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The lobby of 1000 F Street, NW.
The intersection of 10th and F streets includes two small rectangular lot that was further restricted by the
other buildings with SBA-designed additions: the Atlantic historic building,” Burkhart said. “A deep garage was
building at 930 F Street, NW, and the Woodward & Lothrop cost-prohibitive. So, we implemented a vehicular elevator
building at 1025 F Street, NW. “Having had the opportunity to eliminate a ramp and incorporated two-tier vehicular
to design major new additions to the historic buildings at lifts which stacked one car above another.” Attendants at
the southeast and northwest corner sites at the intersection the 45-car facility navigate vehicles to the vertically
of 10th and F streets, this project provided a unique stacked spaces.
moment to weave old with new,” Burkhart said. “So, a Burkhart particularly likes “the sense of verticality
lot of thought preceded the design process for this, the the project delivers while still being respectful of the
third corner site.” pedestrian-level scale that the historic building provides.
The biggest challenge, he said, “was developing a For many architects practicing in the District, the 1910
massing and skin approach that struck a balance between Height Act really challenges one’s sense of proportion,
the potential height of the new construction and the modest and this is one moment where the small footprint of the
scale of historic structures within and beyond the site. site and the allowable height and density led us to
Through a combination of hand sketches, clay models, embrace the sense of height and juxtaposition of scales.”
and computer-generated 3D images, we began to shape Reflecting on Washington office building design in
the new construction as a series of interlocking rectilinear general, Burkhart added that “the penchant for all-glass
volumes that cascaded downward in essentially three facades needs to be tempered with a sensitivity to place.
steps, from a maximum height of 120 feet to the two-story By that, I mean not only an aesthetic appropriateness to a
historic corner building.” The process was “a spiral particular site and context, but perhaps more importantly,
approach moving from the elemental massing to the a rational approach to energy conservation accounting
articulated facades in a collaborative design team effort.” for local climate and solar orientation. With 1000 F Street,
Integrating the historic building into the fabric of we did incorporate large areas of glazing along with
new construction, Burkhart said, led to another challenge terracotta and brick masonry, but oriented the large
“as we discovered major structural deficiencies with the glazed areas to the east and incorporated horizontal sun
commercial building in the construction phase. That, shades.” The building has been pre-certified at the LEED
however, gave us an opportunity to open up the second Gold level for its sustainable design features.
floor [of the commercial building] and create a new floor “Office building design,” Burkhart said, “is a never-
plate that provides a really unique office loft space.” ending evolution, as the nature of how we work and why
The site’s tight dimensions drove a careful use of we work is ever-changing. Here in Washington, we have a
available interior space in the new building. Loading, special opportunity to really integrate live/work pursuits
service, and office tower core elements were placed in the due to the texture of varied yet concentrated land uses. We
tower’s darker southwest side, enabling open office floor also have the challenge of balancing the tendency towards
plans with windows on virtually all four sides above the horizontal dispersion with the desire to go vertically.
historic commercial building. “Another challenge was Adding a few more feet to the height limits in certain
accommodating below-grade vehicular parking on a very areas may be beneficial.”

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