Page 36 - ArchDC_Fall 2020

DC Water Headquarters, with the Anacostia
Riverwalk Trail in the foreground.
Chapter Design Award in Architecture/
Citation for Sustainable Design
DC Water Headquarters

Washington, DC
SmithGroup
Associate Architects/Associate Structural Designers:
Leuterio Thomas, LLC
Lighting Designers/MEP & Fire Protection Engineers:
SmithGroup
Landscape Architects: OEHME, van SWEDEN | OvS
Structural Engineers: The SK&A Group
Associate MEP Engineers: JVP Engineers PC
(now part of Ameresco)
Civil Engineers: Wiles Mensch Corporation
Commissioning: SETTY & Associates
Traffic Consultants: Gorove/Slade Associates, Inc.
Program Managers: Samaha Associates, PC
Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment Consultant: Studio of
Sandra Ragan
Owner’s Representative: Constance Schwartz
Design/Build Contractor: Skanska USA Building Inc.

There can’t be too many sewage treatment operations that
promote themselves as a party venue, but the stunning
new DC Water headquarters on the Anacostia waterfront in
Southeast Washington is doing just that. While no sewage
is actually treated in the new building, it is constructed on
top of one fully operational wastewater pumping station and
immediately adjacent to another. Thus taking advantage of
land that DC Water already owned, the 150,000-square-foot
headquarters building was designed to consolidate the utility’s
350 administrative workers in one space.
The location presented at least two major challenges: first,
massive underground clay sewer lines, some more than 100 years
old, that could not be disturbed, and second, the bland, 1960s-era
O Street Pump Station in the middle of the site, which had to
remain operational during and after construction. On the good
news side, the riverfront property offered knockout views, and
anything built on this south-facing site would be bathed in natural
light. DC Water called in SmithGroup, a firm with offices across
the US and in China, to design a building able to accentuate the
positives and eliminate the negatives of this challenging site. Main lobby.
The boldly transparent and undulating exterior features
a wall of tinted glass and variegated green aluminum panels. Open office space. Photos © Alan Karchmer / OTTO
While the six-story structure is clearly an example of place-making
architecture on the waterfront, it also sits comfortably juxtaposed
to the lovely 1907 Beaux-Arts Main Pump Station across the
street in a way that amplifies the beauty of both buildings.
In the interior, the building’s materials are straightforward:
polished concrete floors, natural wood benches, and slatted-
wood ceilings. There’s even an area for a close-up view of the
pumping machinery. Heat from the non-stop flow of wastewater
in the pipes beneath the building has been harnessed to serve as
a kind of ground-source heat pump significantly reducing the
building’s heating and cooling costs.
This project was previously covered in the Summer 2020 issue
of ARCHITECTUREDC.
34 WORKING WORLDS