Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO® Bricks is a world premiere exhibition of amazing skyscrapers in Australia and Asia represented in LEGO®. It’s on now at the Museum of Sydney until 19 April 2015.
Constructed by Ryan McNaught, one of only 12 LEGO® certified professionals worldwide, the eighteen towers were engineering and architectural marvels. Some like the Shanghai Tower, they challenge how we live. Others like Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, Tokyo Skytree, Q1 and Sydney Tower become global landmarks. Odd, strange, breathtakingly beautiful, they are awe inspiring. Art and architecture are one.
Among the challenges faced was using a fixed selection of lengths of LEGO® and a limited repertoire in terms of brick, size, length and colour. The Shanghai Tower took 4 to 5 years to build; with LEGO® it took 3 and half weeks. Production at a 1:200 scale meant that there was a need to capture the main details in an overall impressionistic way, rather than producing an exact replica. This technique is known as selective compression.
It is said that LEGO® has a limited though wide palate. The bricks have been sourced over a number of years with the gold bricks for the Eureka Tower being collected from a LEGO® anniversary edition some 5 years ago. In the QI Tower on the Gold coast, the “colour scheme really pops” enhancing its attractiveness.
We see the Barangaroo of the future. We learn that in Hong Kong, whilst the tower appeared square and straightforward initially it did require slanting and hinging. You learn about using the SNOT (Studs Not on Top) technique to support the length of the towers. We notice cute artefacts like the minifigures walking on Sydney Tower and tree and plant detail at ground level.
Ryan McNaught asserts, “it’s by far the biggest building job I’ve ever faced and certainly the most fun. My head’s still spinning.” With 18 towers, several over 3 metres high, 2000 man hours, and over 400,000 LEGO® bricks used from over 2 million in the workshop we can see why.
The exhibition itself is laid out with towers intermingled in a cosy playroom full of colour, the rustle of sifting LEGO® bricks and activity. Focus, concentration and fun emanate. It draws out the architect, child, and visual artist in all of us. It is bright, colourful, inspiring and interactive.
LEGO® comes from a Danish expression meaning ‘play well’. This exhibition is played out well and enables all comers to play well. The young and the young-at-heart are encouraged to create their own ‘towers of tomorrow’. With over 200,000 loose LEGO® bricks on hand, many have already built their own towering creation and added it to the colourful futuristic metropolis rising steadily in the heart of the exhibition.
Gaze in awe, learn, smile and play a little.
For more about LEGO Towers of Tomorrow, visit http://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/exhibitions/towers-tomorrow