Connect Marketplace Baird Center Build
August 2024
CLIENT
Visit Milwaukee
DATE
2 days
DIMENSIONS
10.7” L x
22.7” W x
5.3” H
DURATION
In the summer of 2024, Visit Milwaukee, a destination marketing organization, was looking for a way to attract people to their booth at Connect Marketplace 2024 and learn more about the Greater Milwaukee area and all its offerings. The idea that came was to host a live build session, driven by myself and a local LEGO Master contestant to complete a LEGO-based model of the Baird Center over the course of both days of the event.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Building the Baird
A few months prior, the Baird Center expansion was close to being completed in downtown Milwaukee, and to celebrate, the Wisconsin Center District wanted to create a surprise gift their CEO a custom kit of the expansion, containing pieces and instructions inside of a custom designed box.
The expanded portion of the Baird Center is a departure from the architectural language of the original - more glass, more angles, more modern and less ornamental, which served the process of turning it into LEGO bricks well at that scale.
The build didn’t include an interior in order to create an experience that was fairly quick, but still includes educational techniques that capture the exterior’s angles, either through angled plates or stepped plates in a horizontal or vertical direction.
Building for a wide audience requires taking an approach of fairly simple techniques to be accessible to as many people as possible, but for an audience of one who was well versed in the particulars of LEGO bricks, the idea was to provide enough of a challenge that wasn’t dispiriting, but rewarding once they saw it to the end.
Building the Baird … AT THE BAIRD
The build got a second life once Connect Marketplace came around in the fall: Visit Milwaukee thought it would be a great idea to create an activation at their booth that also featured a LEGO Masters contestant from season 4 (and a finalist to boot), Nealita Nelson as we built another model of the Baird Center while inside the actual Baird Center (!) in front of attendees.
We coordinated and planned the timing of the build so that we would build sections of it separately before placing them on the base. We also got to interact with attendees over those two days and put on our best LEGO Masters personas to describe how it came together and when they should expect to see it completed so that they can take the final pictures - and Visit Milwaukee captured it in time lapse form for all to see!
“Randall is a professional through and through, consistently delivering work of the highest quality with remarkable attention to detail. I highly recommend him for any project that demands not only creative brilliance but also a dedicated and reliable partner who excels at managing relationships and delivering beyond expectations.”
Alison Mairena
Senior Account Director at Madden Media
LEGO bricks aren’t just a toy, they’re a medium of art and a learning tool that can be applied in any and every context to give people the chance to learn while they play.
Get in touch with me to learn how we can create something incredible like this for your brand, organization, or company’s needs.