From July 4 through September 4, the National Building Museum is hosting a summer installation, called Hive, that is not only meant to be enjoyed by sight, but by sound as well.
In a statement, Studio Gang Founding Principal Jeanne Gang said that this larger-than-life installation is able to use a series of chambers to shape sound to be “ideally suited for intimate conversations and gatherings.”
The Hive is made up of more than 2,700 wound paper tubes, some as high as 60 feet. The tubes interlock to create three interconnected, domed chambers with the tallest dome offering an oculus over 10 feet in diameter. The structures are also shaped to recall Brunelleschi’s Dome at the Florence Cathedral in Italy as well as the curvature of a spider’s web.
The National Building Museum further describes Hive:
“Explore how a structure can modify and reflect sound, light, scale, and human interaction. Hive’s smaller chambers feature tubular instruments ranging from simple drum-like tubes to chimes suspended within the space. Each chamber has a unique acoustic properties that will affect the instruments’ tone, reverberation, and reflection as well as visitors’ perceptions. The large main chamber is topped by a soaring dome that filters the natural light of the Great Hall and creates intricate light and shadow patterns in the space. Just outside the installation, Philadelphia-based design educator Alex Gilliam’s notched cardboard Build It! Disks provide a hands-on cooperative building activity.”
Visitors of this installation will be able to visit the museum’s “Late Nights” program, which offers live music every Wednesday as well as food and beverages from Hill Country’s Backyard Barbecue.
If interested in visiting the installation, visitors should buy a ticket at the National Building Museum website. Tickets range from $10 for a Blue Star Military adult to $13 for youth, students with identification, and seniors to $16 for adults. Free passes will be available online on June 13. General admission will be available for advance purchase starting June 20.
Studio Gang is a Chicago-and New York-based architecture and urban design practice that has completed the Aqua Tower in Chicago and the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College in Michigan.
• Hive [National Building Museum]