Lego buildings inspire creative play at MSI's new 'Brick By Brick'

From the Roman Colosseum to the International Space Station, visitors can take in some of the greatest architectural wonders of the ancient and modern world re-created for the Museum of Science and Industry in Lego form. Chicago native Adam Reed Tucker, one of 14 Lego certified professionals in the world, spent hundreds of hours designing and building the structures on display at “Brick By Brick,” which runs through 2017.

“This exhibit is all about the creative process and creative play,” said Anne Rashford, the MSI's director of special exhibitions. “Our mission is to engage visitors in science and technology, and I don't think there's a better tool than the brick.”

Each of the models offers information on how both the real version and its Lego replica were made, sharing details on how the Golden Gate Bridge's cables move to handle winds and earthquakes and the staggering number of bricks involved in the 60-foot model Tucker created.

The museum also developed multiple interactive spaces where visitors can learn more about designing structures, letting them construct buildings out of foam to see how they stand up to a wind tunnel and stack blocks in a way that can survive tremors of a table replicating an earthquake. They learn about the importance of pulleys in construction by trying to lift themselves or their friends and discover the importance of reinforcing a structure by building paper bridges that can withstand the weight of beanbags. Visitors can also race cars down ramps to see how the weight of the bricks they use affects the speed.

“We wanted this to be more than Adam's beautiful, elegant models,” Rashford said. “We thought this was a great engineering story to tell. Adam's creations provide inspiration. I think the interactives the museum has created tell a deeper story.”

The MSI first worked with Tucker eight years ago when they featured his models of skyscrapers in a smaller exhibit dubbed “Art + Science = Architecture.” The exhibit was well-received and the museum enlisted Tucker again to build a Lego model of their building as it appeared during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair to celebrate their 80th anniversary. That model is on display in “Brick By Brick,” accompanied by World's Colombian Exposition artifacts from the museum's collection.

“We wanted to appeal to all audiences and teach about the history of the museum,” Rashford said.

Museum staff worked with Tucker for a year to design “Brick By Brick,” and they weren't always on the same page when it came to what structures to include.

“Adam really dug in his heels and said ‘I want to do the pyramids,'” Rashford said. “The team thought ‘Everyone does the pyramids.' But Adam was absolutely right.”

His model of the Great Pyramid of Giza shows the structure as it might have looked under construction, offering glimpses of various stages of development. It took Tucker 50 hours to design and another 45 hours to build, incorporating 24,000 bricks.

The museum also reached out to architects and schools in Chicago and around the world to supplement Tucker's creations, asking them to develop their version of the building of the future with sets of white Lego bricks. The University of Illinois ignored the prompt and sent back a model made with oversized, brightly colored Duplo bricks.

“That's what we wanted,” Rashford said. “We wanted people to break boundaries, break the rules, and the examples we received are so extraordinary.”

There are also plenty of opportunities for visitors of all ages to play with Legos themselves. You can craft your own buildings of the future using the same white bricks the architects worked with or play with unusual bricks to build structures around an open build pit, with some architectural tips offered as guidance. There's also an area devoted to younger kids where they can test themselves by balancing on a beam inspired by a historic picture of the construction of the John Hancock Center and work with Duplo blocks to make both free-standing structures at tables and designs they can stick on a wall. Four times an hour two guests will be chosen to show off their skills for other visitors during a Lego design challenge.

“We wanted to make sure there was something for all ages,” Rashford said. “We wanted to give our visitors many options.”

“Brick By Brick”

<b>Where:</b> Museum of Science & Industry, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, (773) 684- 1414, <a href="http://msichicago.org">msichicago.org</a>

<b>Hours:</b> 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily through February 2017. The museum is open until 5:30 p.m. on select days. Check the website for details.

<b>Price:</b> $27; $18 for kids 3-11