Transform the BEACH installation into a new art piece in Dupont Underground's Re-Ball! competition

The National Building Museum's BEACH installation will be reincarnated in the new Re-Ball! art competition, organized by the D.C. non-profit group, The Dupont Underground. If you recall, the BEACH was a 10,000 square-foot all-white indoor ball pit that Snarkitecture designed, and it was a huge summer hit last year.

The Dupont Underground is working to revive the former trolley station beneath the city's Dupont Circle into a new arts venue for the local community. As part of that revival, they're looking to recycle the BEACH's more than 650,000 plastic balls into a new site-specific art installation.

Read on for more about the competition.

In partnership with the National Building Museum, the Dupont Underground's Re-Ball! competition is looking for the most innovative design to reuse the BEACH's thousands of translucent 3-inch plastic balls. Want to join in on the challenge? The competition is open to all architects, designers, artists, and the general public. Early registration deadline is February 4 and the final entry deadline is March 4.

The winning concept will respond to the uniqueness of the installation site: the Dupont Underground's curved 14,000 square-foot east platform. As the competition organizers describe it, the chosen design will be "thoughtful, provocative, witty, safe, and executable on a limited budget, in a limited time frame, and within the confines of the site."

The first-place prize includes US$3,500 and a construction budget of US$10,000.

The Competition Jury includes: 

• architect Julian Hunt, Dupont Underground founder and co-principal at Hunt Laudi Studio
• Chase W. Rynd, executive director, the National Building Museum
• Vesela Sretenović, senior curator of modern and contemporary art at The Phillips Collection
• architect Michael Kubo, Collective–LOK founding partner
• D.C. artist, entrepreneur, and community organizer Tendani Mpulubusi El
• architects Yasmin Vobis and Aaron Forrest, principals at Ultramoderne (who will have one vote)

The winner is expected to be announced on March 21. Once the installation is constructed, it'll be open to the public several days a week from April 30-June 1.

For more competition info, click here.

More photos in the thumbnail gallery below.