New Exploration Place exhibits celebrate all things Lego

Lego mania has hit Exploration Place.

“Bricktopia,” featuring three different exhibits all related to Lego building blocks, opens Friday, Jan. 26, and will run through May 5 at the Wichita science center.

By the way, Lego comes from two Danish words, “leg godt,” that mean “play well.” The Lego company was founded in Denmark in 1932, but the tiny, colorful plastic interlocking bricks weren’t sold in the United States until 1961.

The “Brick Dino” exhibit, which takes up most of the display space of “Bricktopia,” features 15 Jurassic-era dinosaur displays built by Lego master artist Warren Elsmore, who is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Elsmore has turned his childhood love of Legos into an art career, spending his days creating various types of Lego models. He was scheduled to attend the exhibit’s opening night activities on Thursday, Jan. 25.

The dinosaurs range in size from a large pterosaur hung from the rafters to smaller, glass-encased diorama displays. The larger dinosaur figures will be roped off to avoid any accidents.

“We already knocked off one of his fingers,” said Brooke Rowzee, director of exhibits, as she took a visitor past a masiakasaurus sculpture while the exhibit was being installed.

A smaller exhibit, “Adrift: Lost at Sea,” tells through visual images what happened in 1997 when a shipping container carrying 5 million Lego bricks spilled into the ocean off the coast of Cornwall. It had been one of 62 containers that fell off the Tokio Express cargo ship when a rogue wave hit it.

In the months that followed, beachcombers started finding Legos, many of them with a marine theme, along shorelines in England, Ireland and the European continent. Beachcomber Tracey Williams started documenting the finds through photographs, eventually publishing a book, “Adrift: The Curious Tale of the Lego Lost at Sea.”

Along with photographs, the exhibit includes a small shadow-box display created from some of the more plentiful Lego pieces that washed ashore, like yellow lifeboats, witches’ brooms, life jackets and flippers. Green dragons and black octopuses were reportedly among the prize finds.

The third exhibit, “Million Brick Madness,” is an interactive one where visitors can create Lego sculptures themselves.

To create the exhibit, Exploration Place brought in 3,300 pounds of Lego bricks that have been cleaned and dumped into a huge pit in the center of the exhibition space. Using a formula based on how many Legos it takes to make a pound, Exploration Place officials say the pit contains a total of 1 million bricks. To populate the pit, staff scoured eBay for bulk sales of Legos; several pounds of Legos were also donated.

One wall in the exhibit displays Lego artscapes created by students at Jardine Stem and Career Explorations Academy, a Wichita public middle school magnet.

The exhibit also includes a section of Duplos, the larger-sized building bricks created for children ages 1½ to 5 years old.

To complement “Bricktopia,” a new live science interactive program called Skyscraper Science was also created by Exploration Place staff. The program includes four demonstrations, including one in which Lego structures are smashed using a hydraulic press to measure force.

“It’s sad for the Legos, but it’s in the name of science,” said Brad Nuest, the live science program coordinator.

The shows will run three times daily, with a fourth show added on Thursdays when Exploration Place has extended hours into the evening.

Also, as part of its “Bricktopia” programming, Exploration Place will have overnight stays that it’s calling “block-ins” on Feb. 9, March 22 and April 19. The events include dinner and breakfast and a variety of activities, such as a barefoot brick walk. Tickets are $55, with discounts for members; online reservations are required. The minimum age to participate is 5, and an adult must attend with a child.

‘Bricktopia’ exhibit

Where: Exploration Place, 300 N. McLean Blvd.

When: Jan. 26-May 5; hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily with extended hours until 8 p.m. Thursdays

Admission: $12 for ages 12-64, $10 for ages 3-11 and 65 and older, free for members and ages 2 and under for all exhibits. Other packages including admission to other Exploration Place activities are available.

More info: 316-660-0600 or exploration.org

This story was originally published January 25, 2024 at 5:03 AM.