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ArchDC Winter 2017.qxp_Fall 2017 11/17/17 5:49 PM Page 44

Side view of the new courtyard pavilion at Dirty Habit DC. Photo © Mark Wickens

Merit Award in Architecture entered into a long-term lease with the Kimpton Group,
a hospitality chain that oversaw a full renovation and
Dirty Habit DC opened the Hotel Monaco there in 2002.
Washington, DC Replacing a smaller pavilion that had also earned
design accolades, the new courtyard pavilion by Stanton
Stanton Architecture Architecture evokes the meticulous modernism of Ludwig
Mies van der Rohe. Slender, black mullions and muntins
Design Concept and Interior Planning: Dawson
blend in with large expanses of dark glass, forming a
Design Associates
perfectly rectangular box that is unadulterated by overhangs
Structural Engineers: KPFF Consulting Engineers
or other protrusions. Although it abuts a portion of the
MEP Engineers: Wick Fisher White
historic building housing the main dining room, the pavilion
Project Managers: Ajax Consulting Services
is structurally independent, fulfilling the requirements of
General Contractor: Potomac Construction Services
preservation authorities that the addition be reversible.
Adjacent terraces and steps are of light stone with railings
While the new entrance at 1500 Broadway in New York is
of light-colored metal and glass, so as not to detract from
a gleaming white accent amidst the orgy of color and
the geometric purity of the new pavilion.
pattern that is Times Square, the new pavilion housing
The most notable aspect of the project is its techno-
part of the Dirty Habit bar and restaurant is the dark,
logically sophisticated skin. It employs “dynamic glass”—
sleek counterpoint to the reserved classicism of one of
more technically known as electrochromic glazing—which
DC’s most historic federal buildings.
automatically tints in proportion to the intensity of sunlight.
Originally designed by Robert Mills, whose winning
This system not only reduces heat gain—and thus energy
competition entry was the basis for the Washington
consumption—without the need for mechanized shades,
Monument, the historic building was built for the U.S. Post
but also yields a subtle changeability in the pavilion’s
Office in the early 19th century and later housed the U.S.
appearance over the course of the day. Under certain
Tariff Commission. Its massive, unforgivingly compart-
lighting conditions, the effect can be uncanny, as the new
mentalized structural system had rendered it a white
structure all but disappears from the viewer’s consciousness
elephant by the late 20th century. Eager to put the landmark
while reflecting the stone façades that surround it.
to good use, the U.S. General Services Administration
44 COMMERCIAL SUCCESSES