LEGOLAND® Shanghai Resort

FORREC served as lead experience designer for LEGOLAND® Shanghai Resort, the largest LEGOLAND destination in the world and the very first in China. Located in Shanghai’s Jinshan District, the nearly 70-acre resort features a world-class LEGOLAND theme park, a 250-room LEGO® themed hotel, and the vibrant Aegean Bingo retail, dining, and entertainment district.

Working closely with Merlin Entertainments, Arcplus, and Tongji Architectural Design Group, FORREC delivered the concept master plan, schematic design, and design development for the entire resort. The team drew on over 25 years of LEGOLAND brand project experience to ensure every detail respected LEGO brick proportions, shapes, and colours and truly captured the essence of the brand.

The park itself comprises eight themed lands with over 75 rides, shows, and attractions. Highlights include a 26-metre-tall Minifigure, an expansive indoor Miniland, and a family-friendly water ride. FORREC’s scope encompassed guest experiences, attraction and ride scene design, guest circulation, queue lines, accessibility strategies, shade solutions, and back-of-house facilities. The team pioneered a design workflow that transitioned models built from real and digital LEGO bricks into BIM-based production, streamlining accuracy through the use of a LEGO grid system and a tailored algorithm to place bricks.

Bold, colourful, and bursting with character, the six-storey LEGOLAND Hotel was designed as if built by a child experimenting with LEGO bricks. Located above the park entrance, the hotel offers spectacular views and rooms based on five immersive themes: LEGO® City, LEGO® Friends, LEGO® Castle, LEGO® Ninjago, and LEGO® Monkie Kid.

Adjacent to the theme park, FORREC developed the Aegean Bingo RDE district as a story-driven retail experience inspired by Shanghai’s diverse neighbourhoods and organized into The Gateway, The Terraces, and The Village districts.

Accessibility and sustainability were central to FORREC, Merlin, and The LEGO Group’s vision. Shaded rest and seating areas, manageable walking distances, and inclusive design features were implemented to accommodate families, seniors, and guests with disabilities. LEGOLAND® Shanghai also features quiet rooms for guests with sensory sensitivities. On the sustainability front, FORREC introduced rooftop solar panels on the hotel and proposed a natural filtration system blending wetlands and ozone treatment. This innovative approach maintains water quality in the central lagoon while dramatically reducing chlorine usage.