‘Lawn,’ the National Building Museum’s latest summer exhibit, will sprout up this July

For the past several summers, the National Building Museum has been home to a number of memorable interactive exhibits, each with a simple name: the BEACH, ICEBERGS, Hive, and Fun House, among them. This year, starting July 4 and going through September 2, the Penn Quarter museum’s Great Hall will be transformed into a sweeping green space called “Lawn.”

A recent release from the museum says the exhibit will feature “a vast, sloping green space built on a scaffolding superstructure. Visitors purchase tickets at a reception area that features a building-scale mural of the sky, containing a dimensional title treatment set against a pixelated cloudscape made up of classic summertime iconography. Guests are directed towards a pathway running alongside the scaffolding, leading to a gently sloping trail that will bring visitors to the base of the lawn.” There will also be speaker-equipped hammocks playing summery “pre-recorded audio from prominent American storytellers.”

The National Building Museum is collaborating with the LAB at Rockwell Group, a New York-based design studio, on the exhibit. “Lawn” will additionally host group activities, including movie nights, yoga, and meditation, and an augmented reality game “for kids and adults to chase and collect fireflies throughout the lawn,” per the museum’s release. The lawn will be made out of recyclable materials that will eventually be reused after the exhibit ends.

This will be the museum’s sixth “Summer Block Party” display. “Free passes will be available online for members on June 18; general admission will be available for advance purchase starting June 25,” it notes. “A limited quantity of tickets will be available on site each day.”