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The office building’s new masonry block, the firm Close-up of the renovated commercial building
said, “is wrapped with a metal-and-glass curtainwall, with the new structure behind it.
stepping down to the six-story projecting pavilion facing
10th Street, then elegantly dips down to meet the two-
story historic building.” The external materials “relate to
the historic material context, which is primarily brick and
stone masonry, with ornamental metals such as copper
and bronze. The design uses terracotta on principal
façades, with stainless steel and aluminum accents as a
modern interpretation of these influences.”
The project at 1000 F Street is one of several buildings
designed by SBA in recent years that makes extensive
use of terracotta panels. “Terracotta is a wonderful,
versatile material which has a history about as long as
human civilization,” said Patrick Burkhart, AIA, a principal
at SBA. “Its resurgence in this country is a postscript to
its use in Europe, where it has never really fallen out of
favor. Today, it remains a malleable material with a wide
variety of finishes that work well with modern rain-
screen building envelopes. It also has a varying level of
art and craft in its production that gives it something
of a human imprint.”

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