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 square feet of construction mesh to be reused in an arts competition later this year. Entrants will then design a new site-specific installation using the plastic balls as the primary material.

Snapshots of the Museum's Late Nights and Ward Days events.

Once the competition concludes, the Museum and Dupont Underground will continue planning further re-use or recycling of the materials. Whatever still remains of them will be donated, recycled, or reused by the Museum.

More photos in the gallery below.

Previously:

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

National Building Museum turns to Indiegogo to fund upcoming BEACH installation

Delve into The BIG Maze at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.