the BEACH

Museum Monday: at the BEACH

Beach San Diego

Courtesy San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive – via Flickr Common

Can’t make it to the beach this summer?

You’re in luck.

If you can make it to Washington, D.C.’s, there’s a temporary beach at the National Building Museum in the museum’s Great Hall.

Built in partnership with Snarkitecture, the BEACH covers 10,000 square feet and includes an “ocean” of nearly one million recyclable translucent plastic balls. Built inside an enclosure, the temporary beach has beach chairs and umbrellas along a 50-foot wide “shoreline” and a mirrored wall that creates “a seemingly infinite reflected expanse.”

Visitors can “swim” in the ocean, hang out on the “shore,” play beach games, or dangle their feet in the “ocean” off the pier. And like a real beach, there’s even a snack concession with cool treats.

Here’s a time-lapse of the beach being built:

The beach will be open through September 7, 2015 and tickets include admission to all museum exhibitions. More details about the National Building Museum and the BEACH here.