ASHLAND – The job couldn’t have been a better fit if he designed it himself.
“I feel almost like I’m one of the characters in a movie that you’d see, like no one can have this cool of a thing happen to them in real life,” said Maxx Davidson, a 2014 Ashland High School graduate.
Davidson was just named Master Model Builder for the soon-to-open Legoland Discovery Center Columbus. He will be the 22nd Master Model Builder in the world.Â
The 22-year-old University of Akron student rose to the top of a field of 2,000 applicants and beat out 100 contestants in a Brick Factor competition May 5 and 6 to land the dream role.Â
“It means I’ll have a full-time position building with Lego bricks, working with kids and working in this incredible center,” Davidson said.
Opening Sept. 21 at Easton Town Center, Legoland Discovery Center Columbus will be a 36,000-square-foot “ultimate Lego playground,” said marketing manager Jenna Maffei.
Davidson will be in charge of the center’s more than 1 million Lego bricks. He will have his own Master Model Builder studio, stocked with Lego products to build anything he wants and outfitted with a glass wall so visitors can watch him work. He will also work alongside kids who come to visit the center.
One of his major tasks will be to create Miniland Ohio, a space filled with Lego versions of iconic Ohio landmarks.
A whirlwind competition
Davidson said he applied for Brick Factor online in April and was chosen to take part in the competition in Columbus.
He sailed through the first round of competition Saturday, responding to the “animal” prompt by building an entire ocean scene in just 30 minutes.
In round two, Davidson was tasked with a Mother’s Day theme. His mom was at the competition to cheer him on, so she served as a live model for his Lego portrait of her with two of the family’s pets.
Following that round, just 10 contestants moved on.
“When I heard I was in the top 10, my heart just kind of leaped,” Davidson said. “It was such a cool experience.”
Sunday, Davidson and the nine other finalists had individual interviews and then took part in the third and final phase of the challenge. During that phase, they had to show off their social skills and teaching abilities by working with audience participants and a group of kids called the Creative Crew.
The theme for the one-hour build was “something that defines you.”
As a music lover and vinyl record collector, Davidson chose to build a record player.
Davidson said that final phase was his favorite because it combined his passions for education and building.Â
Lifelong Lego fan
For Davidson, the one-month whirlwind of application and competition for the Master Model Builder position was just the final leg of a road he’s been on most of his life.Â
“As long as I could walk and talk, I was building with bricks,” Davidson explained.Â
He started playing with Lego’s Duplo blocks at age two, and by age four, he was building a model of the Millennium Falcon and bringing it into school for show-and-tell.Â
One of Davidson’s favorite ways to play with Lego bricks was to disassemble the sets and craft his own creations.Â
“My parents were always slightly exasperated because they would get these sets for me and then they would last for like two days before I would take them apart and start making my own stuff out of them,” Davidson said.Â
In fifth grade, Davidson started an origami club at a local bookstore, The Little Professor, where he taught peers and younger kids origami. He later taught origami at The Salvation Army Kroc Center.Â
In college, Davidson took up real-life construction, first as a member and then as president of The University of Akron’s Habitat for Humanity chapter.Â
Meanwhile, the Lego passion never wavered, Davidson said.
He kept building through junior high and high school, never hitting a phase where Lego blocks seemed uncool. Throughout college, he’s kept a few buckets of Lego bricks in his dorm room.Â
Pursuing a dream
A fourth-year life science education major at The University of Akron, Davidson is pressing pause on college to engage fully in his new job.Â
“I’m putting that on hold, but I definitely don’t want to say I’m not going back… For me, education is a lifelong process. It’s a huge part of how my define myself, by consistently going out and learning more,” Davidson said.
Davidson is hitting the ground running, already doing a media tour to help promote the center and looking for pet-friendly apartments in Columbus, where he will soon move with his Maltese-mix dog, Tulip.Â
His advice for his fellow creative types is to keep pursuing your passions.
“If you have something you’re passionate about, creatively or otherwise, even if you might not be able to make a career out of it, stick with it… Everyone needs a creative release,” he said.Â
For more information about Columbus Legoland Discovery Center, visit columbus.legolanddiscoverycenter.com.
