There’s a good chance engineers across the region got their start with Legos, and now 

Since it was a construction zone, hard hats were a must.

 

all Lego lovers will have a better opportunity to hone those building skills when the new 32,000-square-foot Lego Discovery Center opens next year in the Springfield Town Center.

Officials as well as a bunch of Lego children were on hand last week for the groundbreaking of the new center. The highlight of the groundbreaking event was a bucket loader truck full of Lego bricks, and Lego costume characters, right outside of the mall entrance, marking the official groundbreaking moment. Justin Roth, the Town Center marketing director, stressed that it will be much more than just a store.

“It’s a whole indoor Lego experience,” he said.

Therese Alvich, who will serve as the general manager of the attraction, added that the search is now on for the attraction’s Master Model Builder, which is an experienced Lego craftsman that will show off the potential to anyone that enters the door. Throughout the new LEGO Discovery Centers, a team of playmakers and Master Model Builders will work to inspire guests through fun, interactive Lego Creative Workshops highlighting indoor Lego play experiences.

Legos got their start in the early 1900s in Denmark when Ole Kirk Christiansen founded the company in a Danish carpentry workshop. He crafted wooden building blocks. In came the plastic revolution right after World War II and they took off after that, rising to the toy that they are today.