Tākina lays foundations for opening with Jurassic World by Brickman®

Opening on Saturday June 3 – King’s Birthday Weekend – the show is the biggest ever put on by Ryan “The Brickman” McNaught, with more than six million LEGO® bricks, including 2.5m for visitors to show off their skills with.  

Greeting guests upon their arrival to the exhibit is the newest Jurassic World by Brickman® dinosaur, the Baryonyx – which weighs more than 400 kilograms, is 4.8 metres long and made up of over 100,000 LEGO® bricks. 

Visitors will be able to walk through the iconic four-metre-tall Jurassic World gates, travel via LEGO® creations to Isla Nublar and experience the inner working of the Jurassic World lab.

Inside Jurassic World by Brickman®, visitors will encounter more than 50 LEGO® models including large-scale dinosaurs, props and scenes from the blockbuster Jurassic World franchise, including life-size dinosaurs in a petting zoo, a Brachiosaurus you can walk under, minifig dioramas, and photo opportunities to recreate some of the most iconic moments from the film franchise — including getting up close and personal with two life-size velociraptors, Blue and Delta.

There are 6 separate hands-on activities throughout the exhibition. Building mini-Jurassic World and dinosaur footprints, creating hybrid dinosaurs, helping to assemble enormous LEGO® brick mystery mosaics, you can even build your own escape vehicles to get away from the one tonne T.rex model.  The whole family has been looked after with this exhibit, including a duplo build area for the little LEGO® fans to make newly hatched dinosaurs.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says Tākina and the Jurassic World by Brickman® exhibition are major bricks in transforming Wellington into a City of Impact.

“It’s fantastic for Wellingtonians and visitors who will get to enjoy a blockbuster exhibition that will attract up to 145,000 people. When conferences are added in, the local economy will be boosted by an estimated $70.4 million between 2023-26. More than $44 million of that will come in the first year alone.

“And it’s just a start. Jurassic World by Brickman® is the first of many world-leading shows Tākina will host on its ground floor exhibition space. I hope Wellingtonians are feeling excited by what’s to come when the centre opens in three months. I know I am.”

Ryan ‘The Brickman’ McNaught – the only Southern Hemisphere certified LEGO® professional and judge on Australia’s blockbuster TV series LEGO® Masters Australia – says: “It’s great to be back in Wellington again, our last exhibition “wonders of the world” was a huge success, so we’ve been super busy working on the follow up, hopefully it doesn’t disappoint. Some of these models are the most complex and challenging ones we have made to date, so being able to bring them to Wellington is just fantastic. We have created and used new techniques and committed thousands of hours to build these models that I am personally incredibly proud of.”

Tākina, Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre, is poised to boost the city’s economy by an estimated $70.4m between 2023-26 – with more than $44m in the first 12 months.

It is the first convention and exhibition centre in New Zealand to have been awarded a 5 Green Star Design Certification.

Jurassic World by Brickman® takes place at Tākina, Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre, from Saturday 3 June to 16 Oct 2023.