About Legodelphia: "a mini philly"

I laid the first bricks of Legodelphia long before we even were calling it "Legodelphia." I had been playing around with my Legos when I was bored one day, and started stacking the bricks to make some little buildings. It hit me that day, and I started thinking "what if I built a little town?"

So I kept building. First it was crude, then it became more specific. I built a little conglomeration of buildings and called it "Philadelphia." It looked like it could've been any city, really.

But I kept going, and weeks passed. Soon my dad bought me a bigger baseplate so I could keep on going with my project and build the city bigger. I redid a lot of the buildings and made them look more like the tallest ones in the Philly skyline, with special emphasis on the most famous twin towers of Liberty Place. The skyline was taking shape. One night I worked for hours on the kitchen table with it. When my parents came home and saw me, they were completely flabbergasted with all I had done. Knowing it was mimicking Philadelphia, my dad fondly started calling the model Legodelphia.

After a few months, my work seemed nearly finished. The model was so large that I had to sit it on my bed during the day, and move it to the floor when I slept at night. Normally after finishing a Lego creation, I would just scrap  it and plan to build something else; but I felt this creation was special. I decided I wanted to get my project out of my room and on display so more people could see what  I created.


Before the Legodelphia model arrived to the prestigious Franklin Institute in August of 2005, it was displayed in the lobby of 1650 Arch Street, home of the Environmental Protection Agency (a.k.a. my mom's office building) in Center City. By the window, all of the passersby could see it, giving Legodelphia its big debut. While it was on display, I called local museums, including the visitors center of Philadelphia, hoping I could find a permanent place for my model. When I got in touch with the Franklin Institute, their curator, Mr. John Alviti, was very interested. He stopped by one day and saw the model in the window of 1650 Arch. He made it clear that the Franklin Institute did indeed want to display my model.

After packing the model into two large boxes, my mom and I actually carried it to the museum, walking in the summer heat down the Ben Franklin Parkway. When we arrived at the museum, I assembled it in the display case that Mr. Alviti had selected. I was 16 years old at the time, and back then, Legodelphia was hardly half the size it is today. It was like a prototype of what currently stands at the museum. Only 30" long and 15" wide, it was placed in the main entrance gallery of the museum, where it got lots of attention. There the model would remain for nearly a year.

The following summer, (2006) I came back to the museum. That is when I presented to the Franklin some additions to the model. I had made the Cira Center and Amtrak's 30th Street Station.

This was the first time that any medium other than Legos were used for the model. I incorporated tiny, shiny beads to emulate the glassy effect on the side of the Cira Centre, and patriotic little cloth flags on straight pins made the flagpoles in front of the columned Amtrak station. When the piece arrived at the museum, the curator told me that the next thing he wanted me to build was the Ben Franklin Bridge.

August 2006 was a very busy month. Almost immediately after I built and delivered the train station, I started working on the requested bridge. And at the same time, I was also writing a paper and preparing a thorough presentation for my senior graduation project. The subject I chose for my project had to be a significant experience or achievement, so, naturally I chose to use Legodelphia as my topic. At the end of the month I conducted my presentation. To "wow" my audience, I brought along the finished Benjamin Franklin Bridge, a sneak-peek of the next addition to my Lego model. The judges rating my presentation were totally blown away with what I'd done, so much that they shared my Power Point slideshow with several other staff members once they were finished hearing other students' presentations. My school principal was so impressed; he actually got in contact with a LEGO Group public representative, one who was very interested in seeing this entire city made of Legos.

That's when the unthinkable happened. I was contacted by this Lego representative, and he wanted me to participate in Lego's cross-country promotion of  "Imagination Days." When the event arrived to Philadelphia, I was to be their "master builder" for the event, and Legodelphia was going to be specifically featured.

 

As for my City Hall model I made for LEGO's Imagination Day, the Franklin Institute was not as interested. I entered it in a contest conducted by Philadelphia's City Hall, but to no avail. It currently resides in a box in my basement, as I contemplate keeping it, scrapping it to build something else, or to auction it on eBay.