Project Details
- Project Name
- Midtown Center
- Location
-
1100 15th Street NW
DC ,United States
- Architect
- SHoP Architects
- Client/Owner
- Carr Properties
- Size
- 838,480 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2018
- Shared by
- Hanley Wood Media
- Consultants
-
Structural Engineer: SK&A Maryland,null: Girard Engineering,Electrical Engineer: Girard Engineering,Plumbing Engineer: Girard Engineering,Landscape Architect: Scape / Landscape Architecture,Civil Engineer: Wiles Mensch Corp.
- Project Status
- Built
New York–based SHoP Architects is designing a 838,480-square-foot building for 1100 15th Street NW in Washington, D.C., to replace the current headquarters of The Washington Post. The proposed building will house the new headquarters for Fannie Mae, as well as 42,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor.
Washington, D.C.–based Carr Properties submitted materials to the city's zoning board on July 27, 2015. Local firm WDG Architecture is the architect of record on the project.
From the filing on July 27: "The design of the proposed addition can be generally described as a U-shaped mass that opens southward onto L Street. Along the north side between the addition and Columbia Center, an existing private drive will remain, however, this area will be improved will higher-quality paving and include a sizable flexible seating area. In addition, a large canopy structure, approximately 3,000 - 4,000 square feet, is proposed over this area which will connect the proposed addition to Columbia Center, thereby making them a single building for purposes of zoning. Along the south side of the addition, the two wings, or towers, of the building will extend toward L Street, separated by a large open courtyard that will provide seating, landscape and other outdoor public amenities."
Project Description
Located in the heart of Washington, D.C., Midtown Center is a 14-story mixed-use office, dining, and retail complex arranged around a large new public plaza. The building works to integrate with its environment—and honor local architectural traditions—through a unique glass-and-copper facade designed to slowly patina over time. This architectural expression optimizes solar shading while maintaining maximal daylight conditions for the workplaces within; it also serves to negotiate the scalar differences inherent at this site, where larger civic buildings abut smaller-scale streets. A series of three bridges cross between the two wings of the complex, sculptural elements that animate the courtyard below. Much of the ground plane is given over to smaller gathering places linked by public pathways that "cut the corners" and connect adjoining neighborhoods along the most direct and natural pedestrian routes. Together with our client, Carr Properties, SHoP has created conditions that will foster dynamic public spaces—a critical addition to the larger network of open spaces that defines the city's increasingly lively downtown.
