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Kids Build Their Own Masterpieces on Famous IIT Campus, But With Legos

By Juan Thompson | July 13, 2013 7:36pm
 Chicago kids built their own Lego City at IIT Saturday.
Build Your Own Lego City Exhibit
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BRONZEVILLE — At the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, which is world-renowned for its architecture, dozens of Chicago families got a shot at building their own masterpieces Saturday — but with Legos.

There were towers, airplanes, churches, houses and bridges as kids — and their parents — helped build a massive lego city in a event sponsored by IIT's Mies van der Rohe Society, which is named for the famous architect.

"It's a good experience and something we can do together," Hyde Park resident Monica Whitsey said about the truly hands-on event.

Her daughter, Kyla Pollard, 12, and Kyla's best friend, Zakiya Johnson,12, constructed what they labeled a "mansion city."

"At home my sister and I built a piano and a microphone," Zakiya volunteered, while Kyla stood in the background rebuilding a piece of their city that had been knocked off by a two-year-old girl with hands sticky from popsicle juice.

"I made the complicated part," boasted Serenity Walker, 7, of Englewood, as she pointed to the tower built with the help of her cousin, Ernest Fizer, 10.

"Build Your Own Lego City'' is an annual exhibit sponsored by the society, which is named after architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who headed the school's department of architecture and who designed many of the campus' iconic buildings. He is widely credited with creating a distinct style of architecture referred to as the Second Chicago School.