Page 19 - ArchDC_Spring 2021

Lobby.

Programmatically, Almeida said, “our biggest “To avoid a potentially monotonous articulation
challenge was creating an amenity package [for of balconies, we typically implement a few different
tenants] that rivalled neighboring, much larger, new strategies: integrate balconies into a larger massing
developments. By creating a glassy, double-height gesture, minimize their occurrence or appearance on
lobby and a mezzanine level that opened up to the primary building facades, and provide guardrails that
street, and centering co-working, leasing, and fitness are more solid or decorative in appearance,” Almeida
amenities around this space, we were able to mitigate said. “Cladding [the balconies on the 8th Street side] in
the impact of having nine-foot, eight-inch floor-to-floor glass and spacing them closer together allows them to
heights and visually enlarge the quantity of public dematerialize or be read as one larger massing gesture,
spaces that the building provides to tenants, which depending on the angle from which they’re viewed.”
are comparatively large for a building with just over On the building’s less-visible alley side, he
100 units.” added, “we gave ourselves more leeway, providing
RD Jones’s designs for the building’s lobby and as many balconies as possible. Driven by the owner’s
amenity spaces, “are masterful in carrying the exterior requirements, we aimed to provide a balcony for
design concept into the public spaces of the property,” every single alley-facing unit—a feature that further
Almeida said. Materials used in these spaces include distinguishes this multi-family product from
light- and dark-toned wood, large-format porcelain tile, competing properties. We enlivened the resulting field
and concrete grey textures. Gender-neutral restrooms of balconies by taking the same shape and mirroring it
in the amenity spaces, Almeida added, “not only back and forth as you go up the building. The result is
serve as a display of inclusivity to a diverse resident an angular geometry that is consistent with the larger
population, but are also a great way to minimize the massing [features] of the building, creating an atypical
footprint of what would otherwise be large facilities gesture that injects a bit of controlled chaos into an
serving relatively modestly sized amenities.” otherwise quiet elevation, and surprising passersby
The building’s eight penthouse-level units have who catch a glimpse of this playful display through the
their own rooftop terraces, as do some third- and narrow alley entrances.”
fourth-floor units. Other units have balconies, raising Balconies “often can become de facto storage units
a perennial challenge in the design of apartment for bikes, plastic furniture, etc.,” he added. “To soften
buildings: how to include a lot of balconies without the appearance of these personal belongings, we
creating an arrangement that looks annoyingly implemented a different type of guardrail for the alley
repetitive or even dehumanizing. balconies: a tightly perforated metal, lending more
uniformity and dimension.”

ALL THE RIGHT ANGLES 17