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ArchDC Winter 2017.qxp_Fall 2017 11/17/17 5:49 PM Page 37

Photo © Jessica Marcotte Entry gate. Photo © Samson Cheng
offers eight living units, each with five bedrooms and five private On the interior, the 1,800-square-foot apartments offer high-
bathrooms and a spacious communal living and dining space. style, low-maintenance finishes that place few demands on young
“Some people call it co-living, but I call it creative housing,” tenants. The light-colored “luxury vinyl tile” flooring mimics wood
said Ditto. “It’s just an innovative way to build. As humans, we planking with a distinctive grain. Composite flat-front kitchen
need both the social experience of living with others, but we also cabinets are also finished in a light wood grain and the kitchen
need to have our own private space. Of course, there’s also the island’s sweep of bright white quartz extends to the floor in a sleek
simple economics of shared space and shared living.” cascade. The stainless steel refrigerator and separate freezer are huge,
The building design is as fresh as its shared living concept. thanks to a Ditto employee who lived in the firm’s first OSLO project
The monolithic modern façade is clad in a dark manganese iron in the Shaw neighborhood and insisted that in a shared living
spot brick, a highly fired brick with a subtle organic effect and arrangement these essential appliances needed to be extra large.
slight glaze. The imposing central entry is accented with vertical The living/dining/kitchen space is a roomy 500 square feet, and
strips of ipe wood and features a bridge spanning a courtyard below. over-sized windows ensure that both the private and public areas
The initial concept and schematic drawings for the U-shaped of each unit enjoy plenty of daylight. The private baths boast large
building were done by Kirit Thakkar, a designer who has worked glass-enclosed showers and the bedrooms offer spacious closets.
with Ditto in the past. The project was then handed over to Samson On the building’s rear façade, clad in generic composite siding,
Cheng, AIA, LEED AP, with Square 134 Architects, a full-service Ditto commissioned local DC artist Lisa Marie Thalhammer to
firm based in the District. Cheng reported that his biggest chal- paint a colorful, 40-foot-high mural to brighten an otherwise dull
lenge was creating the bridge with a straight run from the street to back alley.
the entry. The bridge, which also serves as an accessible ramp, buffers In a sure sign that the co-living concept has found a receptive
the building from busy Florida Avenue and floats above a communal audience among young Washingtonians, the developer reports
terrace that allows natural light to flood into the lower-level living that OSLO projects three and four will be coming online soon.
units. Cheng recalled that his client insisted on keeping the terrace
free of intrusive pillars supporting the overhead bridge, which the
architect succeeded in doing with significant structural adjustments.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS 37