Landscape Architect Articles

''Icebergs'' Will Cool D.C. this Summer03-30-16 | News

"Icebergs" Will Cool D.C. This Summer
National Building Museum Installation by James Corner Field Operations

The National Building Museum in D.C. will unveil ICEBERGS this summer, designed by James Corner Field Operations. It will represent the underwater world of glacial ice fields and span the museum's enormous Great Hall. The immersive installation will emphasize the relationship between design and landscape, with educational programming integrating landscape architecture, design and the environment.  

Fun facts: The 15 million bricks used to build the National Building Museum weigh in at 33,750 tons. The average weight of a Newfoundland iceberg is 3 to 6 times that amount (110,000 to 220,000 tons). Arctic icebergs drift at about a half mile-per-hour in open water.
*Rendering: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of the National Building Museum*

An installation called "ICEBERGS', designed by James Corner Field Operations for the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., will go on display from July 2 to September 5, 2016.

James Corner Field Operations is an urban design, landscape architecture and public realm practice based in New York City. The firm is known for projects such as NYC's High Line and Santa Monica's Tongva Park. The firm was commissioned by the National Building Museum to create the temporary summer exhibit following last year's popular BEACH installation that welcomed over 180,000 visitors during its two month run.  

  "ICEBERGS invokes the surreal underwater-world of glacial ice fields," explained James Corner, founder and director of James Corner Field Operations. "Such a world is both beautiful and ominous given our current epoch of climate change, ice-melt and rising seas. The installation creates an ambient field of texture, movement, and interaction, as in an unfolding landscape of multiples, distinct from a static, single object."  

  "We hope that James Corner Field Operations' striking design will provoke both serious public conversation about the complex relationship between design and landscape, while also eliciting a sense of wonder and play among visitors of all ages," said Chase Rynd, Hon. ASLA, executive director of the National Building Museum.

The installation will comprise over 30 prismatic triangular pentahedrons and octahedrons made from translucent polycarbonate panels and ranging in height from 16-feet to 56- feet. A "water line" suspended 20 feet high will bisect the vertical space, allowing panoramic views from high above the "ocean," and down below among the towering bergs. The tallest "berg" at 56 feet will reach above the waterline to the third story balcony of the museum. Visitors will ascend a viewing area inside the berg, traverse an undersea bridge and relax among caves and grottos on the ocean floor. Shaved-ice snacks will add to the verisimilitude.

For more information and ticketing, visit https://tinyurl.com/jbpf6wy