Page 20 - ArchDC Fall 2018

ArchDC Fall 2018.qxp_Fall 2018 8/27/18 8:28 AM Page 18

Corner view of Square 50.

includes completed or planned projects in Florida, the Cayman of contemporary design that still relies more on brick and concrete
Islands, California, and Europe. The Square 50 project and a than on glass and metal. Into that context, TEN’s Square 50 and
companion project called Square 37 that is a block away at 23rd Square 37 projects have now inserted strong jolts of full-on
and L streets, NW, are the firm’s first two buildings in Washington. modernist architecture.
Norton was the project’s lead designer. The District government in 2010 granted the right to develop
Working in collaboration with TEN as the executive architect Square 50 and Square 37 to the development firm EastBanc, which
for Square 50 project was the local office of WDG, a Washington- selected TEN to design both buildings. The two mixed-use projects
and Dallas-based architecture, master planning, and interior were built under a public-private partnership between the city,
design firm with more than 500 buildings to its credit. Another EastBanc, and additional private firms.
design partner was Reston-based LeMay Erickson Willcox Although quite different in their details, the Square 50 building
Architects, a firm whose projects include more than 100 public and the Square 37 building (also known as the Westlight building)
safety buildings, which designed the building’s fire station. The are both composed of stacked boxes—a design approach that can be
Square 50 project has been awarded LEED Silver certification. seen in a number of recent buildings in New York, and has appeared
Geographically, the West End acts as a transition between recently in several Washington projects. The new West End branch
office-dominated downtown Washington and residential- and of the DC Public Library that occupies part of the Square 37 project
shopping-oriented Georgetown. It’s also an architectural transition was covered in the Spring 2018 issue of ARCHITECTUREDC.
zone of sorts, with many of its buildings striking a balance The Square 50 project houses three quite-different uses—the fire
between traditional and modernist design. The architectural station at street level, the squash court business in the building’s
“house style” of the West End, one might say, is a restrained form middle, and an apartment block in the building’s uppermost

18 BOXED UP AND READY TO GO