Lightness of Strength: The Wave

Suspended in the Great Hall of the National Building Museum, The Wave is a 55-by-180-foot recycled aluminum space frame that demonstrates how advanced material logic and fabrication can shape the next generation of resilient architectural structures. Its lightness and strength reveal how engineering precision and design imagination can coexist in a single form.

Led by Catholic University of America professor Tonya Ohnstad in collaboration with students and industry partners. The Wave is a full-scale research project demonstrating how material innovation and collaborative fabrication can shape a more sustainable built environment. The exhibition transforms the museum into a place for public discourse and scholarship—inviting visitors to engage with the evolving relationship between structure, material, and design.