Boy With Autism Creates The Largest LEGO Titanic Replica Using 56k Bricks

Even though it has been over a hundred years since the Titanic sank, many of us know the tragic story very well, mostly because of James Cameron’s 1997 movie of the same name. And to pay homage to this epic vessel, 10-year-old boy with autism Brynjar Karl Bigisson from Reykjavik, Iceland, decided to build an incredible LEGO replica. It took the boy around 700 hours and 56,000 bricks but the end result was well worth it – Brynjar’s replica is the biggest one built so far. And now, 7 years later, the now teen shared just how much this project impacted his life.

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Brynjar Karl Bigisson built a giant LEGO Titanic replica at just 10-years-old

Image credits: Brynjar Karl

In a recent interview with Bored Panda, Brynjar said that LEGO has always been an important part of his life since due to having poor social and communication skills, he always had to play on his own. “While building with LEGO, I was using and developing my imagination and creativity,” said the teen. “I don’t remember feeling lonely, I was too busy building something.”

Image credits: Brynjar Karl

Brynjar visited LEGOLAND in Denmark when he was 9 years old. It was there that he saw the big scale LEGO models and was really fascinated with their scale and structure. He also had an obsession with ships at the time and was passionately researching everything he could about them on the internet – however it was the Titanic that caught his attention the most. “I had learned everything there was to know about the ship and then one day I got this idea that I wanted to build [the replica],” said Brynjar.

Image credits: Brynjar Karl

“Obviously, I was not going to build the 7-meter (26-feet)-long model all by myself and needed to convince some key people in my life to help me,” explained Brynjar. His grandfather, Lulli, helped him create special instructions based on real Titanic blueprints and it made all the difference when creating the replica. Brynjar’s mother helped him create a crowdfunding page so he was able to raise the money he needed to buy LEGOs. “Also, I was offered space in a warehouse to build the model and I came every day after school and built for 3-4 hours for 11 months until I finally finished my LEGO Titanic model,” said the teen.

Image credits: Brynjar Karl

Someone even created a documentary based on Brynjar’s story

Today Brynjar spends his summers working on a ferry that takes people to the island of Viðey and hopes to become a captain one day. “I was diagnosed on the higher end of the autism spectrum when I was 5 years old and struggled a lot growing up and really did not have any friends because I was bad with communication,” said the teen. “Today, I have really great friends and have developed my communication skills and have no problem with that whatsoever.”

Image credits: Brynjar Karl

Image credits: brynjar_kb03

Brynjar says he feels very thankful that his story can serve as an inspiration to kids and parents whose kids were diagnosed with autism who are scared about the future. “I know that my family was worried and that is completely normal because they only had the Rain Man stereotype to compare their experience to. Today, we know much more about autism,” explained the teen.

“We know that if you are allowed to develop your skills through your interest, you can become stronger. I have had that opportunity and today there is nothing that I cannot do if I focus on it. This message is important for me to get across,” concluded Brynjar.