It’s a “hobby that got out of control.”
That’s how Kirk Ticknor describes the creation that took over a spare room in his Columbus home.
Ticknor, 61, the director of public works at Fort Moore, has built a 13-by-10-foot scale model of downtown Chicago — comprising approximately 500,000 LEGO bricks. And it will make its public debut this weekend at the inaugural LEGO Brick Convention in the Columbus Convention & Trade Center.
When he opens the double doors to what was designed to be the dining room in his Green Island Hills house, Ticknor savors the reaction from visitors when they see the model covering the floor.
“Giving them joy has given me joy,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Ticknor’s love affair with LEGOs started in childhood and continued into adulthood. He used them to play with his five sons. He also used them as a relaxing outlet for himself.
“I’m a little bit of an introvert,” he said. “So when you’ve got something you’re building, you’ve got some alone time. You’re thinking. You’re designing. You’re recharging. It still appeals.”
Ticknor is among what the LEGO Company estimated in 2010 to be 40,000 AFOLs (adult fans of LEGO) around the world. Current estimates range to more than 1 million.
Thirteen years ago, Ticknor built a LEGO model of the Willis Tower, the third-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, on the dining room table in his previous house. His wife, Cindy, built a model of the building next door, so Ticknor figured he’d continue adding buildings.
“It grew and grew,” he said.
After they moved to Green Island Hills in 2014, the Ticknors had a spare room, and he figured it would be a great space for his collections of comic books and Time magazines — and to expand his LEGO construction to a scale model of the entire Chicago downtown.
“That’s when the wheels fell off,” he said with a laugh. “I started getting into it big-time.”
It became a hobby he did during the winter. Six years later, he finished his masterpiece. Now, he will share it with the public.
“I’m excited about the convention,” he said “… Kids and adults can enjoy it.”
Cindy, a professor of math education, dean of the Honors College at Columbus State University and educational comic book author, wrote math problems about the model that will be on display at the convention as well.
Ticknor chose Chicago because its downtown is on a consistent grid, conducive to the right angles of LEGO bricks.
“The architecture is awesome in Chicago,” he said, adding that he has fond memories of visiting the city with his family while growing up in Iowa.
He has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. After this project, he probably deserves a degree in architecture or urban engineering.
“A lot of design work went into this thing,” he said.
Ticknor used mostly graph paper and a pencil to engineer his design, although he relied on SkyscraperPage.com and Google Earth to help him be as precise as possible.
“It’s not entirely accurate,” he said. “It’s plus or minus 5%.”
But it’s 100% original work, meaning he didn’t use any kits. He built each structure brick by brick, costing a few thousand dollars, and spent approximately 2,000 hours over seven years to complete.
And he didn’t use any glue.
“It’s pretty pure,” he said.
Ticknor added with a laugh, “There’s a couple modified pieces, but they’re hidden.”
The most frustrating part of the construction came the day when he came into the room and a bunch of the buildings were smushed together.
“I couldn’t figure out how it happened,” he said. “Did we have a mini earthquake or something?”
Ticknor found the culprit: a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.
“Yeah,” he said with a smile, “it chewed up a couple LEGOs.”
Ticknor never considered giving up, he said, but the offsets on building facades were tough to mimic.
When he connected the model’s final brick along Wacker Drive, he was relieved.
“Thank God it’s done,” he said.
Ticknor doesn’t have another massive LEGO project in mind, but his next LEGO engineering challenge is to transport this creation from his home to the convention. Since he constructed it in modular blocks, 18-by-18 inches, he labeled each of them with a coordinate identification to neatly disassemble and pack the model and correctly reassemble it — with help from some CSU students.
The ultimate destination for his model, Ticknor hopes, is to display it at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
“Maybe I’ll try to make that happen in retirement,” he said.
This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Ledger-Inquirer.
