We have spoken a bit over the last few months about the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Melbourne, due to open at Chadstone Shopping Centre in April this year. This weekend we saw the Brick Factor Competition: the winner of this competition goes on to be the inaugural Master Model Builder at the new centre.
BrickFactor Begins
With a starting field of around seventy builders from around the country,the first challenge on Saturday was to build something representing a sport or hobby with forty five minutes to build . For all of the competitive builds, only traditional LEGO® bricks and plates were available for use. No wheels, no curves and no tiles. Yikes.
Round two involved constructing a sea creature, built with the assistance of a few children: a great variety of creatures were seen.
The Final Round:
At the end of day one, the field was reduced to 14 to compete in the third and final round. In this round, the aspiring Master Model Builders were asked, with the aid of a child helper, to put together a model that represented themselves, and their inspiration. There was a wide range of responses, from the Tasmanian Devil, to a heart spilling out LEGO elements; a bonsai tree, surrounded by people and many more.
I arrived as the interviews with the applicants were underway (lets blame my day job, where individual definitions of ‘day’ may vary). 
The builds from the final round were astounding, and the passion with which the participants spoke was obvious: their love for LEGO bricks and building, as well as the joy that helping children to express themselves with construction.
And then, after the judges, including Ryan McNaught (Lego Certified Professional) and Drew Grove, general manager of the LEGOLAND Discovery centre, conferred, the winner was announced.
And the winner is…
The winner was David Holder, 29, of Melbourne. In the final round, David built a mirror, depicting a minifigure face, in just under an hour. David starts his new job this week. One of the first things David will do is recruit a team of mini builders as he is seeking a young Creative Crew of children aged 6 – 12 years old to assist with developing and road testing new elements of the Centre.
David will work in the special Master Model Builder studio next to the attraction’s Creative Workshop to develop new features in the attraction, curate special exhibitions, build new models, and share his special building skills and techniques with the hundreds of thousands of children and families visiting the Centre. The Master Model Builder will also be responsible for on the floor interaction outside of the Creative Workshop and helping kids build in the LEGO Friends Area, Racers Build & Test and DUPLO Farm.
Drew Grove, General Manager of LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, enjoyed the weekend judging and is delighted with his latest recruit; “We’ve had a great weekend and seen lots of incredible creations built across the two days including musical instruments, cars, cameras and computers. But this job is so much more than just being a great builder, it requires someone with exceptional personal skills who can interact with families and children to inspire their creativity and assist their learning.
“David has proven right from the start with his creative application video and through his interaction with the crowd and general public across the weekend that he will be a great Master Model Builder. We’re looking forward to working together to finish the Centre ready for April.”
From what I saw today, there is no doubt that all of the competitors brought their A-Game. Everyone really wanted to be there, and was building to win. The passion with which they spoke was testament to this. There will be people going home disappointed, but they should all be satisfied that they all impressed the audience at Chadstone. The Master Model Builder role at LEGOLAND Discovery Centres has a huge role working with the public visiting the centre, sharing building techniques, and helping visitors with their building, as well as building new models for the centre and curating special exhibitions.
The LEGOLAND Discovery Centre opens in April. Bookings and Annual Passes are now available at LEGOLANDDiscoveryCentre.com.au
Thanks to the team from LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Melbourne for having the Rambling Brick along..