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Chapter Design Award in shoppers but not rob the area of its funky charm. The completed
Urban Design & Master Planning project encompasses five new buildings that surround the lone
structure that survived the 1960s demolition. The historic Lunch
Washington Fish Market Room/Oyster Shed where oysters were shucked and wharf

Washington, DC workers once ate has been reclaimed and serves as the focal
point of a cluster of new restaurants.
StudioMB Restoration of the Lunch Room/Oyster Shed was key
Interior Designers: StudioMB (Tiki TNT, to the success of the project. Drawing inspiration from the
Rappahannock Oyster Bar, Southwest Soda industrial steel frame and roof construction of the original 1916
Pop Shop); BCJ (Blue Bottle Coffee); HD Interiors building, the StudioMB team employed steel columns and high-
(District Doughnut); Grupo 7 (Officina) performing glass-and-metal panels to form the “exoskeleton” of
Landscape Architects: Landscape the restored structure. This simple industrial framing defines
Architecture Bureau the architectural language used in the surrounding five new
Structural Engineers: Ehlert Bryan Consulting buildings and serves as a unifying element of the project.
Structural Engineers The six structures (one of which houses a distillery with a
MEP Engineers: MCE Engineers place-making smokestack proclaiming, “Make Rum Not War”)
Civil Engineers: AMT, LLC are set on a plaza with a variety of connected and tiered outdoor
Marine Engineers: Moffatt & Nichol spaces with views of the river and, of course, the enduring barges
Lighting Consultants: Gilmore Lighting Design where fish vendors still offer their harvest to eager customers.
Building Skin Consultants: Wiss Janney Elstner This project was previously covered in the Summer 2019 issue
Environmental/Geotechnical Consultants: ECS of ARCHITECTUREDC.
Historic Preservation Consultants: EHT Traceries
Contractor: Balfour Beatty

The fortunes of the venerable Maine Avenue Fish Market have
ebbed and flowed with those of the Southwest Waterfront since
the earliest days of the city. The market reached a particularly
low point in the 1960s when much of it was demolished to
make room for the new I-395 bridge across the Potomac. But
the market and its vendors soldiered on, installing temporary
barges where fresh fish could be sold in the open air. Today, the
fish market has been transformed in the wake of the adjacent
District Wharf, a vibrant mixed-use development that has
revitalized the Potomac riverfront. New buildings and plaza space
StudioMB was tapped to reimagine the historic Fish at the Fish Market.
Market in a way that would continue to attract visitors and Photo © iLight Technologies

The Washington Fish Market, with the
restored Lunch Room/Oyster Shed at left.

Photo © Thomas Holdsworth