[Exhibition]
LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition

About This Event

Using the LEGO® brick as his medium, architectural artist Adam Reed Tucker has given
some of the world’s most iconic landmarks an unexpected makeover. His towering interpretations, which soar up to 18 feet high, will be the centerpiece of a new exhibition opening at the National Building Museum this July. LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition will feature 15 of Tucker’s large-scale artistic models, which at times incorporate up to 450,000 LEGO bricks. The exhibition will provide a new, detailed look at the intricate design, engineering complexity, and sculptural form of famous buildings such as the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, and the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition will provide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at Tucker’s artistic process. While the exhibition is on view, Tucker will work on completing his latest LEGO architectural project, which is of the most recognizable building in Washington, DC: The White House.

In addition, the exhibition will include a hands-on, minds-on opportunity for visitors—both young and young at heart—to create their own LEGO buildings, sponsored through an in-kind donation from LEGO Systems Inc. Based on the principles of good urban design, visitors will be invited to create a building from one of four categories— residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial—and then place the models on a 12-foot by 15-foot map of a city. As the day goes on and the Museum welcomes more visitors, the LEGO city will continue to grow.

At the age of six, Tucker visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago where his aunt bought him one of his first LEGO sets. He went on to study architecture in college and practiced as a professional architect for ten years. Then, motivated by the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Tucker began to consider how he might express his reverence for the form of the skyscraper while deepening his understanding of architecture, engineering, and construction. The challenge for Tucker was to find a way to express the complexity of skyscraper engineering while softening its intimidating nature. His solution was to level the playing field with something that most people
grew up with and could relate to no matter who they were or where they came from: the LEGO brick.

Tucker is a LEGO Certified Professional—one of 11 worldwide. He now owns and operates Brickstructures, Inc, which was established to promote the use of LEGO bricks in relation to architecture, engineering, and construction. Brickstructures, Inc. arranges events and explores educational activities in conjunction with architectural firms, institutions and landmarks.