If there’s one thing you notice quickly about DMC, it’s that we hire smart people and invest in building a culture where those people genuinely enjoy working together.
One of the ways that shows up? LEGO.
Read on to learn more about a special LEGO team-building activity at our Chicago office earlier this year, and how it reflects a culture that values fun, creativity, and collaboration just as much as technical excellence.
A Tradition Built Brick by Brick
LEGO-building isn’t just a one-off event at DMC, it’s a long-standing tradition. From team-wide builds where everyone tackles the same kit, to more technical LEGO exercises alongside NASA-related battery testing, LEGO-building activities have taken on many shapes over the years, blending creativity, collaboration, and technical curiosity in a way that feels uniquely “DMC.”
It has also been a way for DMC to engage with the broader community. Our offices have hosted FIRST LEGO League teams in the past, giving students a glimpse into engineering principles while giving DMC engineers the opportunity to mentor students interested in STEM careers.
Across all of these experiences, one thing is clear: LEGO is a big deal at DMC. So, when we welcomed Luke Horwath to the team this past winter, an engineering student who once competed on the show LEGO Masters, it felt like the perfect opportunity to make our 2026 LEGO activity something truly special.
2026 LEGO Activity
LEGO activities have become a favorite at DMC. Last year, the Chicago team built individual kits side by side, from classic art and Star Wars sets to Vespa models and botanical builds. Everyone chose a kit that matched their interests.
For 2026, DMC’s Recruiting Lead, Carly Bessinger, set out to try something new and teamed up with new hire and LEGO enthusiast Luke Horwath. His idea: a collaborative LEGO mosaic, where each person builds a section that comes together into one larger piece. “The inspiration came from my experiences at LEGO conventions,” Luke said.
DMC’s Luke Horwath and his mom, Anne, standing next to their design on LEGO Masters Season 5.
The LEGO Master
Before appearing on LEGO Masters, Luke was already well known in the LEGO community. He showcased original builds at conventions, including 7-foot-tall roller coasters, a life-size working pinball machine and claw machine, and full LEGO cities. One of those events led to his casting on Season 5 of LEGO Masters, where he and his mother, Anne, became finalists and earned the Golden Brick along the way.
Creating the LEGO Mosaic Design
Cut to 2026, Luke got to work with Owen Johnson creating the mosaic concept, landing on the Chicago skyline as the inspiration for the design. Owen drafted a rendering, selecting colors to bring the skyline image to life. Then, Luke used Bricklink to match the colors in Owen’s design to available LEGO brick colors while sourcing the bricks.
“Owen spent so many hours coming up with an incredible design that leaned DMC and Chicago-centric. He came up with the final concept of the DMC logo integrated into the night skyline, which I thought was fantastic!”
Rendering of the LEGO mosaic design in Bricklink.
Each dot in the rendering above represents a 1-by-1 LEGO piece. To accomplish the depth of color of the Chicago skyline at night, Owen leaned on a design “technique” you’ve probably seen before: dithering. From there, Owen’s engineering mindset really kicked in. We’ll just let him explain:
“The tiles we used on the mural are basically like pixels, just low color ‘bit depth’.I used standard image manipulation techniques: scaling (no interpolation mixed with cubic and linear for a balance of punchiness and smoothness), plus basic color and contrast adjustments. Each pixel was quantized to a single LEGO color using error-diffusion dithering, specifically Floyd–Steinberg. I used the web tool DitherIt with a custom palette of available LEGO colors. Luke also helped select colors that weren’t too expensive or hard to distinguish.”
He explored several different concepts before landing on the final design: the Chicago skyline at night featuring the DMC logo. Below are some early design ideas, including a galaxy mosaic and another skyline concept with DMC Easter eggs.
The Assembly
Once Owen and Luke completed the design and the logistics of the build, it was time to assemble the team. The LEGO activity had approximately 50 participants, and the 50-inch-square mosaic ended up including 26,000 LEGO bricks. For comparison, a 6-foot LEGO rollercoaster takes about 4,000 to 5,000 bricks.
Everyone who participated in the event was responsible for assembling one 5-inch-by-5-inch square. Each square had accompanying LEGO pieces that formed part of the mosaic. As Luke explained, “When you’re building your section, it doesn’t really look like anything up close—that probably means you’re doing it right if it just looks like a scattered mess!”
That made the final result even more satisfying.
50 Participants, 100 Hands, and 26,000 Bricks
When all 100 individual 5-inch by 5-inch sections finally clicked together at the end of the night, the team stepped back to see their work come to life. The result was an expertly designed LEGO picture of the Chicago skyline with the DMC logo floating above the buildings in the night sky. A striking visual built one small piece at a time.
While the mosaic itself was an impressive feat of creativity and engineering problem-solving, the true takeaway from the night went beyond the final product. The project required coordination, patience, and trust in a shared vision where no single piece made sense on its own.
That’s what made the outcome so meaningful.
Each participant contributed a small part, knowing it would only come together when combined with the work of others. In the end, the completed picture showcased what happens every day at DMC when team members collaborate, bring their unique strengths to the table, and build something bigger than themselves. At DMC, whether it’s a 26,000-brick mosaic or a complex engineering project, the same principle holds true. Great results come from teamwork, thoughtful problem-solving, and a shared commitment to getting it right.
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