The Hive installation (The Hive can also be translated as “swarm”) by Studio Gang transformed the main hall of the National Building Museum in Washington.

Related: Jenny Sabin: Eco-Friendly Science-Art at MoMa

The entire space is occupied by three "domes", assembled from 2,700 paper tubes of various sizes: from several centimeters to three meters. Paper as the material chosen by architects for ease and environmental friendliness. The tubes are silver on the outside and painted on the inside in a rich shade of magenta. And all this against the background of the neoclassical design of the hall itself. Both the central dome, more than 18 meters high, and two lateral, smaller ones, received spectacular oculuses, through which traditional colonnades and capitals penetrate into an ultramodern installation.

The form of the constructions is quite archetypical and causes many allusions: the architects themselves call the Florentine dome of Brunelleschi, the traditional adobe dwellings of the Cameroon peoples, and even the Saarinen arch in St. Louis. The sealed tubes also remind us of the historic building of the Chicago Women's Training Hospital, in whose rescue Jin Gang, the head of the studio, took an active part.

But apart from the spectacular appearance and fascinating interior space, the installation is interesting from the point of view of acoustics: some of the sound waves dissipate, and some are reflected back to the listener. To explore the various sound effects viewers will allow special musical instruments installed in the side domes.

Until September 4th.