Page 80 - ArchDC_Spring 2020

on U Street.) As might be expected for a new-built luxury the profiles of the window frames are the same.” With their
apartment building, the Sonnet offers an impressive array of complementary exterior features, the point where the Sonnet
apartment features and shared building amenities, including richly ends and the Portner Flats begins is not immediately obvious,
outfitted common spaces on the ground floor and in the penthouse, and the two buildings can easily be read as a single structure.
and a rooftop deck with a swimming pool and a 151-inch The Portner Place tenants were provided with temporary
television screen. The building received LEED Silver certification. apartments during the development’s demolition and
“A fundamental design challenge at the Sonnet had to do with construction phases, as well as a guaranteed return when the
our uncertainty about the future development of the adjacent new affordable apartments were finished. Portner Flats was
Reeves Center site at 14th and U streets,” said Eric Colbert, AIA, built first, before the Sonnet, so as to minimize the tenants’
founder and president of ECA. “Knowing that there will most period of displacement. Of the 47 Portner Place tenants, 37 chose
certainly be a high-density development there, we configured our to move into the new building.
plan [for the Sonnet] to assure that future light, air, and views “For 17 years, before market-rate apartment buildings were
for the apartments facing the east courtyard would be adequate. being constructed in DC [again], a majority of our work was
We articulated the adjacent exposed east façade, knowing that it producing affordable housing for non-profit organizations like
will be exposed for many years, but will probably be covered up Jubilee Housing and SOME,” Colbert said. “Through that
when the [Reeves Center] site is finally redeveloped.” experience, we learned to meet with and understand the needs
The exteriors of the two buildings employ projecting bays and desires of lower-income residents. That skill came in
and shifts in materials and colors to articulate their facades and handy while developing plans for Portner Flats. I hope that the
reduce their apparent sizes. The Sonnet’s top two floors are set residents feel that we have done a good job of accommodating
back and executed in darker brick to respond to the somewhat their priorities.”
shorter height of the building to the west. The façades of both That would seem to be the case—the building is fully
buildings incorporate accent panels sporting a fairly bright occupied, with a waiting list of hundreds of applicants. “I moved
shade of orange, a color not frequently seen in new Washington- into Portner Place with my mom when it first opened in 1980,
area apartment buildings. [when I was] fresh out of high school, and now I live here with
“I have traveled many times to Latin American countries, my son,” said Marlene Frost, as quoted in a 2018 press release
particularly Brazil, where I observed the exciting use of color about the project. “Before the new owners took over, the place
on buildings,” Colbert said in commenting on the color choice. had started to show its age, but I really love the community and
“Washington, DC, buildings, in contrast, seem to incorporate was really happy that we were able to stay at the new Portner
a limited palette. Our more dramatic use of color started early, Flats. I really love it now. Everything is on one level, which helps
with an office building [our firm designed] for So Others Might with my mobility issues, and I just love my new views on the V
Eat (SOME) at 60 O Street, NW, and continued later on, where Street side of the property. The new rooftop garden access is just
we incorporated it into a residential condominium project awesome. I really am enjoying the new landscaping and other
at 16th and Church streets, NW. A splash of color can add community services as well, and so does my son.”
liveliness to a façade.” The joint venture team, Colbert said, “did an excellent job of
While the exterior schemes of the two buildings aren’t organizing the residents and the development plan. They took
identical, they do share a family resemblance. “The wood maximum advantage of an unusual situation where low-income
panels and the masonry [in the two buildings] were designed to apartments were present in one of the hottest residential
complement one another,” Colbert said. “The color, texture, and development areas of Washington.” It was fulfilling, he added
configuration of the materials were chosen to be complementary. “to be able to design a project which is consistent with its higher-
We incorporated punched windows into both facades, and density urban context.”

Residents’ amenity space in Portner Flats.

78 A FINE PAIR Photo © Anice Hoachlander