National Building Museum: The Latest Architecture and News

Twenty-four teams from Washington, DC-based architecture and design firms participated in CanstructionDC 2015 at the National Building Museum, building transportation-themed sculptures out of canned food. At the end of the display, the sculptures will be dismantled and the food will be donated to local hunger relief organizations. Watch the sculptures come together, including a Mayflower bean soup ship and a full-scale smart car, in the timelapse video above. Learn more on the National Building Museum website.

James Corner Field Operations has been chosen to design the National Building Museum's 2016 Summer Block Party installation. Just like its predecessors, including Snarkitecture's popular BEACH and BIG's massive Labyrinth, the installation will take over the Museum's Great Hall. With the design in its preliminary stages, little has been revealed. However, its mission is to "present innovative, interactive experiences that experiment with new ways of seeing and understanding the built environment."

“We are very excited about this opportunity to once again transform the Great Hall for summer spectacle and pleasure,” said James Corner, adding that “it will be a great challenge to surpass the genius of previous installations, but also an opportunity to explore something new and unexpected.” 

Now through September 7, you can take a "swim" in a massive "BEACH" that has taken over the National Building Museum's Great Hall. Spanning 10,000-square-feet, the BEACH was created in partnership with Brooklyn-based Snarkitecture to offer the people of Washington D.C. a one-of-a-kind installation as part of the NBM's "Summer Block Party."

The "ocean" is essentially a ball-pit comprised of nearly one million recyclable translucent plastic balls. It is contained within a mirrored, all-white enclosure flanked by a 50-foot-wide "shoreline" that offers visitors the option to wade the  "water" or sit back and relax. 

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In partnership with Brooklyn-based Snarkitecture, the National Building Museum (NBM) in Washington, D.C. aims to once again create an interactive architectural exhibit as a part of its “Summer Block Party” programming. While last year’s exhibit included a life-sized maze by BIG, this summer, the museum will host a 10,000 square foot enclosure in its Great Hall called the BEACH.

Circle the globe in 800-feet at the National Building Museum’s latest exhibition HOT TO COLD. BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group’s first North American exhibition, HOT TO COLD takes viewers on an “odyssey of architectural adaptation” from the “hottest to the coldest parts of our planet to explore how BIG’s designs are shaped by their cultural and climatic contexts.”

More than 60 architectural models of BIG’s most recent projects, including 20 premiering for the first time, are being suspended from the second floor of the museum’s historic Great Hall. Each project is interpreted through Iwan Baan's "masterful" photography, films by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine, and the Grammy Award-winning graphic artist Stefan Sagmeister’s design for the accompanying catalog by Taschen.

A word from Ingels, after the break.

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The National Building Museum has announced Charlie Rose as the recipient of the 2014 Vincent Scully Prize. The American talk show host and journalist was honored for his exploration “good design, the growth of cities, and the shape of the urban form through his insightful and substantive conversations with leading thinkers of our day.”

"One of the great joys of spending twenty-five years at the table is meeting a cross-section of the best in culture and science and technology," said Rose. "I have a special place for the men and women who inspire us with the buildings they create. Architecture is a passion of mine and I’ve been proud to know not only architects but also those who teach, assess, and love great buildings. Architecture is one of the reflections of the permanence of a civilization. I am indeed honored to be the recipient of the Vincent Scully Prize, named for a man I have known, admired, and interviewed."

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Images and video of the BIG Labyrinth have begun to appear on social media since it opened on July 4th at the National Building Museum (NBM) in Washington, DC.

The 61×61 foot maze, housed in the building’s grand atrium, will be open to visitors until September 1st. See more images and video, after the break...

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The National Building Museum (NBM) has announced that BIG has designed a 61x61 foot maze to be housed in the building's grand atrium from July 4th to September 1st of this year. According to the NBM's website, the labyrinth's Baltic birch plywood walls, which stand 18 feet high at the maze's periphery, descend as you make your way towards the center. From the core, then, visitors receive a view of the entire layout - and a better understanding of how to get back out.

According to Bjarke Ingels, "The concept is simple: as you travel deeper into a maze, your path typically becomes more convoluted. What if we invert this scenario and create a maze that brings clarity and visual understanding upon reaching the heart of the labyrinth?" Of course, those uninterested in the challenge of figuring out the maze can peek down on it from the Museum's second and third floors - but where would be the fun in that?

More images, diagrams and drawings after the break!

The National Building Museum has awarded the 15th Vincent Scully Prize to Joshua David and Robert Hammond, the founders of the High Line in New York. In 1999 the pair formed the non-profit organisation Friends of the High Line; this award recognizing their efforts in transforming the abandoned structure is the latest accolade for the internationally celebrated project. David and Hammond were also awarded the Jane Jacobs Medal in 2010.

Read more about the award and the High Line after the break.