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Three playful installations by Snarkitecture: Your Next Employer?

2023-06-12T13:49:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based Johnston Marklee, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York this week to explore the work of Snarkitecture.

The firm operates along an ethos of “not art, not architecture,” with a methodology that challenges conventional approaches to materials and structures. Over recent years, our editorial has reported on several creative outputs from the team, who “thrive on opportunities to create unexpected moments that invite exploration, play, and reflection.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring an intern to join their New York office for three months.

For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio, we have rounded up three projects by Snarkitecture that demonstrate their design approach.

BEACH, National Building Museum, Washington D.C.

In 2015, Snarkitecture captured headlines with their BEACH installation in Washington D.C.’s National Buildin...

Snarkitecture's Daniel Arsham takes his talents to Cleveland

2020-11-17T16:25:00-05:00

As one of the most respected contemporary artists working today, Arsham straddles the line between art, architecture and performance. His singular aesthetic evokes a playfulness; inspired by everyday experiences or common objects, Arsham blurs the boundaries of perception and expectation. As part of this long-term collaboration, Arsham will become a minority partner in the franchise and be responsible for the Cavaliers visual identity across all aspects of the organization.

Move over Lebron James, Daniel Arsham is the latest Ohioan to return home to join the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise. In a post off his Instagram, Arsham writes about how his ancestors migrated to the Rust Belt city, and through hard work and determination were able to follow the American Dream in the city of Cleveland. He follows in these footsteps becoming the Creative Director of the Cavaliers.

Arsham, who leads the design firm Snarkitecture is known for his art and architecture installations around the world. It is a unique and interesting dynamic having a designer of this caliber on board to work with NBA organization. It will be fascinating to see how this relationship plays out on and off the court, and whether this trend will carry over to other teams and leagues.

IKEA Buys Naming Rights to Heatherwick’s Vessel at Hudson Yards

2019-04-01T09:00:00-04:00

Since opening in March, Thomas Heatherwick’s Vessel at Hudson Yards has caught headlines for its ostentatious design, its billing as “public art”, its repudiation of the tenants of accessibility, and its overreaching rights to the photos taken by visitors. Also drawing plenty of scrutiny is the name of the project, the Vessel, which despite its prominence on promotional materials, remains a working title.

As visitors begin streaming in, Related Companies, the developer behind the massive, $25 billion neighborhood, has been asking for public input on the perfect name for their architectural centerpiece. And, the internet and company has come up with a good sum of suggestions; ‘The Copper Kebab’, ‘Lady Liberty’s Diva Cup’, and ‘Escalator Broken’ have been particularly popular options.

However, just as the free ticket to climb comes with the price of waiting an hour online to reserve a spot to wait in line, everything public about this project has been a hoax—including the competition...

Snark Park, Snarkitecture's permanent exhibition space, opens at Hudson Yards

2019-03-18T14:27:00-04:00

With the opening of New York's Hudson Yards, a myriad of highly-anticipated restaurants, shops, and other attractions have begun greeting visitors. Amongst them, is a new exhibition space that will give the firm Snarkitecture 6,000 square feet to unveil a rotating cast of art and architecture installations that have become characteristic of the practice.

Since its founding ten years ago, the New York-based studio has become known for their whimsical, 'pop-up' experiences. Examples include "the BEACH," which transformed the National Building Museum's Great Hall into a massive ball pit, and "Playhouse," which sandwiched a shed-like structure between two brick, buildings for Exhibit Columbus.

Snarkitecture: Ben Porto, Daniel Arsham, Alex Mustonen. Photo by Noah Kalina.

At Hudson Yards, Snark Park—the name for their space on the second floor of 20 Hudson Yards—will give Snarkitecture their fist ever permanent playground to design and curate from start to finish. Hosting three shows a y...

Snarkitecture's blockbuster ball pit comes to Chicago's Navy Pier

2019-01-30T15:41:00-05:00

As temperatures plummet across the Midwest, things are heating up at Chicago's Navy Pier, where a massive art installation has transformed the giant venue into a plastic beach. Created by Snarkitecture, one million monochromatic, antimicrobial balls have filled the Aron Grand Ballroom alongside deck chair seating and pool toys in order to give the controlled 72-degree environment a beach day vibe.

The interactive installation, The Beach Chicago, is a reiteration of the New York-based design practice's blockbuster ball pit that took over the National Building Museum's Great Hall in 2015. A top visitor attraction, and heavily instagrammed exhibit, the Beach has since travelled across the world to cities such as Tampa, Paris and Bangkok.

For Chicago, the modern pop up will run until February 3rd. In partnership with Expo Chicago, it is free to the public and open to guests of all ages. For more, visit the pier's official website here.

As vacation season comes to an end, watch how one of Summer's hottest installations was constructed

2018-08-21T13:34:00-04:00

The National Building Museum's Summer Block Party installation Fun House has been one of the hottest events this vacation season in D.C. Designed by New York design studio Snarkitecture, the installation turns a conventional household into a sequence of interactive rooms inviting play. From a front yard featuring seating that spells out F-U-N H-O-U-S-E to a back white patio with deck chairs and parasols, the exhibit has taken over the museum's entire Great Hall for the months of July and August, much to the delight of museum-goers.

With summer coming to an end, the exhibit will be coming to a close on September 3rd. If you can't make it to the Museum before shutting its doors, Work Zone Cam has teamed up with the Museum for the 5th consecutive year to document the event with a time-lapse movie of the entire process.

“It is always exciting to see the time-lapse from Work Zone Cam for our Summer Block Party installation,” said Chase Rynd, executive director of the National Building M...

Snarkitecture's interactive 'Fun House' opens at the National Building Museum

2018-07-05T15:09:00-04:00

Snarkitecture's interactive installation Fun House has opened at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. Following their blockbuster ball pit that took over the Great Hall in 2015 and attracted a record-breaking 160,000 visitors, the New York design studio has come back for the Museum's highly anticipated, annual "Summer Block Party."

Photo by Noah Kalina.

Established by architect Alex Mustonen and artist Daniel Arsham, the practice operates in the space between art and architecture and are known for their monochrome and mostly stark white aesthetic. They just reached their 10-year anniversary, an accomplishment fiercely celebrated by their installation, which looks back on their decade of work showcasing 42 of the firm's projects.

“Fun House represents a unique opportunity for us to bring together a number of different Snarkitecture-designed interiors, installations, and objects into a single, immersive experience,” said Alex Mustonen, co-founder of the firm. It is the firs...

The National Building Museum's blockbuster ball pit is coming to Tampa next month

2016-07-19T18:35:00-04:00

How can anyone forget Snarkitecture's giant monochromatic ball pit that took over the National Building Museum's Great Hall last summer? Following a wildly successful run that attracted a record-breaking 160,000 visitors, The BEACH is making a comeback at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida starting August 5. Plus, general admission is free!

Photos by Noah Kalina.

It also looks like the installation is coming back bigger than before, spanning 15,000 square feet with a 75-foot-wide “shoreline”, and comprising 1.2 million of the antimicrobial plastic balls. The NBM version was 10,000 square feet, and its more than 650,000 plastic balls were reused in Hou de Sousa's winning design of the Dupont Underground's Re-Ball! competition. No word as of yet if and how the Tampa installation will be recycled.

If you plan on diving into the ball pit at the arena, keep a close watch on your loose belongings when “splashing” around. The Tampa Bay Times writes that more than 1,000 items were lost at the...

The BEACH to be reincarnated in arts competition for D.C.'s Dupont Underground initiative

2015-09-01T12:55:00-04:00

The wildly successful BEACH installation is down to its final exhibition days at Washington D.C.'s National Building Museum. Since opening on July 4, over 120,000 visitors both young and old "splashed" around in its bubbly waters, lounged about on the "shore", and perhaps saw a live band rock out in the 10,000 square-foot monochromatic ball pit, designed by Brooklyn-based Snarkitecture. Although the Beach closes on September 7, that won't be the last of it.

Recycling the Beach was always part of the plan. Even before the installation opened, representatives of the D.C.-based initiative, the Dupont Underground, proposed to transport, store, and re-use its building materials.

The Dupont Underground has set its sights on revitalizing an abandoned trolley station beneath the Dupont Circle neighborhood into a public venue for arts and design-oriented events. As part of their inaugural programming, the group will take the Beach's more than 650,000 anti-microbial plastic balls and its 6,000 ...

Snarkitecture's 10,000 sq ft indoor BEACH at the National Building Museum

2015-07-07T14:07:00-04:00

Following Bjarke Ingels Group's wildly successful BIG Maze last summer, one could only wonder how Washington D.C.'s National Building Museum would one-up itself this time around. Enter Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham of Snarkitecture, who envisioned the 10,000 square-foot indoor BEACH that opened on July 4 in the Museum's Great Hall.

Decked out in Snarkitecture's all-white aesthetic, the monochromatic installation has beach chairs and umbrellas on the "shoreline" and an "ocean" of nearly 1 million recyclable translucent plastic balls for visitors to "splash" in, facing a mirrored wall that creates the illusion of a vast expanse. The Museum commissioned Snarkitecture to design the giant ball-pit — which was first announced back in April — for the annual “Summer Block Party,” which consists of various public programming, exhibitions, and events.

'We see the commission as an exciting opportunity to create an architectural installation that reimagines the qualities and possibilities of ma...

National Building Museum turns to Indiegogo to fund upcoming BEACH installation

2015-06-02T14:17:00-04:00

Last summer, the National Building Museum in DC installed BIG's giant wooden maze in its atrium, and attracted over 50,000 visitors. Exactly a year later, the museum is planning another large-scale public installation to draw blockbuster attendance: BEACH, a playa-themed ball-pit for the museum's atrium. Brooklyn-based firm Snarkitecture is designing the enclosure that will house around 750,000 translucent balls, and a variety of beachy objects like beach chairs, umbrellas, and a snack shack. BEACH will open on July 4th of this year – that is, if the Museum can raise the money. Today, NBM announced that it was turning to Indiegogo to crowdfund $10,000 for the installation and related summer programming.

Snarkitecture's BEACH installation was first announced back in April, with no mention of the Indiegogo campaign. As an independent non-profit 501(c)(3), the Museum supports its exhibitions through admissions and outside contributions, but this will be its first crowdfunding effort. It...