Image courtesy of the National Building Museum.

The National Building Museum has turned into a beach, and then plunged its visitors into the cold depths of icebergs for its annual Summer Block Party exhibit. This year, the museum’s Great Hall will eschew water for a different vibe, inspired by some of nature’s greatest builders—bees.

The interactive exhibit is called “Hive,” and it’ll be three interconnected, domed chambers constructed out of more than 2,700 wound paper tubes of various sizes, according to a release from the museum. The tubes are painted metallic silver on the outside and magenta on the inside.

People will be encouraged to explore the insides of the hives and to scope them out from the upper-floor balconies. All of the chambers will support their own weight. The tallest dome will be 60 feet tall and boast an oculus of 10 feet in diameter.

Designed by Studio Gang, the exhibit wants to make visitors reflect on how their perceptions of light, sound, and more change based on how a structure is built. Some of the smaller chambers will feature different instruments for people to play and observe how the sound shifts.

“When you enter the Great Hall you almost feel like you’re in an outside space because of the distance sound travels before it is reflected back and made audible,” said Studio Gang founding principal Jeanne Gang. “We’ve designed a series of chambers shaped by sound that are ideally suited for intimate conversations and gatherings as well as performances and acoustic experimentation. Using wound paper tubes, a common building material with unique sonic properties, and interlocking them to form a catenary dome, we create a hive for these activities, bringing people together to explore and engage the senses.”

As in summers past, the museum will hold special evening hours on Wednesday with live music, and host Ward Days to give people from all over the city an opportunity for free admission.

Hive will be open to the public from July 4 through September 4. Admission to the installation will cost $16 for adults, $13 for youths/students/seniors, and $10 for Blue Star Military Adults. Tickets will be available for advance purchase starting June 20. Tickets are free, though still necessary, for National Building Museum members, with availability beginning online on June 13.

Image courtesy of National Building Museum.