This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

  • "The Beach" is an indoor installation at the National Building Museum. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
    "The Beach" is an indoor installation at the National Building Museum. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
  • "The Beach" is an indoor installation at the National Building Museum. (Photo: CNN)
    "The Beach" is an indoor installation at the National Building Museum. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
  • "The Beach" a 10,000-square-foot, stark-white installation includes lounge chairs and a concession stand. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
    "The Beach" a 10,000-square-foot, stark-white installation includes lounge chairs and a concession stand. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
  • Nearly 1 million plastic balls simulate the surf in the National Building Museum. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
    Nearly 1 million plastic balls simulate the surf in the National Building Museum. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
  • The 10,000-square-foot, stark-white installation includes lounge chairs and a concession stand. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
    The 10,000-square-foot, stark-white installation includes lounge chairs and a concession stand. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)
  • Nearly 1 million plastic balls simulate the surf in the National Building Museum. (Photo: CNN)
    Nearly 1 million plastic balls simulate the surf in the National Building Museum. (Photo: Noah Kalina/National Building Museum)

WASHINGTON — You can walk the pier, purchase a snack and settle into a lounge chair with a good book.

What you won’t find at “the Beach,” a temporary architectural installation at Washington’s National Building Museum, is water.

Instead, nearly 1 million recyclable translucent plastic balls simulate the surf at the 10,000-square-foot “beach” inside the museum’s imposing Great Hall.

Open to “swimmers,” the undulating ocean ends with a mirrored wall reflecting the exhibit’s stark white seascape.

The installation is the work of Snarkitecture, an experimental firm that “investigates the unknown within architecture — the indefinable moments created by manipulating and reinterpreting existing materials, structures and programs to spectacular effect,” according to its website.

The museum commissioned the project, which follows last summer’s “BIG Maze” installation, designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.

“The Beach” opened just in time for the nation’s birthday July 4 and closes September 7.

Tickets, which include admission to the museum, are $16 for non-member adults and $13 for non-member youth, students and seniors. Member tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for youth, students and seniors.

A time-lapse video below posted by WorkZoneCam shows the construction of “the Beach” from the beginning.