The nation’s capital is sweaty and sweltering right now, but Washington locals and visitors can find a seaside getaway in the most unlikely of places. In the middle of downtown D.C., the National Building Museum has installed a 10,000-square-foot indoor “beach” that has attracted kids, tourists and workers looking for an out-of-the-ordinary lunch break.
“What we’ve got here is a big, white box 200 feet by 50 feet,” explains Cathy Frankel, vice president for exhibitions. “We have it carpeted with our sand, which is more like white AstroTurf. You can walk around here on the beach. It’s always 75 degrees and sunny here.”
The beach — situated in the museum’s Great Hall amid massive Corinthian columns — consists of a snack bar, white lounge chairs with umbrellas and a pool of 700,000 white plastic balls, up to 3 feet deep in some places.
“It took a full day for the entire staff to unload all the boxes of balls into the ocean,” says Chase Rynd, the museum’s executive director. “We thought it was going to be really simple. … No, it was work.”
Take A Trip To D.C.’s Indoor Beach, Where It’s Always 75 And Sunny
Photo credits: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum
