A new installation at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. gives visitors an icy antidote to the city’s hot summer temperatures, which are expected to surge up to 100º F.

The exhibit, an installation designed by James Corner Field Operations, for the National Building Museum July 2–September 5, 2016. ICEBERGS consists of “icebergs” made from reusable construction materials and a 50-foot “water line” topped by an airy outpost above.

"ICEBERGS speaks to current themes in landscape representation, physical experience, geometry and construction. As landscape representation, ICEBERGS invokes the surreal underwater-world of glacial ice fields.Such a world is both beautiful and ominous given our current epoch of climate change, ice-melt and rising seas. As physical experience, the installation creates an ambient field of texture, movement and interaction, as in an unfolding landscape of multiples, distinct from a static, single object. As geometry,it speaks to the mathematics of triangles and parallelograms in folded combinations. As construction, it describes a method of assembly made from multiple pre-fabricated units.In the context of the National Building Museum, ICEBERGS is about building, assembly, materials,spatial experience, design and imagination.

In the context of public space and visitation, the installation provides an interactive and playful space of respite and reflection, with cooler temperatures, chunky bean-bags and shaved-ice refreshments, set in stark contrast to the hot, humid world of Washington, DC summer outside."

Learn more about the exhibit here.
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National Building Museum. 401 F Street NW Washington, D.C. 20001 202.272.2448
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From July 2 to September 5, 2016
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James Corner is a registered landscape architect and urban designer, and founder and director of James Corner field operations, where he oversees the production of all design projects in the office. He is also chair and professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Design. He was educated at Manchester Metropolitan University, England (BA with first class honors) and the Universtiy of Pennsylvania (MLAVUD).

His work has been recognized with the Smithsonians Cooper-Hewit National Design Award (2010), the New York City Arts Commission Award for Excellence in Design (2005); the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Academy Award in Architecture (2004); the Daimler-Chrysler Award for Design Innovation (2000); and the Architectural League of New York Design Award (2000).

He serves on the Board of the Forum for Urban Design.

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