In The Know
Hive at NBM Till Sept. 4
August 28, 2017Check out Hive, the National Building Museum's latest Summer Block Party installation in the Great Hall created by Studio Gang, an architecture and urban design practice based in Chicago and New York.
Soaring to the uppermost reaches of the Museum, Hive is built entirely of more than 2,700 wound paper tubes, a construction material that is recyclable, lightweight, and renewable. The tubes vary in size from several inches to 10 feet high and will be interlocked to create three dynamic interconnected, domed chambers. Reaching 60 feet tall, the installation’s tallest dome features an oculus over 10 feet in diameter. The tubes feature a reflective silver exterior and vivid magenta interior, creating a spectacular visual contrast with the Museum’s historic nineteenth-century interior and colossal Corinthian columns.
Hive’s form recalls other built and natural structures such as Saarinen’s Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Brunelleschi’s Dome at the Florence Cathedral in Italy, vernacular Musgum mud huts in Cameroon, and the curvature of a spider’s web. By utilizing the catenary shape, each chamber will balance structural forces and support its own weight, while attaining a height that enables a unique acoustic signature. The tall yet intimate forms allow visitors to inhabit the installation at the ground level and to experience it from the Museum’s upper-floor balconies, providing a variety of exciting perspectives.
Explore how a structure can modify and reflect sound, light, scale, and human interaction. Hive’s smaller chambers feature tubular instruments ranging from simple drum-like tubes to chimes suspended within the space. Each chamber has a unique acoustic properties that will affect the instruments’ tone, reverberation, and reflection as well as visitors’ perceptions. The large main chamber is topped by a soaring dome that filters the natural light of the Great Hall and creates intricate light and shadow patterns in the space.
Just outside the installation, Philadelphia-based design educator Alex Gilliam’s notched cardboard Build It! Disks provide a hands-on cooperative building activity.
Tickets for Hive include admission to all other current National Building Museum exhibitions.
Get tickets here.
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#GeorgetownTwilightShop Aug. 23
August 15, 2017Play and slay in DC’s style district for an evening of shopping at 50+ stores during the final days of summer.
Join The Georgetown BID Wednesday, August 23 for Georgetown Twilight Shop from 5:00 -9:00 pm for sales and events along M Street, Wisconsin Ave and Georgetown's side streets.
Enjoy four shopper’s lounges, entertainment, red carpets with Instagram-worthy moments, and end-of-summer discounts for one night only.
PLAY
Get ready for your close-up! Walk the red carpet, strike a pose and create Instagram-worthy moments at locations along M St. and Wisconsin Avenue. #GeorgetownTwilightShop
SLAY
Slay at over 50 stores, salons and restaurants featuring special deals, sips and bites.
LOUNGE
Refuel at one of five Twilight Shopper’s Lounges:
Dean & Deluca patio at Georgetown Park
Featuring DJ Adrian Loving
3222 M Street
The Yard at The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown
Rosé All Day menu and DINO Beats & Beautiful Music by Violetta Markelou
3100 South Street
The Observatory at The Graham Hotel Georgetown
Hosting Ella Rue pop-up shop
1075 Thomas Jefferson Street
The Grill Room at the Rosewood Hotel
Free dessert with your entrée when you show your shopping receipt
1050 31st Street
Via Umbria 2nd floor patio
Sip half-priced Spritz cocktails, and enjoy Chef Liam's Happy Hour menu
1525 Wisconsin Avenue
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VSA Presents Inclusive Design & Technology at Kennedy Center
July 25, 2017The Office of VSA and Accessibility presents "Artful Innovation: Inclusive Design and Technology," an exhibition at Hall of States in the Kennedy Center through August 30, 2017.
Art pushes the boundaries of what we can imagine. Technology expands the boundaries of what we can do. Design facilitates the use of our talents and skills. Each can make possible what some thought impossible. The objects in this exhibition may be unexpected or even unimaginable. Sometimes they are beautiful; they are always functional. Their purposes vary, but they all represent creativity that includes people of diverse abilities, ages, and sensory and cognitive approaches to art and design. Art, design, and technology come together here to demonstrate the possibilities of the creative future.
The exhibition is free to the public, no tickets required, and may be viewed during open hours of the Kennedy Center.
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