Hello Hivers I'm back yet with another fun exhibit at the Durham Museum. This old Omaha Union Train station has so much to see. Today I share with you a lot of Legos that are made into those all so tall sky scrapers. It's also the first time for me to write in this community. Wow there is really a community for everything, that's awesome! This collection has around 20 towers from all around the world. In addition are some local structures.
Initially coming in here I didn't expect to learn anything Lego related but I learned one interesting fact. I thought it would be just information about the buildings. I'm no wizard when it comes to Legos but I had a few during my childhood. The architectural design of the Legos featured here is the work of Tim McNaught who is just 1 of 21 Lego certified professionals in the world. I didn't know there was such a certification and that only a few have obtained it.
The quote above is so true in building something massive or even putting a low level Lego set together. It does start with two blocks! So this exhibit was an interactive one as well. There were 4 stations where anybody could sit down and make there own buildings. There were 200,000 some Lego pieces among these stations. What a great idea and a break for parents when there kids get antsy walking around the museum, haha. There was some creativity from its visitors because there were tables you could set your finished project on for others to see. With no instruction sheets these visitors did well. Let's get to some of the towers!
Well let's start with the talliest building in the world, Burj Khalifa. This cloud toucher is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and was built in 2010. It's an astounding 2717 feet tall. Over a half mile tall, wow. As a Lego, it's 163 inches tall,contains 48,635 bricks, and took 135 hours to complete. All sky scraper models were scaled 1:200 to actual size.
Next up is China's talliest building, Shanghai Tower. This building was built in 2015. So tall and has such a unique look as it spirals up. It stands at 632 meters high. As a Lego,it stands at 3160 millimeters, contains 104,800 blocks and took 185 hours to build. That's a whole lot of Lego blocks.
What you see is Japan's talliest building, Tokyo Skytree. This building was completed in 2012. It stands at 2080 feet and that is amazing considering the earth quake activity there. It was designed to withstand the jolt of Mother Earth. The Lego characteristics are as follows: 125 inches high,contains 19,200 blocks and took 191 hours to build. The build took a little longer to get the crisscross look of the real building.
The Taipei 101 is Taiwan's talliest building.This building was completed in 2004. It stand at 1667 feet. This building was the tallest in the world from 2004 to 2010. Constructed to withstand both earth quakes and typhoons. It's said the building does sway some which is part of its defenses to stay upright. If I ever visit and go up high it won't be on a windy day. The Lego stats are: 100 inches tall, 80 hours to complete and contains 18,600 blocks. I love the look of this building to me it looks like stacked baskets on top of each other.
Canada's talliest structure is the CN Tower. The tower is located in Toronto. The structure was completed in 1976 and stands 1815 feet. It was not recognized for its height as a building due to not having inhabitable space beyond a certain height. It has the following Lego stats: 109 inches tall, 83 hour to build and contained 15,211 blocks.
Two American Sky scrapers that each held the title, "World's Tallest." The Empire State Building was built in 1931 and is located in New York, NY. At 1250 feet tall it held the title as the tallest until 1971. So many oldier movies had this building in it.Its been an iconic building in America ever since it was built. It's Lego build contained 20,400 blocks, taking 70 hours to complete and measures 87 inches.
The than Sears Tower was built in 1974 and is located in Chicago,IL. It was re-named in 2009 and is referred to as the Willis Tower now. I still call it the Sears Tower, hard to break old habits. At 1454 feet it held the world's talliest honor until 1998. It's now the third talliest building in America behind One World Tower and Central Park Tower both located in New York,NY. The Lego build took 64 hours to complete, used 29,500 blocks and measures 104 inches.
Petronas Twin Towers was completed in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia in 1996. Standing at 1483 feet it is the world's tallest twin tower building. It held the title of world's tallest from 1998 to 2004. It's now Malaysia's third talliest building behind Merdika 118 and Exchange 106. I love the look of this double towered masterpiece. As a Lego it stands 89 inches tall, took 360 hours to build and contained 82,200 bricks. To get the glass bricks looking clean and sharp the studs of the blocks were facing downward (upside down).
Two building in Australia that have a nice elegant look to them. First picture is of Q1 (Queensland Number 1) Tower and is Australia's talliest building located in the city of Gold Coast. It was completed in 2005 and stands 323 meters. For the Lego build it took 82 hours to complete and consisted of 11,950 blocks. The model stands at 1615 millimeters high.
The Eureka Tower is located in Melbourne and stands 975 feet tall. It was completed in 2006.I like the color and the highlighted lines that are incorporated into it. The Lego construction I believe represents it very well. It contains 13,900 Lego blocks, took 108 hours to complete, and stands at 58 inches.
Marina Bay Sands in Singapore really caught my eye. What a unique building, what other building has a ship on top of it? This building is 656 feet and was built in 2010. The Lego is 39 inches high, contained 26'400 blocks and took 155 hours to complete.
The Lincoln and Omaha Lego User Group had some Lego brick replicas of some local landmarks in the exhibit. The one above is of the Omaha Union Station now the Durham Museum where all these amazing towers are being displayed.
I can only imagine all the work that was involved to build these models to these sizes. I'm sure blue prints had to be made and special blocks had to be available for all these models. When we buy a model we get everything to include the pieces and instructions. I can imagine these Lego professionals having so much creativity. I'll probably visit other Lego exhibits now that I know there is a local group that does builds.
Well this is all I have for you today. Take care, be safe and enjoy the rest of your week.