Profile

Columbia Square

Washington, D.C.
Completed 1987

Investment office building with retail and parking
 

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Located three blocks from the White House, this investment building was designed to provide maximum amounts of prime office space while helping to revitalize the city's once-vibrant downtown retail core.

The 130-foot-high pink and gray granite building maintains the property line along its full block frontage. Ornamental square insets and sculptural solids/voids animate the planar façade and distinguish it from its monochromatic neighbors. Along F Street, a major commercial spine, the building's base is carved away to create a canopied walkway with shops and a 60-foot-wide protected plaza over escalators down to a major subway hub. A large window adds interest to the street as it opens onto the heart of the building and invites the public to enjoy a richly landscaped atrium.

The interior follows a geometry based on the diagonal of a double square. Walls zigzag in 15-foot increments to define two large ratcheted towers, separate but connected, which look onto the space-framed garden court. The strategy to maximize the number of corner offices had an important corollary in the design of the atrium as an interesting and welcoming environment. In this way, tenants can enjoy, rather than resist, the extended walk between the various components of this very large building.

Major Components

13,000 s/f atrium lobby, 11 floors office space (483,500 s/f); 64,000 s/f retail / commercial space; 3-level underground garage for 400 cars

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Architectural Design; Interior Design of public spaces; coordination with associate architect on construction documents and construction administration

Associate Architect

Richard Fitzgerald & Partners, Houston, TX (construction documents) and
Smith, Segreti, Tepper, Washington, D.C. (legal / filing)

Structural

KCE Structural Engineers, P.C., Washington, D.C.

Mechanical / Electrical

GHT Limited, Arlington, VA

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