National Mall Project

I would say that most of us in the LEGO community, at one time or another, have experienced the overwhelming compulsion to build something; from spaceships, to castles, to superhero figures, and of course, spaceships.  Or, if you're like WTyler, the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  Since his retirement from the video game industry several years ago, he's occupied his new-found free time with LEGO.  Crossword puzzles and golf just weren't doing it for him. 

Not having built with LEGO as a child, he was sucked into the hobby starting with the LEGO Advent Calendar, then on to the Architecture Series.  That's where he really got to thinking, "Hey, I've got the Lincoln Memorial and the US Capitol, why not build everything in between?!?" 

He's only a year into this ambitious four year project, but he's got a lot to show for it.  Obviously there have been some challenges, like getting everything scaled correctly, and flying to D.C. to take his own pictures, since, according to Wayne, internet photos are notoriously unreliable.  There are also plenty of custom modifications, redesigns, rebuilds, and figuring out new techniques along the way. 

I find it fascinating how the skills of creating landscapes/environments in the virtual world of video games can translate to the hands-on medium of LEGO.  Especially for someone who had no previous experience with the brick.  Having built with LEGO my entire life, it's difficult to imagine what it would be like to start from scratch.  Discovering the vast number of pieces, learning the variety of ways to connect them, then putting it all together to achieve the desired result.  A daunting task, to be sure.  But Wayne seems to have figured it out rather quickly.  He plans on displaying what he's got thus far at a fan event called BrickSlopes this June near Salt Lake City.  Check it out!