By Amanda Murthy
A Saint Mary’s Cathedral parishioner has recently expanded his architectural portfolio by creating a LEGO model of the Perth cathedral, using more than 8800 pieces of the plastic construction toy bricks.
David Lefort, who is also a part-time Cathedral tour guide, told The eRecord he created the LEGO structure with the aim of providing families and younger visitors a unique look at the rich history and architecture of his favourite WA building in a fun and engaging way.
“I’ve always been mesmerised by the Cathedral’s beauty since my first visit back in 2003 and being my favourite building in WA, I wanted to create more awareness of its place within the heart of Perth,” he said.
“Therefore, I thought that it would be a good idea to have a model of the Cathedral that visitors and school children on school tours could see as a whole and have a better appreciation of its architecture.
“Seeing it as a whole, I could point out to them the areas with different architecture styles, details, components, structure and the overall form of the building during these tours.
“I’d like to thank St Mary’s Cathedral for trusting my vision and displaying the work,” he expressed.
Creating such an elaborate detailed structure required much homework and preparation, Mr Lefort shared some of the steps he undertook during the month-long construction process.
“I took many photographs of the Cathedral from the various angles, read the book about the Cathedral and looked at building plans to get a better understanding of its design, structure, shape, size, and space.
“Furthermore, through my tour guide training, I learnt a wealth of information about the Cathedral from Carol Wright, which was a great help,” Mr Lefort added.
“With the plans, images, information, and a scale in mind, I started to build my model, starting with many standalone sections of it, trying to replicate the look of the Cathedral through the use of different parts and building techniques until I was happy that the sections I was building looked close enough to the real building.
“Then I combined the different sections together to create the final model. I actually added lights inside that illuminates the ‘stained glass windows’ when turned on.”
Mr Lefort admitted he had to borrow some parts from other sets and order in remaining parts to ensure he achieved the look intended.
“I gave special attention to the style of the building, the look of the different architectural styles constructed over different eras, capturing both the modern and past architecture and details as accurately as I could,” he said.
“This also showed what the humble LEGO brick could do and that it’s not just a toy!”
Some of the other works of Mr Lefort includes LEGO art of The Last Supper, Disneyland theme park, the house from the movie UP, and a model of the City of Perth, which is scheduled to be displayed at Open House Perth this November.
The model of St Mary’s Cathedral is currently situated in the gallery space at the lower ground floor of the cathedral near the Parish Centre. It is available for public viewing and used during the Cathedral tours.
To see more of David Lefort’s work, follow him on Instagram: @BasilBricks