Ice, Ice Baby & Balloon me

These are just a few fun and interesting, newsworthy things worth mentioning. The National Harbor is celebrating the holidays with Christmas on the Potomac with Ice, quite literally. Click here to review the details and link to the video of this winter wonderland, made entirely of ice, complete with an ice slide. It was written up in the Washington Post as well. Not as elaborate as other ice sculpture posts that I’ve written about, and although a bit cheesy, it could be fun. National Harbor is, however, pretty dramatic, as I’ve been there a couple of times but not in the bitter cold months (previous posts).

With my older boys coming in town and I’m always looking for family things to do, this could be a hoot, reminiscent of back-to-childhood-days. I’ll have to wear thick pants for that slide. Brrrrrr.

Another spectacular light show of sorts is this digital map of the United States made of actual flight patterns from airplanes made by Aaron Kolin.

Finally, in anticipation of new things to come for the new year, here’s one of the most unusual architectural concepts that I’ve seen, an inflatable balloon space proposed for the Hirshorn Museum of Art by Diller Scofido & Renfro (DSR). I’m trying to understand how it will work in reality as usable space, but it certainly has eye-popping appeal with the wow factor, especially as a temporary structure with a $5 million dollar price tag. It’s a balloon that baffles alright, particularly in this town with classical architecture. I just hope it doesn’t cause car accidents.