Jul 31 2010
Day Trip: National Building Museum
One of the nice things about the summer is the extra time to head out for a day trip. This time, we visited the National Building Museum, in Washington, DC, to see the exhibit LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition. The architect, Adam Reed Tucker, one of 11 certified Lego professionals, has put together an exhibit of 15 world-renowned structures out of Lego blocks.
The exhibit encompassed two rooms of the museum, and our ticket granted us a one-hour entrance into the exhibit and attached building area. Once the initial rush of people went through, we were able to take pictures of the structures fairly easily.
The Burj Khalifa, in Dubai. This model was 17’6″ tall and was made up of 450,300 lego pieces.
The Empire State Building, on the left; the Hancock Building, on the right, and one of the World Trade Center buildings in the background.
The Empire State Building used over 12,000 lego blocks to build. The spire on the original was originally intended as a dock for blimps before the idea was scrapped as being impractical and potentially dangerous.
The exhibit also included structures that haven’t been completed. The Chicago Spire project is currently on hold, in Chicago. This model took 200 hours to build. The curved design is supposed to add strength to the structure and minimize wind forces.
The Marina City apartments and parking garage, in Chicago, are often called the “Corn Cobs.”
One of my favorites, Fallingwater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Made up of over 21,000 blocks, this model took 130 hours to build.
And the kids’ favorite model – a model of the Building Museum itself, made out of Lego. This one is housed in the lobby of the museum, not in the Lego Exhibit, but Clyde was adamant about getting a picture.
It was a fun visit. Next week, Bonnie goes to camp.
