colored LEGO pieces were shown against the book’s black background. Those were minor distractions, though. Building the city was thoroughly enjoyable. I loved putting pieces together in ways I had never done on any other LEGO set before to replicate the unique shapes of the different landmark buildings. I won’t spoil the mystery too much, but I especially love how the Burj Al Arab hotel turned out. Assembling the complex base and tall spire of the Burj Khalifa was the most difficult and repetitive part of the set. You do have to pay very close attention to the number of layers you’ve assembled, but the result looks fantastic, and it turns out to be much sturdier than I was expecting, given how skinny it is. Once completed, it can easily be picked up and moved around without having to worry too much that it will topple. It’s an amazingly cool display piece, of the sort that would look genuinely nice and interesting in almost any context. Pairs well with bookshelves, office desks, miniature train sets, and kids’ toy collections. One of my favorite LEGO sets of all time.

It was a gift for someone. He liked it.

It was a perfect bday gift

My son loves it. Great present.

Straight forward instructions, no missing pieces and fast delivery. Nice afternoon fun project with my early-teenaged son. Looks great!

very fun build and looks amazing

Bought as a gift. He loved it

I got this for my soon to be 11 year old nephew for his birthday. He put it together in less than 24 hours by himself.

Giftable

This set was my first architectural set. I honestly wouldn’t have bothered if I hadn’t gotten it through Vine, so I go into this review not really being a fan of the architectural series. I guess I can see the appeal for folks into that sort of thing, but it kind of reminds me of those kitschy snow globes you buy at the airport as a last minute gift because you forgot to get something earlier. Legos designed to just sit on a shelf and not be played with just seem to miss the point. In case you didn’t know, this set depicts a number of Dubai architectural landmarks including the Dubai Fountain, the Jumeirah Emirates Towers, the Dubai Frame, the Burj Al Arab hotel, and the epic Burj Khalifa. Dubai is really a crazy city. It’s growth in just the past 20 years has been almost meteoric. With that came a drive to build some of the most architecturally distinctive buildings in the world. It’s that background from which this set originates. Of course, other than the Burj Khalifa which is the tallest building in the world, most people won’t know any of the buildings in this set, giving it a bit less appeal than some older more iconic landmarks presented in other Architecture sets. I guess it’s really preference, however, because Dubai’s architecture is definitely among the most innovative in the world. All grumbling aside, I can’t fault the design work that went into this set. Everything from the base to the towers is designed and constructed with Legos, and the end result looks pretty good, even if the Burj Khalifa is mainly made out of one dot pieces. I feel like they’ve made really good use of pieces here to give the set a strong resemblance to some of the actual buildings. Great effort was made to make the Burj Khalifa, Jumeirah towers and Burj Al Arab Hotel look close to the originals, while giving the set some level of durability so that you can pick it up and look at it without risking pieces falling off. In terms of build difficulty, this one is not too bad. I like some of the design choices and piece selection they made, though the use of the one dots for the Burj Khalifa ended up being a little tedious. I found that we had to count pieces carefully to ensure we didn’t over build as we went along. Some elements, such as the Dubai Frame were a little less imaginative. The frame literally uses a door frame piece with a couple of smooth two dot pieces on top. And the Dubai fountain seems like an item added just as filler since it’s so small on the set that it’s resemblance to the real life one is minimal. Overall, I think this was a mildly entertaining build of an interesting subject. Dubai has a lot of fascinating architecture and this set highlight a few of the notable ones. Is it a MUST BUY? At 60 dollars? Hardly. Unlike some other sets of truly iconic landmarks, this set felt like it had a lot of filler. That said, if you’re into the architecture line of legos, this one has some appeal for its take on an iconic building in the Burj Khalifa.