The National Building Museum presents a one-of-a-kind destination for visitors, an interactive architectural installation that brings the quintessential summer experience of going to the beach to downtown Washington, D.C. Spanning across the Museum’s Great Hall, the BEACH, created in partnership with Snarkitecture, will cover 10,000 square feet and include an “ocean” of nearly one million recyclable translucent plastic balls.

– National Building Museum website, August 2015

I have visited The National Building Museum for the past four summers, enjoying their summer installations like last year’s BIG Maze and the previous two years of indoor mini-golf. I was a bit skeptical about a giant ball-pit, designed to “inspire a sense of wonder and imagination”. At first the crowds were overwhelming but once I let myself sink in, literally, and ignore the germaphobe inside my head I too was lost in the wonder of it all.