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J Linea, as seen from 8th Street and Florida Avenue.

interior architecture and design firm with offices in
Chevy Chase and Baltimore.
The site’s existing two-story commercial
structure—designed by John Lankford, one of the city’s
earliest Black registered architects—was previously
the home of Town Danceboutique, an LGBTQ dance
club whose modern interior, designed by STUDIOS
Architecture, was the cover story of the Fall 2008 issue
of ARCHITECTUREDC and the recipient of an award for
excellence in interior architecture in the 2008 AIA|DC
Chapter Design Awards. It’s a reflection of Shaw’s Courtesy of Hickok Cole
continuing development that 13 years later, these pages The existing commercial building, former home of Town Danceboutique.
are now covering a new and very different successor
design for the property. a length proportionate to the overall length of the
J Linea “infuses a modern and industrial aesthetic new building. In deference to the older structure, the
reflective of the neighborhood’s past and future,” building’s residential upper floors are pulled back from
Hickok Cole said. “Shaw has long been viewed as the the masonry base in a V shape, like an archer pulling
city’s cultural epicenter, and served as inspiration on a bow string. The arrangement embraces and
for many of the project’s signature design elements, showcases the existing commercial façade rather than
including its dancing geometric floorplan and [its overwhelming or diminishing it, as can sometimes
exterior] cascading gold fins, reminiscent of notes on happen in projects of this type. A similar V-shaped
sheet music.” indentation occurs on the building’s opposite side,
Hickok Cole’s design retained the commercial which fronts onto an alley, producing a pinched and
building’s brick façade and added new brick wings slightly S-shaped floor plate. The building’s shifting
on either side of it, creating a masonry base with exterior planes, combined with smaller exterior

ALL THE RIGHT ANGLES 15