 Newspaper View
 Print
 Email
 Comment
 RSS
 Bookmark
If you would like to bookmark this article you will need to Login to your tulsaworld.com account
close
Lego master constructs OKC
Kurt Zimmerle pushes a Lego brick into place as he works on a model of an Oklahoma City building last week. John Clanton / The Oklahoman
By LILLIE-BETH BRINKMAN NewsOK.com
Published: 6/29/2009 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 6/29/2009 5:51 AM
Working almost daily in a warehouse in north Oklahoma City, Kurt Zimmerle is building Lego models of many of the city's landmarks, one brick at a time.
The Lego-certified master builder from Wolverine, Mich., has moved here for the summer to get the buildings built and mapped out for an extensive, interactive holiday display to be known as OK Cityscape.
By the time he is finished, he'll have used more than 1 million Lego pieces to construct models of the Oklahoma City Art Museum, the state Capitol, the Skirvin Hilton, the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and more, including corporate buildings. The exhibit will also include cars, pedestrians and other scenes when it's on display from Nov. 14 to Jan. 3 at Penn Square Mall.
Working with him this summer are three people following his lead and gluing his buildings together piece by piece so they'll be sturdy enough to use annually.
On July 11, others will have the chance to compete to get their own Lego creations included in the OK Cityscape.
That day at the Skirvin Hilton, teams taking part in "The Great OKC Build" will be assigned a building, according to the category they registered in, and then get to work on construction. Registration deadline for the contest is July 6.
"Everything's doable with Lego bricks, given the time and the use of specialty pieces," Zimmerle said. "That's what's fun about it — the challenge of figuring out which pieces to use."
For "The Great OKC Build," judges will pick a winner of the separate categories — hobby, corporate, expert and junior (ages 5-12) — to be installed in OK Cityscape. Proceeds will benefit Oklahoma City Educare, a new child development center for at-risk children.
"These buildings can be made with such great detail," said Rachel Hernandez, who works for Toyscapes, the company that is organizing the event. "They are pretty awe-inspiring."
Hernandez said David Matthews, founder of the Trailblazers Capital, thought of the exhibit as providing an attraction during the holiday season while raising money for a good cause.
"I hear him say often that education is the answer to (treating) poverty," Hernandez said.
At the warehouse where OK Cityscape is coming together, Lego bricks and elements are sorted by type and color
in plastic bags
and scattered through the work area.
Some of the buildings under construction look much like their real-life counterparts.
Zimmerle, 36, who has a college degree in studio art, said getting certified as Lego master builder was a natural outcome of his lifelong love of working with the pieces.
About the contest
“The great OKC Build”
will take place from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. July 11 at the
Skirvin hilton in downtown
Oklahoma City. registration
opens at 9:15 a.m.
Teams can sign up under
the categories of hobby
(friends and family), corporate,
expert (professionals
or students of design,
engineering or architecture)
and junior (student teams
ages 5-12).
Registration is $20 per
person. proceeds benefit
Oklahoma City educare,
a new child development
center for at-risk children in
south Oklahoma City.
For information and a
registration form, go online
to tulsaworld.com/okcscape,
e-mail rachel hernandez
at rachel@toyscape.org or
call 231-0959.
lbrinkman@opubco.com
By LILLIE-BETH BRINKMAN NewsOK.com
Copy Text
Search for this phrase/name
Close
Newspaper View
Print
Email
Comment
RSS
Bookmark
If you would like to bookmark this article you will need to Login to your tulsaworld.com account
close
 |
|
