On Saturday, we took a field trip across Lady Bird Lake to visit the temporary art installation, Architects of Air. It was a unique and beautiful experience that we truly recommend. Architects of Air is made up of “luminaria” (but not those brown paper bags with a candle in them) – in this case, luminaria refers to giant inflatable sculptures that you can enter and explore. Inside the puffed up landscape, light and color bounce off the curved and domed walls.

Architects of Air from the outside.

The interactive sculpture has been to over 35 countries and 2 million visitors have passed through the colored walls. The space inside Architects of Air is inflated with surprisingly quite fans. The beautiful and immersive colors are created by sunlight passing through colored panes of plastic (much like the light passing through colored panes of stained glass in a cathedral).

Sunlight passes through the colored strips in the ceiling of Architects of Air, making the whole sculpture light up in many colors.

Architects of Air is set up in the field near the Long Center through January 20th. Admission costs $8, kids 2 and under are free. We recommend getting their early (they open at 10am daily) – and bringing something to entertain your group in line.

Visitors explore the passages and chambers inside Architects of Air.