The Dublin teenager who made Manhattan out of Lego

Dublin teenager Alex Bailey's Lego Manhattan recreation has resurfaced on social media as people continue to marvel at this one of a kind Lego structure.

Bailey (16) is in transition year and is hoping to find work experience in anything to do with architecture, city design and planning. He aspires to be an architect or model designer at Lego, says his mother, Laura. The attention he received from social media “gave him a confidence boost”, she says.

Alex was 14 at the time he built the structure, which took him seven to eight days to build. His detailed model of New York City went viral after his mother posted it online in 2020. It was inspired by a family trip to the city where a helicopter ride gave him the vision he had for the build. The creation was amplified by former basketball player Rex Chapman and since then has received millions of views.

Alex has had a passion for Lego since he was a toddler. “We were buying model Lego but he was breaking them apart because he wanted to freestyle,” says Laura. “He had his own ideas. He started freestyling when he was about seven and built a 3-foot Lego titanic.”