Beijing Olympics in Legos

Posted on August 18, 2008 Under Design

Between the opening ceremonies and the most decorated athlete in history, this year’s Olympics in Beijing are arguably larger than life. So how do you pay tribute to something that big? You go small. The Hong Kong Lego Users Group painstakingly recreated everything from The Bird’s Nest to The Water Cube brick by brick in Legos. Tennis, ping-pong, beach volleyball, soccer, sailing, swimming and windsurfing are among the dozens of sports rendered in tiny details in the replica, which measures about 26 feet by 10 feet. If you stare at the images long enough, you can almost spot Michael Phelps’ mother cheering in the bleachers and a sweat-stained George W. Bush mugging with Misty May-Treanor. More than 300,000 Lego bricks and 4,500 Lego people were used to create the display, which is on display until the end of the month at Grand Century Place in Hong Kong.