The lawn will be programmed with events like movie nights.

/ Courtesy of the National Building Museum

This story was updated on 4/29 to include additional details about the exhibition. 

In 2015, D.C. lounged on The Beachlast year we hung out in the suburbs at Fun Houseand in 2019, we’ll spend the summer … playing croquet? The National Building Museum’s next dive-right-in summer exhibit is The Lawn.

The museum promises that The Lawn will bring quintessentially outdoor summer activities to the great indoors. The experience starts at the entrance with a two-story mural of the sky, which can be climbed for dramatic views of the interior. An indoor trail then leads visitors to a sloping lawn with lounging areas. Hammocks suspended from the ceiling of the vast Great Hall will feature hidden speakers with audio tales of summertime memories from “prominent American storytellers.” Kids will be able to chase augmented reality fireflies. You better believe there will be yoga on the lawn (which is actually a recyclable surface made out of sugarcane), along with movie nights and other summer-y events.

In the five years of the Summer Block Party installations that engulf the Great Hall, NBM has partnered with a rotating cast of design companies. Cheeky New York-based design firm Snarkitecture was behind The Beach and Fun House; Studio Gang created The Hive in 2017; 2016’s ICEBERGS came from James Corner Field Operations; and BIG Maze in 2015 was the work of Bjarke Ingels Group. The Lawn re-teams NBM with New-York based firm Rockwell Group, who also created the museum’s 2012 exhibit Play Work Build—which NBM says is its highest-attended exhibition ever. In that piece, kids built their own structures out of giant blocks in a blue field, so Rockwell has some history with “immersive experiences.”

“The lawn is a fascinating example of a typology that straddles the line between public and private space,” David Rockwell, Rockwell Group’s president, said in a press release. “Whether it is a backyard or a public green, lawns bring people together and foster a sense of community, so our goal was to create an indoor lawn that would inspire people to share stories, make memories, and daydream, while honoring the great tradition of summertime.”

As in previous years, the interactive exhibit will open on July 4, and run through the rest of the summer (September 2 this year). General NBM tickets ($10 for adults, $7 for children, students, and seniors) will get you access to The Lawn, as well as to the rest of the exhibits in the museum. No word on whether you get a discount if you sign up for lawn mowing duty.