Summer in Washington DC can be a sweltering affair. Elected officials decamp the city during its muggiest months, but for those who stay behind or choose to visit, relief tends to come in one of two ways: head to one of the region's beaches or just stay indoors. For its new architecture installation at the National Building Museum, New York design firm Snarkitecture set out to combine the best of both worlds with its design for an indoor beach – of sorts, anyway.
With no sand or water in sight, 'The Beach' is more of an interpretation; as Snarkitecture senior associate Benjamin Porto puts it, 'we abstracted the architectural elements of a beach'. Sand and water? Translucent plastic balls. Shore? Astroturf. And the horizon line? A panel of mirrors.
Taking over the museum's expansive atrium space, the installation covers 930 sq m with over a million balls, allowing visitors to wade through a sea of spheres. 'The balls act like water,' explains Porto, highlighting the project's emphasis on interactivity. 'You can't just walk through it. It forces you to interact with it.' If its 4 July opening day was any indication, visitors will use the space like an actual bay, floating on the surface of the 'water', diving underneath, and lounging on the shoreline.
Those who might see more of a potential petri dish than a beach can rest easy. Manufactured by the North Carolina-based plastics company Intertech Corp, the balls are made with a new anti-microbial material.
'The Beach' is a de facto follow up to last summer's 'BIG maze' installation at the National Building Museum – a plywood labyrinth designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). It will be open until Labor Day, which this year falls on 7 September.
The installation is an interpretation of an indoor beach, with the sand/water reconceived as translucent plastic balls, the shore as astroturf and the horizon line as a panel of mirrors
'The balls act like water,' explains Snarkitecture senior associate Benjamin Porto, highlighting the project's emphasis on interactivity. 'You can't just walk through it. It forces you to interact with it'
On its opening on 4 July, visitors used the space like an actual beach, floating on the surface of the 'water', diving underneath, and lounging on the shoreline
The installation covers 930 sq m with over one million translucent plastic balls, allowing visitors to wade through a sea of spheres
True to form, 'The Beach' will be open through to the traditional end of the American summer, Labor Day – this year falling on 7 September
ADDRESS
National Building Museum
401 F St NW
Washington DC 20001
United States
-
The 24 best photographs of 2024, shot for the pages of Wallpaper*Photography editor, Sophie Gladstone, completes her year in review, with some personal highlights from Wallpaper* photographers in 2024
-
Time, beauty, history – all are written into trees in Karimoku Research Center's debut Tokyo exhibitionThe layered world of forests – and their evolving relationship with humans – is excavated and reimagined in 'The Age of Wood', a Tokyo exhibition at Karimoku Research Center
-
Tour Xi'an's remarkable new 'human-centred' shopping district with designer Thomas HeatherwickXi'an district by Heatherwick Studio, a 115,000 sq m retail development in the Chinese city, opens this winter. Thomas Heatherwick talks us through its making and ambition
-
A vacant Tribeca penthouse is transformed into a bright, contemporary eyrieA Tribeca penthouse is elevated by Peterson Rich Office, who redesigned it by adding a sculptural staircase and openings to the large terrace
-
We walk through Luther George Park and its new undulating pavilionLuther George Park by Trahan Architects and landscape architects Spackman Mossop Michaels opens to the public, showcasing a striking new pavilion installation – take a first look
-
A vibrant new waterfront park opens in San FranciscoA waterfront park by leading studio Scape at China Basin provides dynamic public spaces and coastal resilience for San Francisco's new district of Mission Rock
-
Tekαkαpimək Contact Station: a building ‘as inspiring as the endless forest and waterways of the land’The new Tekαkαpimək Contact Station by Saunders Architecture with Reed Hilderbrand and Alisberg Parker Architects, opens at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in the USA
-
Entelechy II: architect John Portman's majestic beach home hits the marketEntelechy II, architect John Portman's beach residence in Georgia, USA, goes on the market; roll up, roll up for a home that is as grand as it is playful
-
First look: Honolulu's Victoria Place blends cosmopolitan living with Hawaii life and natureVictoria Place is a new residential tower at Honolulu's Ward Village; take a first look at its interiors
-
A look inside the home of George Homsey, one of the fathers of pioneering California modernist community Sea RanchGeorge Homsey's home opens for the first time since his death, in 2019; see where the architect behind some of the designs for Sea Ranch, the pioneering California modernist community, lived
-
Step inside a Brooklyn Brownstone that bridges old and new'Brooklyn Brownstone' has been refreshed by Jon Powell Architects (JPA) and the result is a contemporary design rooted in modern elegance
