D.C. museum gives 'beach' with monumental view

WASHINGTON — Once you get past the lines, it's easy to take a dip in the National Building Museum's simulated ocean of nearly 1 million plastic balls. The hard part, as David Tzall of Silver Spring, Md., discovered, is getting out.

"It feels like you're in an undertow and that you could be lost to the museum forever," Tzall said after the ball pit swallowed him and his wife, Mave, up to their heads.

The 10,000-square-foot indoor beach installation, designed and crafted in a partnership with Brooklyn's Snarkitecture firm, has drawn about 13,000 visitors to its white "sands" since opening July 4.

Open through Labor Day, the beach is one of the museum's largest installations to date. Beachgoers on Saturday in the museum's great hall lounged on beach chairs, walked on the pier or took a plunge into the three-foot-deep pool of translucent balls.

"We went all the way to the end and came back," said Alex Oqueno, of Springfield, Va. "It was really hard actually, a lot harder than we expected."

The average wait time has been 10 to 15 minutes, but visitors Saturday waited about an hour. Melanie Bielski, of Washington, D.C., said she and her 2-year-old daughter Katherine waited even longer — an hour and 45 minutes — to get in. But she said it was worth the wait.

"Clearly, it's a blast," she said as her daughter jumped into her arms, repeatedly. Other benefits to the indoor beach experience: "There's no sunscreen. With her fair skin, it's a bonus and it's not humid," she said.

The installation is drawing a mix of young adults and families, including many with small children — or "sea monsters," as Eva Schiffer, of Washington, D.C., described her young brood.

"I'm exhausted," she said. "I've been telling my friends all the adults will sleep well tonight and probably go down for naptime."

The National Building Museum, whose mission is to communicate the impact of architecture in America, is no stranger to unique installations and special projects. Over the past four years the museum's great hall has featured a miniature golf course and a giant maze, all as a part of its summer project series.

Beach admission is $16 for adults and $13 for students, youths and seniors. The fee provides access to all the museum's exhibits. The ocean is cleaned routinely and the balls are coated in an antimicrobial coating called Germ-Block, said Jamee Telford, the museum's vice president for visitor services. "We are very conscious about keeping the space clean and ready for visitors," she said.

There are some rules, such as no diving, and visitors are cautioned against jumping. "We're just encouraging safe ocean play," Telford said.

But that didn't stop children from "splashing," hurling balls or jumping in.

The Tzalls brought their 15-month-old daughter Matilda and her grandparents Lee and Helen Payton, of Chevy Chase, Md. Lee Payton marveled at how realistic the experience felt, especially when fully immersed.

"It kind of feels like you're floating on your back in the water," he said.

Helen Payton added: "You have to be in the moment when you're here. You don't think about the rest of your life."

Contact Nicole Gaudiano at ngaudiano@gannett.com. Follow @ngaudiano