New ATF Headquarters/Fortress
23 10 2007If you’ve driven down New York Ave in the past few years you almost certainly have noticed the monstrosity going up that is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms new headquarters building (shown below). The building/fortress was specifically designed to be a completely terrorist/bomb proof federal building showcasing the latest technologies, which apparently are just building big ugly barrier walls and trying to pass them off as architectural elements.
[Flickr Photo Credit: DBKing]
The costs of the building have spiraled upward since inception and now stands at $139 million dollars. With the opening of the new metro station near by it does benefit the region by developing an underutilized area of DC and helping ensure federal employees have public transportation options to keep cars off the DC grid. Though we just can’t get passed what an eyesore the building is! It looks like a government building from Communist Russia, not a modern building in an up and coming area of the District of Columbia.
As a side note, retail space in the building has just been announced on the metro side and is going for the very reasonable rate of $45/SF/year. Considering the 1,300 federal employees in the ATF building as well as the surrounding area and metro accessibility, this space should fill up quickly as it is ready for move in immediately.
Oh lordy! What an ugly monster of a building! And to think a noted architect desinged this. Well, it probably looked better before it had to pass through the labyrinth of red tape and approvals that is DC. I especially love the see through suspended hefty bags at the top. What a load of crap. I just don’t get this city. We should definitely start a “examples of the worst architecture by the world’s best architects bus tour”.
i actually live a few blocks away from that building, on the eastern side of the railroad tracks. in real life, it isn’t *that* bad…..
it’s also helping to spur economic development in an area that has been blighted for decades.
AND, i’m pretty happy for the perception of added security to the area.
at least it doesn’t look like most of the lame office buildings that dc is insistant on putting up around the city….
They were talking about this building on NPR the other day. Its actually a misconception that the round architectural element in front of the building is for security…its just an ugly poorly designed architectural element.
ugh,i thought this style went out in the early 80s… i guess what we have here is neo-brutalism
It truly is horrible. I wouldn’t rely on it to spur economic development. It does bring people to the area, but the building is self contained. So, I kind of doubt those people will be crossing the street to go to Wendy’s. Hopefully it will just spur more development in the area. I’m hopefull that would happen but it just seems like a missed opportunity. A truly great building would’ve done that.
I have to disagree, this building is hot, and a wonderful departure from the post-modernist Michael Graves style that is popping up.
Talk about a departure from Post-Modernism, this is extreeme brutalism to the MAX. That much use of concrete went out of style with the slap bracelet!
Sara
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