DC Metrocentric

Everyone has an opinion on architecture, what’s yours?

By Spencer Lepler

I spent this past Saturday at a gallery opening in Old Town Alexandria for an Interior Designer turned Photographer.  His photographs of trails in the Shanandoah National Park are currently on display through June in the Carriage House on South Union Street, an adaptive reuse building which most people will know for housing the Old Town Tea and Coffee Shop. While observing the building and the way people occupied it, I was reminded greatly of another adaptive reuse project down the street: The Torpedo Factory.

The difference between these two buildings is incredible to me.  The Carriage house was renovated in a historically sensitive a-stylistic manner.  It provides witnesses and windows into the building’s past and structure, without letting the historic use inform the modern.  For the trained, as well as many untrained eyes, it is quite obvious that the current floor plan has been derived to best accommodate modern usage, but is in no way what a modern designer would design from scratch, nor is this the true original use of the space.  Because this adaptive reuse appears timeless and not bound by recent architectural styles, the casual observer has little expectations about what will be found inside.  This lends the second floor art gallery space a great versatility; any show that is put on in this space will seem innovative because it is unexpected.  In addition, by removing the gallery to the farthest point from the build’s entry, the occupants are provided with a sense of exclusivity which can only seem to aid the reading of the pieces displayed within.

The Torpedo Factory’s renovation on the other hand was very highly influenced by the time at which it was performed…

While the original outer structure is very similar to what was there previously, the color and material choices, deconstructive use of interior spaces and carving out of the entry way along South Union Street very heavily indicate that this is a Postmodern adaptive reuse.  At the time it was completed (1977) this was innovative; it was completed 5 years before the Los Angeles Olympics made PO-MO common place and as a comparison is a contemporary to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, Germany and Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston.  This building was re-crafted to make a statement about the artwork being created inside; it was inventive and fresh and filled with new ideas.  Yet, this statement has changed over time. It no longer feels like an avant-garde festival marketplace of irrational exuberance, instead it now feels like an old building that needs to be washed.  Its pop-colors have faded and the play with forms seems commonplace and no longer special, by virtue it starts to make me wonder whether the art inside has suffered the same fall from grace.  While there may be a few special artists inside, the art seems commonplace: the pieces found within are just things that you could find at your local mall.

I have to wonder, if these buildings had been treated in a reverse situation (the Torpedo Factory renovated in an a-stylistic manner and the Carriage House given a Postmodern face) would the art inside still read the same?  Rather, has the commercial nature of the buildings affected the art inside as much as the architecture?  Has, through its nature of catering to tourists, the Torpedo Factory settled for lowest common denominator works, which while not controversial or groundbreaking keep a steady cash inflow; while the small gallery in the Carriage House and the art displayed within will always seems more special and new due to its independent nature and semi-hidden status.

[Photo: Looking For A Cause]

Spencer Lepler is an intern (unlicensed) architect who has lived and worked in the DC metro area since 2005. He posts on a semi-regular basis to his blog – selophane.com. He hopes to be licensed by the year end.