Recreated, brick by brick
Lego fanatic Centuri Chan isn’t one to follow an instructional booklet.
He builds movie and television characters using thousands of tiny, interlocking plastic bricks, and creates full-size objects built exactly to scale. A background in architecture, graphic design and photography helps him nail down tiny, intricate details, such as those in his first large-scale build, a model of the Christ Church Cathedral.
Chan, who was living in Melbourne when the February 2011 earthquake hit, said his lasting memory is turning on the television and watching footage of the cathedral’s tower crumbling.
After moving back to the ruined city one year later, he researched extensively and used reference photos to perfect the scale and rose-coloured windows, eventually building the model out of 3500 bricks on the dining table.
Chan helped Ryan McNaught, the creator of the Brickman Wonders of the World exhibition, with building some of the displays of famous landmarks on show at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Christchurch.
He helped put together models of the Taj Mahal, Notre Dame, Arc De Triomphe, Brooklyn Bridge, Lighthouse of Alexandria, International Space Station and Temple of Artemis, which sit alongside attractions such as the Empire State Building with King Kong, Big Ben and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Altogether, more than seven tonnes of bricks were used.
The display by the southern hemisphere’s only certified Lego professional, Melbournebased McNaught, features 50 large scalemodels of world monuments. McNaught said the project, which took 5000 hours to complete, was inspired by his twin boys, who couldn’t name the ancient Wonders of the World – let alone the natural, modern, and industrial.
Chan said he used the bricks as a medium of artistic expression, and particularly enjoyed recreating building facades. He hoped to recreate other Christchurch Heritage buildings, both existing and lost, and was recently asked to build the Old Government Building on Worcester St so, ‘‘perhaps one day I’ll recreate the rest of Cathedral Square’’.
A fan of the classic space-themed and castle kits from the ’80s and ’90s, he rarely built a set from the instructions, preferring to craft his own designs, he said. The main appeal was the creative process and the ‘‘constantly evolving . . . new parts and colours’’.
Event spokeswoman Nancy Blackler said throughout the tour – which had also been to Mount Maunganui, Hamilton, Auckland and Wellington – visitors had been ‘‘wowed by the Titanic’’. About 200,000 New Zealanders had wandered through the exhibition, which runs until Sunday. Bread and Circus, World Buskers Festival:
Several shows are planned for tonight and over the weekend, including ticketed acts by America’s Got Talent star Piff The Magic Dragon, a cabaret and circus performance by The Nasty Show and an eclectic music mashup by Le Gateau. The festival, which launched on January 10, will run until February 3.
Christchurch 10km Walk/Run Series New Brighton Beach, Sunday 8am:
The first of four terrain-specific runs kicks off in Christchurch on Sunday with competitors taking to the sand at New Brighton Beach. The sand event will be followed two weeks later with park-and-trail run, then culminate with a road run in March. People keen to get outdoors but not sold on the 10km option can opt to run half the distance instead.
Thumbelina, Court Theatre, tomorrow 11am: Family-friendly entertainment is on show at the Court Theatre every day of the school holidays with an adapted show on Saturday for children with sensory needs. The show, recommended for children aged 3 to 7, will have adjusted lighting and sound making for a more relaxed vibe. Tickets to the revamped story of Thumbelina cost $10.