{"id":761206,"date":"2026-07-13T22:37:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761206\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:37:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:37:17","slug":"snarkitecture-brings-the-playground-to-the-national-building-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761206\/","title":{"rendered":"Snarkitecture brings THE PLAYGROUND to the National Building Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2015, they brought\u00a0The Beach<\/a>\u00a0to Washington, D.C.<\/a> In 2018, they built a\u00a0Fun House<\/a>. This summer, designers Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham of Snarkitecture<\/a> have returned to the National Building Museum<\/a>\u2019s Great Hall with another immersive environment: THE PLAYGROUND<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The museum selected<\/a> Snarkitecture to design its summer 2026 installation<\/a> in May. ZGF is the architect of record, with Grace Cabrera, John Barbara and Tim Williams on its team.<\/p>\n

\"aerialThe installation takes place over nine distinct activation areas. (Noah Kalina)<\/p>\n

With THE\u00a0PLAYGROUND,\u00a0Snarkitecture has brought public infrastructure typically found outdoors inside the walls of the museum to create a series of environments that explore the mental and physical benefits of play and how Americans have played over time.<\/p>\n

Across nine distinct activation areas,\u00a0the installation applies principles of landscape architecture and highlights construction materials and methods, turning plywood and scaffolding into design objects.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2008, Snarkitecture is known for taking a playful approach to its projects and creating interactive environments that blur the lines between art and architecture. Its name comes from \u201cThe Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in Eight Fits),\u201d a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll that humorously recounts\u00a0\u201cthe impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Like previous work by the firm, the installation blurs the line between art and architecture. (Noah Kalina)<\/p>\n

Reimagining everyday materials and spaces, Snarkitecture\u2019s work emphasizes participation, perception, and the transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary.\u00a0Past projects include retail environments for Pharrell Williams and Nigo\u2019s Billionaire Boys Club, a restaurant and gallery in Tokyo, a nightclub in Bangkok, and a memorial to the Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0its first installation in the National Building Museum\u2019s Great Hall, The Beach<\/a>, Snarkitecture transformed the space into a \u201cshoreline\u201d with beach chairs and umbrellas and an \u201cocean\u201d of nearly one million translucent plastic balls where visitors could splash around.<\/p>\n

\"installationThe installation highlights construction materials and methods, turning plywood and scaffolding into design objects. (Noah Kalina)<\/p>\n

For\u00a0Fun House, the studio created a freestanding house with rooms showcasing a retrospective of its past projects, objects and environments, including\u00a0Dig,\u00a0Drift,\u00a0Playhouse\u00a0and\u00a0Light Cavern. In the back was a kidney-shaped swimming pool filled with the same plastic balls used in\u00a0The Beach\u2019s\u00a0ball pit.<\/p>\n

The National Building Museum is housed inside the former U.S. Pension Bureau headquarters, designed by Montgomery Meigs. Past designers and architecture firms commissioned for the summer installations there include Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG Maze); James Corner Field Operations (ICEBERGS)<\/a>; and Studio Gang (Hive)<\/a>. Only Snarkitecture has been featured three times.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach summer we invite a designer to reimagine the Great Hall in a way that changes how people experience space,\u201d said museum president and executive director Aileen Fuchs. \u201cSnarkitecture has a unique ability to transform familiar materials into something surprising and participatory, and their past installations have created some of the most memorable experiences in the museum\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The installation includes traditional playground furnishings like slides. (Noah Kalina)<\/p>\n

As an installation,\u00a0THE PLAYGROUND\u00a0is closer to\u00a0Fun House\u00a0than\u00a0The Beach, because it offers multiple experiences, whereas\u00a0The Beach\u00a0was more of a one-liner.<\/p>\n

Some of the play zones have names, including the Dig Pit (a sandbox-type area with granulated cork instead of sand and shovels and buckets provided); the Adventure Yard (a mini-construction precinct); the Climbing Wall and the Sport Court (featuring three basketball hoops and orange sponge balls.) Other zones include a maze, a seating plateau with intermittent sliding boards, and a lounge containing hammocks and \u201cspinning chairs.\u201d About all that\u2019s missing is a trampoline.<\/p>\n

One of the more challenging zones could be right out of \u201cSurvivor,\u201d with rope netting that kids have to wriggle through, stepping stones to hop across, and a squiggly, narrow balance beam. It draws long lines of kids eager to test their motor skills.<\/p>\n

\"AdventureThe Adventure Yard is a mini-construction precinct. (Noah Kalina)<\/p>\n

While the museum says\u00a0THE PLAYGROUND\u00a0is for all ages, different play zones are recommended for kids of different ages. One end is geared for the youngest kids just learning about color, form, and space; while the Sport Court and Climbing Wall on the other end are intended for older kids, perhaps budding athletes. The Sport Court doubles as a space where an adult leads kids in calisthenics and dance exercises, among other activities. And everything\u2019s in a climate-controlled setting that\u2019s 10 to 20 degrees cooler than it is outside.<\/p>\n

Sustainability is a big part of the design. The Dig Pit\u2019s granulated cork comes from nearby Maryland. The museum says it intends to repurpose or recycle as many of the elements used to build the exhibits as possible at the end of the installation.<\/p>\n

\"climbingA climbing wall is intended for older kids. (Noah Kalina)
\n\"sandboxThe Dig Pit is a sandbox-type area with granulated cork instead of sand. (Noah Kalina)<\/p>\n

What Snarkitecture has created is the ultimate playground for learning, and the lessons aren\u2019t just for children. As the designers state in the exhibit: \u201cTHE PLAYGROUND invites people of all ages to discover the joy, wonder and creativity of imaginative, open-ended play.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE PLAYGROUND\u00a0is on view in the National Building Museum through August 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2015, they brought\u00a0The Beach\u00a0to Washington, D.C. In 2018, they built a\u00a0Fun House. This summer, designers Alex Mustonen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,30312,325887,325888,2805],"class_list":["post-761206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-installations","tag-national-building-museum","tag-snarkitecture","tag-washington-d-c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}