Eslite Bookstore (誠品) on Wednesday reversed its decision to have the designers of a Lego reconstruction of the Presidential Office alter their design because of a recent truck-ramming incident.
The bookstore chain revoked the decision in a bid to avoid stirring up further debate on the matter, the Chinese-language United Daily News said.
The 2m by 2m miniature was jointly created by Taiwanese Lego designer Lee Ssu-hua (李斯華) and a friend surnamed Tai (戴) at the request of Yuan-Liou Publishing Co to promote the Chinese edition of British Lego artist Warren Elsmore’s latest book, Brick City: Global Icons to Make from Lego, that was released in Taiwan on Monday.
The model consists of approximately 100,000 Lego bricks and took nearly three months to build.
It was put on display on the third floor of Eslite’s Songyan (松菸) branch on Tuesday, together with another Lego creation by the pair depicting the Jingfumen (景福門) — the East Town Gate built during the Qing Dynasty — in Taipei.
The two models will continue to be on display until the end of next month.
The model depicting the Presidential Office attracted a lot of media attention almost immediately after its public debut, as it was built with a mini Lego truck that appears ready to ram the building’s main gate, an image reminiscent of a high-profile incident on Saturday.
The mini truck was not part of the pair’s original design.
At about 5am on Saturday, Chang Te-cheng (張德正), 41, drove a 35-tonne vehicle into the Presidential Office, ramming through three protective barriers and speeding up a flight of stairs before crashing into a bulletproof door.
Chang sustained fractured limbs and a pneumothorax from the impact of the crash. Investigators are still probing the motive for his allegedly premeditated action, but have ruled out politics.
Citing the heated online debate triggered by the Lego artwork, Eslite on Tuesday night requested that Yuan-Liou remove “all elements concerning the current events” from the model at 9am the next morning. It revoked the request on Wednesday.
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