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Conference anteroom. Photo © Christopher Barrett
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Project: Center for Strategic
is one of those Washington institutions that bespeak quiet and International Studies, Washington, DC
power. A bipartisan think tank focusing on foreign affairs
and national security, CSIS has helped to frame policy Architects: Hickok Cole Architects
discussions on issues ranging from Defense Department Landscape Architects: Trace
reform to climate change to health care. Its Board of Lighting Designers: Bliss Fasman
Trustees is studded with prominent people, many of Structural Engineers: Thornton Tomasetti
whom once held senior government positions, including MEP Engineers: Dewberry
former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former Civil Engineers: Wiles Mensch Corporation
Democratic senator Sam Nunn. Audiovisual Consultants: RTKL
Building Envelope Consultants: CDC
Founded in 1962 as the Center for Strategic Studies at Specifications Consultants: Heller & Metzger
Georgetown University, CSIS became a fully independent Traffic Consultants: Wells + Associates
non-profit organization in 1987. For 35 years, it was Lobby Chandelier Designer: Sosolimited
headquartered in a nondescript commercial office building Owner’s Representative/Project Manager: JLL (Jones Lang Lasalle)
on K Street, but a few years ago the organization bought General Contractor: HITT Contracting, Inc.
a vacant site on Rhode Island Avenue, NW, near Scott
Circle, with the intention of building a new home from FAIA, a senior principal and founder of the firm, “but
the ground up. After issuing a request for proposals to this was a great client.” Laughing, he added, “Their only
more than a dozen architecture firms, CSIS then invited downside was that they were too smart! They had a high
four firms to participate in a design competition, need to know throughout the process. They challenged
eventually narrowing the list of prospective firms to two. our ideas and were thoroughly engaged. We loved
Representatives from the organization then conducted working with them.”
extensive in-office interviews and work sessions with the
two finalist firms. Ultimately, Hickok Cole Architects As if to prove Hickok’s point early on, CSIS came
prevailed and won the commission. into the project with an unusually clear and detailed list of
requirements for the building. First and foremost, it was
“We feel that design competitions are not the best to incorporate a world-class conference center. Hickok
way to select an architect,” admitted Michael E. Hickok, estimated that CSIS hosts more than 500 conferences a
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