Usually a house of cards suggests something unstable, flimsy and easy to collapse.
American Bryan Berg (above), though, thrives on creating large, tall and solid structures using ordinary decks of playing cards. In fact, some of his card platforms are so strong that they could withstand the weight of more than one person standing on them.
If you're into novelty records, the Guinness champion for stacking cards is in the city and, starting today, will use ordinary cards to recreate the Beijing Olympic sites - including the 'Bird's Nest' stadium, the 'Water Cube' aquatic centre and the CCTV Tower - at the Langham Place mall in Mong Kok.
Apparently, Berg's been planning six months for it and the end result on July 24, if all goes according to plan, will be an impressive marvel about 21/2 metres long, 6 metres wide and 3 metres tall. Basically, the mall is promoting it as a 160-hour 'stackathon'.
Last year, the architecture graduate from the University of Iowa and holder of a design studies master's degree from Harvard took the world record by building a 55,000-card, 7.9-metre-tall tower in five weeks.
If you think you're geek enough to beat him at stacking cards, the mall is offering three contestants a chance to take on Berg on July 20. Of course, you'll have to prove yourself first in a mini test at Langham Place between now and July 19. As for the finished work of the card Olympic village, it will be on display until July 31.
