Karan the builder: 11-year-old wins roof model building competition

KARAN Dipnarine loves building things. From designing buildings using Legos to crafting worlds in Minecraft, he allows his creativity to shine during his free time.

It was this creative ability which allowed him to place first in Roof System Ltd's art competition for post SEA students called Under One Roof.

The children were required to build a free-standing structure focusing on the roof. In addition, a one-minute long video had to be submitted in which the children told their story about the roof they created, the materials they used, the purpose of the roof and the inspiration behind it.

The 11-year-old Freeport native, who is home-schooled, told Newsday Kids he had to do a lot of research before he began building, which he enjoyed a lot.

"I researched the different features of a roof and what you had to consider while making it...It took a few days," he recalled.

In his video, which was posted to Facebook, he called himself Farmer Karan, explaining that he built a gable roof model "to protect (his) farm animals."

It included solar panels, ventilation and a storage area, among other things. He achieved this using recycled materials including styrofoam, cardboard and straw.

He even included farm animal figures inside of the shed.

He ended the video by wishing viewers a "farmtastic day."

Dipnarine told Newsday Kids his love for building started with Legos, which he has used to create things like a mountain cave and a life-sized Black Panther head.

In fact, after writing SEA, his family offered to take him out for food or ice-cream and all he wanted to do was to go home to play with his Lego sets.

In addition to this, he enjoys playing Minecraft and he said his favourite mode is creative mode.

"I can build anything I want," he said, smiling.

He said he had a lot of fun building the roof and he learnt a lot, adding that it was the first time he built one with anything other than Legos.

On winning, he said, "I feel happy," but he was really nervous during the announcement of the top three. He said it felt like "his stomach was in his throat" when it was being announced.

But apart from building, he said he also enjoys coding, doing karate, playing golf and piano and his favourite subjects are art and maths.

He also has a fascination for dinosaurs and his favourite is the brachiosaurus.

Asked what else he would like to build, he said models of dinosaurs.

He wants to be either a palaeontologist or a Lego designer when he grows up and hopes to attend Presentation College, Chaguanas.