Colorful, interlocking, plastic blocks are more than toys. They open doors to careers in architecture and engineering, and yes, they’re fun too.
Mark Lorah would know.
The structural engineer with the architectural firm of Johnson, Laschober & Associates often gives talks about the subject and LEGO, and he’s spent most of this year designing and building two structures completely of LEGO bricks as part of the second annual “Great Building Showdown: Building History Brick by Brick!”
“I use a computer program to design and redesign,” said Lorah, who created replicas of Sacred Heart Cultural Center and the James Brown statue for the event which opens to the public June 30 and runs through July 10.
The rendering of the former Catholic church stands almost three feet tall, is 44 inches long and 25 inches wide and won the first place prize.
“There are 18,600 bricks in the Sacred Heart Building and an additional 6,81 in the stained-glass windows,” he said.
Other structures in this year’s event include the Widows’ Home by Kim Davies, Sconyers BBQ by Ingrid and Isabelle Warden and Sean Fitzgerald and the Old Medical College by students at Augusta Preparatory Day School.
Sconyers came in second while the Old Medical College came in third.
Ingrid Warden is no stranger to creating structures for the museum. In December 2021, she made a gingerbread sculpture of the Olive Road Overpass.
Built by Augusta Preparatory Day School students hid some added touches inside the former home of the Medical College of Georgia including a few doctors and patients.
Nancy Glaser, museum executive director, said the purpose of the project is to introduce students to science, technology, engineering and math also called STEM education. By combining it with area historic structures, it ties it into the museum’s function to preserve the area’s history.
While the structures are impressive, Glaser said the area she’s most excited about is the space that allows children and those who are “young at heart” to make their own LEGO creation.
The Great Building Showdown: Building History Brick by Brick will be on display through July 10. The museum will be open July 4. The structures are set up in the rotunda and there’s no admission charged to that part of the building.
