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Southwest Neighborhood Library and adjacent
park. The main entrance to the library is
at center, on axis with the crosswalk and a
multiblock pedestrian path.

Urban Re-Renewal
Urban Re-Renewal All photos ©

Southwest DC Gains James Steinkamp
an Eye-Catching Branch Library

by Steven K. Dickens, AIA, LEED AP

As most Washingtonians know, Southwest DC was Project: Southwest Neighborhood Library,
cleared out, largely demolished, and rebuilt as part of 900 Wesley Place, SW, Washington, DC
the Urban Renewal movement of the 1950s and ’60s. It
was a painful story for those whose community was Architect/Interior Designer: Perkins&Will
Landscape Architect: Landscape Architecture Bureau LLC
forcibly displaced, but the result was a relatively stable Structural Engineering Consultant: StructureCraft Builders
and diverse neighborhood that bucked the broader MEP Engineer: Limbach Engineering
urban decline of the late 20th century. Architecturally, Civil Engineer: Wiles Mensch Corporation
the rebuilding produced some mid-century modern Acoustical Consultant: Cerami & Associates
landmarks—although there were also misfires. The Library Programming Consultant: Kathryn Taylor Design
LEED Consultant: Sustainable Design Consulting, LLC
modernist urban planning fared less well: within Design-Builder and General Contractor: Turner
a few decades, the “tower in the park” concept was Construction Company
largely discredited for failing to understand how urban
communities actually function. The old Southwest

14 URBAN RE-RENEWAL