The Build Bangladesh in LEGO project, which includes a LEGO model of the Bangladesh parliament building, has reached the finals of LEGO Ideas after gathering 10,000 supporters.
The project is the brainchild of Juditha Ohlmacher of J&J LEGO Creations, based in Dhaka. A life-long fan of LEGO, Juditha came up with the Build Bangladesh project two years ago, when she noticed that the country’s great works of architecture were not represented in LEGO’s architecture sets, according to a press release.
Juditha is an American by birth but is married to a Bangladeshi and has been living in Bangladesh for over 16 years.
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At ToyCon 2018, Juditha launched the project by building two models of the Bangladesh parliament building: A massive 8,000 piece one and a smaller 125-piece tabletop version. The tabletop version is the one in the LEGO Ideas competition.
Over the past two years, Juditha has appeared at many local universities, conventions and festivals such as Dhaka Lit Fest in order to gather votes for the project. After a year and a half, she had gathered 7,000 votes.
“When the coronavirus shutdown happened, I became very worried as I could no longer go around in person to promote the project. But in the past couple of months – perhaps because more people are at home on their computers – the project took off and gained a momentum I could only have dreamed of,” Juditha said.
“Bangladeshis feel very deeply about this building. To them, it is more than a parliament house; it is a symbol of stability, dignity, and greatness,” she added.
The Bangladesh parliament building, designed by architect Louis Kahn, is considered a world masterpiece.
In the finals of LEGO Ideas, the Build Bangladesh project will be judged against up to 25 other projects from across the globe. If selected, the model of the Bangladesh parliament building will be available in stores around the world.