LEGO: Another brick in the firewall

February 2006

Orlando Sentinel
February 2006
by Linda Shrieves

Sure, you can build anything with Lego blocks. Cars, robots, the Statue of Liberty -- even David Letterman's head. (It's true. Go to brickartist.com to check it out.)

So why not build a computer?

At least that's what the editors of PC Magazine thought when they were working on a story about how to build your own PC. So they contacted Nathan Sawaya, a Lego-sponsored artist (who knew there was such a job?) and asked him to build a PC.

In 16 hours, Sawaya completed a model of a computer -- complete with a blue mouse, a keyboard that looks like the real thing and a black screen with yellow dots.

His next assignment is tougher. Starting this month, he'll assemble a real working computer out of Lego bricks and computer components. When completed, this computer will be given away to the winner of a contest sponsored by PC Magazine.

Although Sawaya has made a spinning globe from Lego bricks and a life-size Lego sculpture of Star Wars' Han Solo frozen in carbonite, he's relying on a little help from his friends for this latest task.

"I'll be working closely with him," reports PC Magazine executive editor Jeremy Kaplan. "I don't think he's ever built a computer before."

Orlando Sentinel, February 2006