1129 20th Street NW
- Challenge
- Solution
- Impact
- Recognition
Challenge
This 1968 office building has outlived its useful lifespan, and our challenge was to make it into a vibrant, contemporary work environment. Rather than tearing the building down, our sustainable strategies to ‘recycle’ the building provided many challenges: weaving new architecture through an existing structure and core footprint and creating two viable floors in only 20 feet of additional height.
Solution
Our program included new facades, public spaces, core, building systems and semi-public amenity areas. New mechanical and plumbing systems are surgically woven through structural beams to achieve viable ceiling heights, while maintaining 75% of the original structural frame. Green roofs, energy-efficient systems, daylighting strategies, and sustainable technologies create a state-of-the-art environment.
The design solution creates a modern architecture that acknowledges its urban context. A transparent curtain wall system, absent any opaque spandrels, reveals the concrete structure within. The building “opens” in the center of the curtainwall, aligning with the building’s internal core and central lobby, while also providing a connection to the street.
Impact
Our team increased the building by two floors and filled in open courts of the existing floor plate to add more than 45,000 gross square feet. By recycling this building, FOX Architects has sustainably transformed a relic of the past into a contemporary work environment competitive with the Washington class A office building market.
Recognition
- NAIOP Award of Excellence
- Year 2008
- Size 180,000 SF/45,000 SF Expansion
- Certification LEED® Gold Certified
- Location Washington, DC
- Discipline Architecture
- Types Building Recycling, Building Renovation, Corporate Commercial, Developer Driven