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TWO DAYS IN JANUARY CONTRIBUTORS

The shocking assault on the Capitol on January 6 made the
Bradley W. Johnson inauguration on January 20 even more important than usual for Steven K. Dickens, AIA, LEED AP
(“Missing Middle Made Mod”), is
signaling the continuation of Constitutional order. Much has been
senior associate with Eric Colbert
written about those two very different days, but it can be noted that
& Associates.
on both of them, architecture acted as a stage and backdrop for the
events that transpired, symbolizing in stone and mortar democratic Denise Liebowitz (“Radiantly
values that were dangerously challenged on January 6 and strongly Modern on the C&O Canal” and
reasserted on January 20. “The Humble Shipping Container
On January 6, members of a riotous mob desecrated the Embraces Luxury”), formerly with
nation’s most iconic exemplar of classical architecture—a building, the National Capital Planning
often called the Temple of Democracy, that belongs to all Americans, and whose design Commission, is a frequent contributor
is intended to symbolize the American ideal of democratic self-governance. In the days
that followed, security barriers erected around the Capitol and the national museums on to ARCHITECTUREDC.
the Mall gave the entire area the appearance of an armed camp, and severely muted the
message of knowledge, memory, and beauty that is intended to be conveyed by the classical G. Martin Moeller, Jr., Assoc.
and modern architecture of the museum buildings. The boarding up of commercial AIA (“Let it Glow” and “Modern
buildings in the nearby downtown area, including ours, meanwhile, disrupted the Wellness”), is an independent curator
and writer. He is the editor of
WELCOME ARCHITECTUREDC.
architecture of that part of the city, turning it into a landscape of abandonment and fear.
Ronald O’Rourke (“All the Right
Angles” and “Striking the Right

But on January 20, with the Capitol’s exterior repaired and flag-draped for the Balance”) is a regular contributor to
ARCHITECTUREDC. His father, Jack
inauguration, the building’s majesty played a key role in symbolizing the resilience of O’Rourke, was an architect in San
American democracy. When Lady Gaga, in singing the national anthem, turned her head and Francisco for more than four decades.
looked upward to emphasize the line, “Gave proof through the night that our flag was still
there,” many viewers, remembering January 6, may have interpreted “there” to mean the Capitol.
On the eve of the inauguration, and again during the next evening’s Celebrating
America event, the architecture at the other end of the Mall—the Lincoln Memorial, the
Washington Monument, and the Reflecting Pool—was put to powerful visual use for
mourning the 400,000 Americans who had died from COVID-19, and for reasserting not
only our democratic norms, but the important values of empathy and decency. Lining the
Reflecting Pool with 400 lights to symbolize those lost to the virus was a brilliant design
stroke that instantly turned a part of the Mall that can sometimes feel like an empty zone
into a space with profound meaning.
One more point: On January 6, it was the city’s police force—the Metropolitan Police—
who first came to the aid of the Capitol Police, and who played a major role in expelling the
mob from the building and reestablishing control of its interior. It was employees of the
city of Washington, in other words, who helped rescue the country’s seat of government.
The irony that those police officers serve a city whose residents pay taxes but have no
voting rights in the House or Senate was not lost on commentators. If you are looking for
another argument in favor of DC statehood, you could do worse than focusing on the role
of the city’s police force in rescuing the Capitol on January 6.
Architecture is symbolically powerful, and belongs to all of us. It is always in the
background of our lives, and sometimes in the forefront. That’s a big part of the reason
why architecture matters, and why we should care to make it good. We were reminded of
that on those two days in January.
This issue of the magazine is our annual focus on residential architecture. It was
planned well in advance of the events of January 6 and 20, and would seem to be little
related to those events. But our ability to create and enjoy residential designs like those
presented in the pages that follow is made possible in part by the role of architecture in
helping to preserve foundational democratic norms and values. I hope you enjoy reading
about the projects in this issue.

As always, we love to hear from you, so please feel free to write me.

Mary Fitch, AICP, Hon. AIA
Publisher
mfitch@aiadc.com
@marycfitch
WELCOME 5