North Virginia Beach , Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Barreled
2020
Designed By: Hive Public Space
Commissioned By: The City of Virginia Beach Cultural Affairs Department
Barreled celebrates Virginia Beach's surfing culture and takes inspiration from one of the most sought out and short-lived experiences in surfing: riding through the barrel of a wave.
This installation captures a moment in time within the barrel, and allows the viewers to inhabit and move through the experience. Barreled takes place in the form of four acrylic arches constructed out of a tubular steel system and acrylic panels that represent the ocean's oscillating balance of power and fragility.
About the Designers and Artists
Alexandra Gonzalez
Creative Lead
Alexandra is an architectural and urban designer. In addition to being the President and Co-Founder of Hive Public Space, she serves as the Senior Urban Designer for both the Bryant Park Corporation and the 34th Street Partnership in Manhattan, NY. She believes in the power of public spaces and strives to create memories and connections with her work while evolving the impact and business design.
Charlie Osorio
Design Collaborator
Charlie (Carlos)
this page online
Navid Rahman
Mural Artist
Navid is a Bengali American illustrator whose work has always been a form of world building, creating environments with a blurred line of whimsical fantasy and reality. He creates striking scenes of sari clad women, enchanted forests, whimsical organic shapes, and colorful patterns filled with meticulous detail.
Broken Current
Navid Rahman
Special Thanks to Sal Butera
Broken Current illustrates rip current and tidal currents which are caused and affected by waves. Current is the rate of movement in the water, which describes both the speed and direction. Knowledge of these currents has been helping and hindering sailors' efforts to sail across the world's oceans for centuries and are still being studied today.
Erected 2020 by City of Virginia Beach Cultural Affairs; Hive Public Space.
Topics.
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), June 10, 2025
2. Barreled Marker
The Barreled sculpture stands in front of the marker. The mural, Broken Current can be seen on the left.
Location. 36° 50.703′ N, 75° 58.517′ W. Marker is in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It is in North Virginia Beach. It is at the intersection of Virginia Beach Boulevard and Pacific Avenue, on the right when traveling east on Virginia Beach Boulevard. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 227 17th St, Virginia Beach VA 23451, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Virginia’s Hampton Roads, specifically in Coastal Virginia, and in the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, in the Tidewater, and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America,
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Devon Miller (within shouting distance of this marker); Dairy Queen in Virginia Beach (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); John Wareing (about 500 feet away); What Are These Things? (about 600 feet away); Beaches on the Move (about 700 feet away); Great America I, "Our Fallen Heroes" (approx. 0.2 miles away); Captain John Smith (approx. Ό mile away); William Clark (approx. Ό mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Virginia Beach.
Also see . . . About Us page on Hive Public Space. Section about Alexandra Gomez, Founding Principal:
Alexandra is a Colombian-American urban designer, placemaker, and Design Justice Advocate. She is the Founding Principal of Hive Public Space, an urban design and placemaking/placekeeping studio based in New York City. She brings a decade of experience designing and transforming public spaces into socially and culturally inclusive environments. She is the former Senior Urban Designer for both the Bryant Park Corporation and the 34th Street Partnership in Manhattan, NY. In this role, she was part of a multidisciplinary team responsible for the management, design and operation of Bryant Park and other plazas in the Midtown Area.(Submitted on June 20, 2025, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.)
She believes in the power of public spaces and strives for her work to create memories and connections while evolving each community's sense of belonging and identity. She received both a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and holds a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University in New York. She has completed the Program on Negotiation from Harvard Law School and the Data Visualization Seminar with Edward Tufte.
Alexandra is an Obama Leader, core organizer for Design as Protest. a member of the board of the Association of Community Design (ACD), a member of the Alliance for Public Space Leadership (APSL), and Design Fellow at the Design Trust for Public Spaces.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 14, 2025. It was originally submitted on June 20, 2025, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 95 times since then and 13 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on June 20, 2025, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
