WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is only one week left of the National Building Museum’s LEGO® Architecture: Towering Ambition exhibit. We went the previous weekend.
While the models of the Empire State Building, Sears Tower (what you talking about Willis?), Burj Khalifa and other landmarks are well done, they have a flaw — too many custom pieces. Those Lego models have been so customized that you barely recognize that they are Legos; a problem with Lego in general these days. Also, the entire exhibit isn’t the same scale either which would have added some perspective. It is still interesting, but a bit disappointing.
The highlight of the exhibit is…playing with Legos. The Building Zone has several stations with a few hundred thousand Lego bricks. Kids and adults were building away. That imagination on display was more fun that most of the models. Coming up with a design and assembling it out of the typical 2 x 4 blocks is quite a bit more challenging. I did not have much success with idea — a Washington Nationals curly W, but my wife did a pretty good job.
Another highlight:
Now, isn’t that a lot more creative than putting a bunch of custom pieces together?
[flickr : Photos tagged with lego%C2%AEarchitecturetoweringambition/slideshow]
The Lego exhibition runs through Labor Day, September 3. The Building Zone is open until 4 p.m. Adult admission to the NBM is $8, kids $5. My advice — pick a time an hour or two after you arrive for your Lego exhibit entry and see another NBM exhibit first.
The closest Metro stop to NBM is Judiciary Square (Red Line), but Gallery Place/Chinatown (Red, Yellow, Green Lines) is a short walk away too, so don’t bother switching to the Red Line for one stop. Street parking nearby may be limited if there is an event at Verizon Center.