Page 77 - ArchDC_Fall 2020

Exterior of the addition. Wine cellar in the former bomb shelter.

Chapter Design Award in Interior Architecture
Black Metal White Plaster

Arlington, VA
Donald Lococo Architects
Interior Designers: Ella Scott Design
Landscape Architects: Jennifer Horn Landscape Architecture
Structural Engineers: Linton Engineering
General Contractor: Clemens Builders, LLC

The name of this project—Black Metal White Plaster—may
sound like an alt-rock album title, but it evocatively conveys the
simple palette that Donald Lococo Architects uncovered at the
heart of the 1940s Tudor Revival house after peeling away later
casework. The architects used that palette as the springboard for
an addition containing a kitchen and breakfast area.
The characteristic geometries and textures of the existing
house also influenced the design of the addition. The steeply
pitched roof, for example, alludes to the sharp gables typical of
Tudor Revival architecture. The interior of the addition has an
almost ecclesiastical feel, heightened by tall dormer windows—
also derived from those of the existing house—that admit bright
sunlight from one side. Scored dark wood paneling and cabinets,
coupled with wood flooring whose dark stain accentuates the
grain, complement the smooth plaster walls and the sleek steel
tubing of the shelving structure over the kitchen island.
The kitchen addition was part of a comprehensive
modernization that included improving sightlines between the
main living spaces, opening up the floor plan, and consolidating
service spaces within the core of the house. During renovation
of what is now the pantry, a curious raised concrete floor led to the
discovery of an old bomb shelter. The architects took advantage
of the opportunity to turn that space into the wine cellar.

This project was previously covered in the Fall 2019 issue of
ARCHITECTUREDC as a winner of a Washingtonian Residential
Design Award for that year.
New kitchen. All photos © Anice Hoachlander/Hoachlander Davis Photography

INNOVATION THROUGH RENOVATION 75