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ArchDC Winter 2017.qxp_Fall 2017 11/17/17 5:55 PM Page 74

Alley Armor as seen
from the alley.

The terrace dubbed Alley Armor. Photos © Paul Burk Photography

Washingtonian Small Projects Award overlooking the deck. Privacy from the sides also needed to be
addressed, as well as sun control and air circulation to maintain
Alley Armor thermal comfort. Accordingly, on the alley side, slats provide visual
Washington, DC privacy but allow air flow and a little filtered light. Part of the deck
is roofed for sun control and visual privacy from the higher floors
KUBE Architecture of the apartment building. On the sides, metal mesh panels provide
a degree of privacy, while allowing air circulation. The structure is
Steel Fabricator: Metal Specialties
solid and resilient—primarily steel, with some wood infill elements
General Contractor: Milloy Carpentry
for warmth and a softer touch.
For a relatively small project, there is a “robust palette of
In some cases where alley buildings survived the purges of the
materials,” noted juror Appel. Indeed, the assembly includes several
middle 20th century, subsequent owners added decks on top.
types of structural, self-weathering, and stainless steel; rot-resistant
These provide outdoor living space in tight urban quarters, but
ipe wood; and metal mesh, all atop the pre-existing red brick
often suffer from limited or awkward access. Such was the case for
garage. These are carefully—not decoratively, KUBE emphasizes—
a garage behind a Dupont Circle row house, which was capped
deployed as “armor” against the surroundings, blocking views
with a deck that was almost unusable. No aesthetic effort and little
in, framing views out, providing enough-but-not-too-much sun
consideration of circumstance, it seemed, had gone into its cre-
or air movement.
ation. Enclosing fences, although tall, didn’t deal effectively with
Curiously, for the armor metaphor and for the architects’
privacy or sun control issues, but cut off air circulation. Moreover,
insistence that a strict functionality guided the design process, from
having been built of non-resilient materials, it was falling apart.
without, the deck enclosure comes off as a kind of architectural
KUBE Architecture PC was hired to craft an enclosure—which
parrot amid the pigeons, a charismatic and eye-catching departure
came to be called “Alley Armor”—in response to the particular
from the utilitarian norm of the alley. “It will blend in over time,”
challenges of the location. Most prominently, immediately across
predicted juror Masi, but for now, it is a focal element in all the
the alley is a six-story apartment building, with lots of windows
right ways.
74 ALLEY UP