146 TYLER PATTERSON story by Zach Bishop As an interior design major, sophomore Tyler Patterson was challenged to exercise his creativity. Patterson’s inventive and mathematical personality led him to his passion of building Legos. Like many enthusiasts, Patterson began building at a young age. “The first set I really remember getting was this Spider-Man set from the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies,” Patterson said. “It was a train and Spider-Man and Doc Ock.” Since then, Patterson had been collecting and tinkering with Legos, feeding his desire to create something aesthetically pleasing and personally satisfying. This was a part of his life that didn’t go unnoticed. “If I was ever over at Tyler’s house for a youth group event, there were always Legos in random places around the house, but they were always super cool and extravagant,” freshman Sage Holley said. “He has a passion for making things, and whatever he’s working on always turns out great.” Regardless of praise and support of his hobby, Patterson didn’t want to pursue a career with Legos. However, it did lead him down the path of interior design. “When I was little, I got started with Legos, and originally, that led me to think I wanted to go into engineering, but then realized that I didn’t like math,” Patterson said. “I wanted to do more relying on the aesthetics, so I found interior design and just kind of ran with that. There is a basic understanding of geometry and proportions, but other than that, there’s no calculus.” Through his work as an interior design major, he realized how similar his hobby and coursework were. “Building something out of Legos without instructions is kind of like doing a puzzle that there’s not an actual answer to,” Patterson said. “It’s sort of the same thing as why I really enjoy doing interior design. There’s not a right answer, and obviously there are wrong answers, but there is no, ‘this is the correct answer.’” According to fellow sophomore interior design major Alaina Abbott, the principles of design were applicable to Legos. “Building with Legos is, quite literally, small-scale architecture,” Abbott said. “It’s making your sketches tangible and allows for a creative outlet. Building with Legos just fuels the creative fire.” Patterson emphasised that the concepts of design could be applied to any design medium. “If you have a general understanding of the seven principles of design— pattern, contrast, emphasis, balance, proportion and scale, harmony and rhythm and movement— then you’re pretty much set,” Patterson said. Patterson applied his talent and knowledge for design to build large-scale creations. “The biggest thing I’ve ever made is a scale model of the Millennium Falcon,” Patterson said. “It was about 8,000 pieces, and I did it all by hand, no computer software.” Through his Lego projects, Patterson embraced his persona as a creator, which he attributed to his method of building. Sophomore Tyler Patterson pursues his passion of design with Legos. THINK OUTSIDE THE BLOCK
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