As a child, Balazs Doczy had difficulty obtaining Lego in Hungary behind the Iron Curtain. Today, he builds models with 1.8 million parts, like this colorful tram that has been featured in Budapest since November. In the heart of the Hungarian capital, the vehicle was assembled by a team of 90 people totaling some 6,800 hours of work over a period of one month.
The 48-year-old artist attended the start of the assembly before leaving for Majorca, where he works as a diving instructor, between two missions in Hungary inspired by his passion for the Danish firm’s games. 11 meters long, the dapper tramway, built to order from the city’s transport and tourism organizations and on display until January 6, 2025, fascinates passers-by.
This is Balazs Doczy’s most ambitious project to date, which intervenes above all upstream, like an architect resolving “technical challenges”. “Building these megastructures is nothing like ordinary Lego projects”he tells AFP.
Fascinated since a young age by Lego, he “begged the neighbors’ children to collect their boxes and build ever bigger structures” with his older brother. Because coins were rare in the Central European country then an integral part of the communist bloc. “We were already ambitious back then”he said with a smile. In 2013, his passion became a family business called “Atelier de bricks” where he multiplies grandiose initiatives.
He quickly gained attention by designing models of Saint Stephen’s Basilica and Heroes’ Square in Budapest. He also reproduced in life size the statue of a bridge in the capital, with the image of a lion, at the cost of almost sleepless nights.
Since 2017, Balazs Doczy has been officially designated a “Lego Certified Professional” (LCP). This prestigious title, granted to only around twenty creators in the world, rewards those who are capable of imagining “original and innovative designs pushing the limits of creativity and construction”, specifies a company spokesperson.
If he does not receive financial compensation, he “can regularly consult the other LCPs“, has access to exclusive software and “can order from 14,000 different parts” made in the group’s factories, explains the delighted artist. But for some of his ideas, he has to explore second-hand markets to find old bricks, even dating back to the 1970s of his childhood.
