DC Metrocentric

The old Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery site has been a prime target for future development since it was closed down and the Navy moved out as a result of BRAC, and now there are plans underway to develop the campus into an expansion of the sites neighbor to the east, the Department of State.

State has a lot of office space in addition to the Foggy Bottom location throughout DC and VA and such a large site right next to the State headquarters building makes sense, however it will be interesting to see how the plans incorporates many of the smaller historic older buildings on the 11 acre site and create enough space to meet the need for hundreds of thousands of square feet for Department of State offices.

It is that time again.. the once every four years in January when the city prepares for the big inauguration celebrations, and this year all the pomp and circumstance and grand balls will be bigger than ever. Of course the President, who this is all for, needs somewhere to view the parade from and the viewing stand right in front of the White House is under construction to provide just that!

[Photo: Elvert Barnes]

As part of the larger National Mall restoration effort the iconic lawn between 3rd and 7th street has been undergoing a major upgrade. Close to completion this December, there is now a completely new upgraded drainage and irrigation system and turf technology to keep the grass looking green. Given how in recent years many grass sections have often looked sad and patchy, this is going to be a big upgrade for one of the most visible parts of the historic capital core!

Also the gravel foot paths are being upgraded and granite edging is installed around the lawn section which from what we have seen so far is a major upgrade just from an ascetic perspective and will also help with erosion.

[Photos: DCMetrocentric]

When plans for the revitalization and adaptive reuse of the old St Elizabeths east campus hospital were announced there was a big question over how some of the new development would be able to fit into the older buildings while promoting an active and engaging use of the open spaces. The newly released rendering below from Davis Brody Bond gives us a little more of an idea with the Gateway Pavilion design.

The $5 million pavilion makes the most of the open space, with sloping green terraces and ramps, as well as planned space for food trucks and other food vendors to be able to draw people out of the new US Coast Guard HQ opening up next year. We’re excited to see this concept put into practice, and can definitely see this concept being effective in other parts of town as well.

[Rendering: Davis Brody Bond]

To say that the planned Eisenhower Memorial has been surrounded by controversy would definitely be an understatement, with everyone from the family of the 34th President, the National Capital Planning Commission, and Congress weighing in on the proposed designs from STARchitect Frank Gehry. Not much has really changed from the original design to these latest renderings released by NCPC, and they still include the controversial mesh tapestries.

Even with all the controversy, the hope is still to open the completed memorial on Memorial Day 2015, but it remains to be seen what it ends up looking like.

Check out some more renderings after the jump including what those mesh tapestries may end up looking like…

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Hope you are out there enjoying the long weekend, taking in the sights and the wonderful architecture our city has on display everyday. It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating Labor Day 2011 and this picture perfectly captures how much of a blur time can be as it flies by. Happy Labor Day from everyone at DCMetrocentric!

[Photo: NJ Dodge]

With construction now underway on the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture for the last six months, the project is finally almost done with excavation and securing the retaining walls, so it wont be long before we start to get a glimpse of the structure for the very modern Freelon Adjaye designed addition to the National Mall. Apparently the project is still progressing right on track for an expected 2015 opening!

[Photo: DCMetrocentric]

With very little work done over the first 70 years of the Supreme Court Buildings existence, the last few years have seen the undertaking of a massive modernization effort both inside and out to bring the building up to modern standards. With the interior work complete, the last few touches including landscaping and exterior restoration (as you can see) should be complete this coming February, and hopefully the building won’t need a major tuneup for another 70 years!

[Photos: Tony DeFilippo]

After a long drawn out, and controversial improvement plan to the historic Mt. Pleasant Library, the renovation and modern new addition designed by CORE Architects on the back of the building are on track for opening up this Fall with a grand opening party scheduled for September 15! Part of the celebration is going to include building tours, so it will be a great chance to check out the new spaces for the first time and we’re definitely looking forward to it (and the face painting)!

Much of the modern addition is hidden behind the old building which was originally one of the cities Carnegie funded libraries.

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This view couldn’t look more different today than it did over one hundred years ago. The photo is looking down F street from 7th street. Though the interesting part of this photo, and others like it from the same time period, is that the pedestrian sidewalks of DC were for the most part covered. How many times have you been caught in the rain downtown and wished the streets were lined like they were back in 1900?

Though it’s possible to get around DC without going outside (ie the Metro) it would still be cool if there were more covered walkways, at least when it’s raining like it was at the end of last week.

As we all know, Memorial Day is more than just picnics and BBQs, it’s about remembering those who served our country. Living in the metro DC area we are lucky to have many great locations for the architectural enthusiast to both enjoy the weekend and reflect on the sacrifices made by those who helped preserve the freedoms we all enjoy.

The World War II Memorial (pictured) is one of the newer memorials, having only been built in 2004, and is a good place to start because of it’s proximity to other sites if you want to tour around the mall today and tomorrow. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend! [Photo: Brent's Pix]

The Trust for the National Mall has finally announced the winners of a big competition to re-energize the national mall and bring some life to the cities monumental core and we really like what we’ve seen so far with plans for a new Sylvan Theater and Constitution Gardens.

The plan for Constitution Gardens includes lots of new outdoor furniture and engaging features as well as a restaurant pavilion (shown above) and possible pond/skating rink to draw more people into the core of the Nation Mall.  The redesigned Sylvan Theater by OLIN & Weiss features a new amphitheater with green terraced landscaping (shown below). The theater would increase the capacity of the current facilities while preserving the area around the Washington Monument by blending in the landscaping and a complete flowing green roof.

The projects are just one part of the massive $700 million plan to transform the National Mall from a series of monument and memorials connected by patches of dead grass, into a world class cohesive park. So far, so good, what do you think?

[Renderings: Rogers Marvel Architects + Peter Walker top | OLIN Weiss bottom]

Ever since work got underway to transform the old St Elizabeths campus in SE into a new modern Federal campus, people have been speculating on how the surrounding area, specifically that around the Congress Heights Metro station was going to end up looking, and now the District has released some nice shiny renderings to give us a good idea of what to expect.

Included is a new transit center, plazas, parks, and even a farm center!

[Renderings: DC Gov ]

Now that the weather is getting so nice, we wanted to check in on the progress of the refurbishment of one of the largest green spaces in town, the National Mall which has been undergoing a multi-year, multi-million dollar revitalization project.

The first phase of the project has been focusing on the center panels between 3rd and 7th streets, and as you can see above, involves completely ripping up and replacing the grass and gravel walkways.

The goal is to provide more sustainable lawn panels through use of sandy soil, irrigation, and curbs delineating the edge of the grass panels as well as installing subsurface drains, curb drains, and cisterns to collect and hold rain water runoff to be used for irrigation. This first phase should be all wrapped up by the end of the year, so for this summer at least its going to be off limits, and will be all ready just in time for the next inauguration to trample all that nice new grass!

[Photo: DCMetrocentric]

More updates this week for the planned Eisenhower memorial to try and address the number of critics who have spoken out against the proposal, and this time they are focusing on the features that will help focus and frame the memorial which will be built just off the National Mall along Independence Ave.  As you can see from the new rendering released by Gehry and Partners, there will be a massive carved bas reliefs  showing Eisenhower on D-Day added to the design.

Unfortunately those see-through mesh tapestries are still part of the design.

[Credit: Gehry Partners]