A new 150,000-piece model of Reagan National Airport’s Terminal 2 is about to make its debut.
A nine-month labor of love by Lego enthusiast Richard Paules, the 120-pound centerpiece — featuring an accurate floor design with domes, arrival/departure levels and even a baggage claim — is set to appear to the public next Monday.
It will be visible in Terminal 2, before security.
“It’s spectacular how closely I think he’s been able to recreate the actual building,” National Airport Manager Terry Liercke told ARLnow. “When we learned [Paules] was building it, there was no question that we’d end up acquiring it and displaying it in the terminal.”
Paules played with Legos as a kid, but he says he took a break in college and gifted his bricks to his younger cousins. Then, after his cousins grew up, his aunt came by his house unannounced one day to drop all of his Legos back with him to get them out of her house.
Since then, Paules has been building Lego models of buildings both for fun and for commission. He previously constructed a model of Dulles International Airport that has been on display there since early 2024, but he says this one was more difficult.
“This was, by far, the most challenging thing I’ve ever done,” Paules told ARLnow.
Gary Miller, structures and ground division manager at National Airport, oversaw the process of moving the model from Paules’ home, ensuring that it didn’t break in transit.
“We said ‘boy, could we have chosen a bumpier road?’ I’m sitting there thinking ‘it’s falling apart in the back of the van,’” Miller said.
The model arrived safely, though. For the time being, it’s sitting behind a curtain on the ticketing level between doors three and four — waiting for next week’s grand reveal.
