The Origins of Public BRICKstory: Building Sessions, Opening and the Media

In my recent articles I chronicled the origins of Public BRICKstory (PBS) from its early beginnings as an idea to our first steps of designing a LEGO history project being implemented into the exhibit of a local museum. This third and last article will conclude this journey, explicating the actual building process of the model, its setup at the museum, as well as the exhibition‘s opening.

After the delivery of all ordered parts, we started the actual building process in early February, which finally included real LEGO bricks. First, we layed out all the required baseplates on the floor, but soon we recognized: Building this 25.000 parts model on the ground would lead to serious backaches. We thus had to create an extensive wooden table before initiating the actual building process of the model. Buying and installing this construction costed us nearly a whole day. However, after these initial delays we were good to go.

As mentioned in my last article, we used the virtual model as a basic guideline to our build. That meant that, while building, we oriented ourselves permanently via the virtual model. We were surprised about how well this worked out. One obstacle this virtual consultation method posed, however, was that the software used for designing the digital map did not factor in the statics of the architecture.  

The roofs, for example, were constructed with usability in mind, with the possibility to fold the rooftops back and uncover the inside of the model. While I was building the roofs digitally, I just built them like they would appear from the outside - but I completely forgot to calculate in an interior construction that would guarantee the stability of the physically-build roof. The consequence of this was a makeshift stabilization of all roofs.

During our building month of February, we also had the opportunity to promote our project to a wider audience. We had the incredible luck of being featured in a short clip on a regional TV-station (SWR) which aired before the opening of the exhibition. And we were given the opportunity to show a small part of the model at a special event in the ancient history department of the nearby University of Freiburg - the place where we studied at that time. Furthermore, a regional newspaper (Badische Zeitung) and the newspaper of the university (UniLeben) interviewed us to publish articles about PBS and our upcoming exhibition. It was an awesome feeling to be on television and in the newspapers with a matter of our hearts.

At the end of February, we had finished the model. Over the course of the following March we had time for the last preparations, such as printing flyers and posters, and to realize the transport from to the museum. During this process, another misconception was revealed: While the model was designed to be built in one piece, its size of 240cm by 240cm was obviously not designed to be transported in one piece. Consequently, to guarantee an easy transport, we realized that we should have designed it to consist of various parts rather than as a monolithic building. We thus had to dismantle parts of the model, transport it to the museum and reassemble it again on location - a process that costed much more time than we initially calculated.

During that time, we also prepared the first sponsorship-program for individual bricks (Steinpatenschaft) which started at the opening of the exhibition. These sponsorship granted visitors the opportunity to participate to a certain degree in the building process of the model: The visitors could hereby donate money to the museum in the exchange of single bricks, which could in turn be placed into a specific wall belonging to the model. This would grant them a certificate of their donation. The sponsorship-program turned out to be a huge success.

In the end, everything was prepared in time and the model was set up for the big opening night. On March 31st, the day we worked for so long and hard, had come – the opening night. We revealed our final model to the audience and the general public. We celebrated this day with our friends and families, which had supported us all along.