Curbed DC - Field Note FridaysLove where you live2016-03-04T14:52:40-05:00http://dc.curbed.com/rss/stream/118225132016-03-04T14:52:40-05:002016-03-04T14:52:40-05:00Transforming Shaw Through Design
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<p>"Architecture is about resolving problems"</p> <p>For over 25 years now, Israeli-born <a href="http://www.reatig.com/#%21home/mainPage">Suzane Reatig</a> has influenced the nation's capital through architecture. Her minimalist structures challenge the communities they're in, influencing them through design, glass, and metal. The crisp lines and modern style she utilizes for residential units in particular often contrasts the surrounding communities' more traditional row houses. In Shaw especially, this can be seen through projects like the Metropolitan Community Church and the "See-Through House" at 5th and O streets NW.</p>
<p>The American Institute of Architects continually <a href="http://www.reatig.com/#!awards-and-publications/c5qp">awards</a> her for her designs, from the 2013 Honor Award in Architecture from the D.C. chapter to the 1998 Public Project of the Year award from the Maryland chapter. She has not only earned awards, but respect as well. In 2010, <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2010/08/23/tidbits4.html?t=printable">Washington Business Journal</a> described Suzane Reatig as an anomaly and "the best little known architect in D.C."</p>
<p>To learn more about Reatig and her works, Curbed was able to speak with her and ask her a few questions. Below, take a look at what she had to say on her goals and the challenges she has had to face along the way.</p>
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<p><strong>How do you view the growth of your company? </strong></p>
<p>Our work begins with designing a building, but we measure our growth in terms of social and environmental impact. Our main goal is to make people’s lives better by improving quality of life in the city. Having experience in development and design-build, our knowledge of construction and finance can ensure the implementation of a successful project.</p>
<p>We see ourselves collaborating with new clients and professionals in order to design larger, innovative and sustainable multifamily projects.</p>
<p><strong>Has there been a single goal or mission when it comes to how you manage your company or design developments?</strong></p>
<p>Architecture is about resolving problems. We build from our experience but always challenge the status quo and test new ideas. We ask ourselves, how can we make the most out of an urban site? How can we get the most value out of the property and at the same time improve the quality of urban living?</p>
<p>We promote healthy living conditions by providing cross-ventilation and multiple exposures to each apartment, which often requires carving out a courtyard. Blurring the lines between inside and outside brings the outside in and extends the interior space out, a rarity in the inner city.</p>
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<p><strong>What was your goal when it came to redeveloping Shaw?</strong></p>
<p>Shaw had been witness to crime and blight for years when we started our work in the neighborhood. Our goal was to improve the area and present a new image to the community. We do this by building open and inviting buildings while at the same time addressing privacy and security concerns.</p>
<p><strong>Are there any unique challenges when it comes to designing and working in the D.C. area?</strong></p>
<p>Historic preservation is about preserving authenticity and respecting the old. It is a work in progress to shift the dialogue from "how do we want our buildings to look" to "how do we want to live in the 21st century." Architecture historically has been and should continue to be a platform for creativity and innovation.</p>
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<p><strong>In 2013, you told the Washington Business Journal, "Women leave architecture because the workplace does not adjust to allow them to return after having children and allow for a balanced family and work life." Do you think this has improved or worsened since then?</strong></p>
<p>Women have a lot to offer in the work place. They are hard-working and present a different point of view. Many firms will lose these qualities if they don’t provide a flexible work option. Architecture firms will greatly benefit if they allow all employees to balance family life and work.</p>
<p><strong>Final question: what are your favorite places in D.C. in terms of architectural beauty?</strong></p>
<p>Washington is an amazing city. There are many buildings and public spaces that I love. I will mention just a few: the National Portrait Gallery, The Freer Gallery, the Corcoran Museum and the National Gallery of Art, East and West buildings. For contemporary buildings I love the new libraries by David Adjaye and <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjb-uzK6Y7LAhXDqB4KHRFmD3QQFggdMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.davisbrody.com%2F&usg=AFQjCNFIOwkryl3jnC1ZpfTRgNn4hsskjA&sig2=wqPDeA2vq3aCoCCggioGQw&bvm=bv.114733917,d.dmo">Davis Brody Bond, </a>as well as the German and Finnish embassies.</p>
<p><em>This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.</em></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.reatig.com/">Suzane Reatig Architecture</a> [Official Website]</p>
https://dc.curbed.com/2016/3/4/11162264/shaw-architecture-design-suzane-reatigMichelle Goldchain2016-02-26T16:24:20-05:002016-02-26T16:24:20-05:00Architect Yolanda Cole on Building with Neighborhood Identity in Mind
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<p>Architect extraordinaire Yolanda Cole speaks on her goals, her works, and how being a woman in a male-dominated industry influenced her</p> <p>With her firm, <a href="http://www.hickokcole.com/">Hickok Cole Architects</a>, Yolanda Cole has designed over 60 million square feet of corporate office buildings, multi-family housing, and interiors with more planned on the way.</p>
<p>This past year, Curbed named Cole one of the <a href="http://dc.curbed.com/2015/3/16/9983334/10-kickass-female-architects-who-practiced-in-dc">10 most prominent female architects</a> who practice in Washington, D.C. Some of her impact can be seen in projects like the multi-family housing development in Logan Circle known as <a href="http://www.hickokcole.com/portfolios/14th-corcoran-nw/">The Corcoran</a>, the planned, car-free housing development <a href="http://dc.curbed.com/tag/blagden-alley">Blagden Alley</a> in Shaw, and most notably NPR's headquarters.</p>
<p>Cole's firm has won a myriad of awards over the past 28 years. Two in particular include the AIA | DC Award of Merit for Interior Architecture for Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS) headquarters in Downtown D.C. and the IIDA Mid-Atlantic Gold Award for Interior Architecture for the <a href="http://www.hickokcole.com/portfolios/allsteel-resource-center/">Allsteel Resource Center</a> by Farragut Square.</p>
<p>Cole was able to take some time out of her day to speak with Curbed about her goals, her works, and why being a woman in a <a href="http://dc.curbed.com/2015/3/16/9983334/10-kickass-female-architects-who-practiced-in-dc">male-dominated</a> industry doesn't impact her work.</p>
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<p><strong>Has there been a single goal or mission when it comes to how you manage your company or how you design developments?</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Our company is completely organized around a three-part goal, which would be great design, great management, and great place to work. So, it’s a trifecta if you will.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Of course, the first one is great design, and that’s what we do for a living. That’s what we’re passionate about. That’s why we’re here doing architecture.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Back to the general sense for the company, I would say personally I’m a driver. So, I live to make things happen. I get up every day, and I’m always driving to make sure something is happening, and if we have our goals, that we’re going to reach them whatever those may be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, there are lots of them that fall under great design, and great management, and great place to work because we want people to be happy, while they’re doing all of those other things.</p>
<p> </p>
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<p><strong>Your company has designed everything from interiors to mixed-use developments. Of all the projects you’ve worked on, which are you most proud of?</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Probably the headquarters for NPR. It is an all-time favorite because I’ve spent a lifetime listening to NPR, so I feel like you have a relationship to the organization. It was really one of those once-in-a-lifetime projects that is built-to-suit. So, we were designing it specifically for that particular tenant or organization.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was complex in many ways because it had an existing historic building on the site that we had to incorporate, which is not always an easy thing to do, but you want to make the best of it, and also highlight it as well as be able to bring something new to the table. It has this incredible newsroom at the heart of the building. We were able to do work with broadcast consultants to do all the broadcasting studios and design the entire interiors associated with it.</p>
<p>So, I would say it was really a complete, complex, and comprehensive project for a particular organization that we admire, and that’s pretty cool.</p>
<p> </p>
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<p><strong>Is there a certain project that you’ve done that you would say has really benefited Washington, D.C. as a whole? </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Well, probably a lot of those. We live in the commercial world, and so we’re not designing museums and things like that, but I would say NPR is one of those because it was an early project to NoMa. They saw themselves as a catalyst to the neighborhood.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.hickokcole.com/portfolios/fort-totten-north/">Fort Totten Square</a>, which is a mult-family housing project we did with JBG that is over at Walmart, is also one of those projects that is a catalyst to a neighborhood. It's a large project that is workforce level housing for a lot of people and creates a place where none existed before. We like those kind of projects.</p>
<p> </p>
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<p>One of our other all-time favorites and probably one of the most beautiful projects we’ve designed is CSIS, which is the Center for Strategic and International Studies. That is again one of those unusual and fantastic opportunities to design a built-to-suit project for an institution. These were great people, great clients, and it’s a really stunning, beautiful building.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s a Platinum LEED, and it has a world-class conference center. They love the building. That’s the other thing that happens is when the tenant or the people who live in the building and use the building, when they come back and they feel as if it’s changed their lives, the way they work, the way they interact with each other, and the way that they can get the news out to their audience. With CSIS's new headquarters, it has just put them in a whole new level as far as thinktanks in their ability to hold all these meetings with important entities around the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As an architect, you can’t get better than that.</p>
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<p> </p>
<p><strong>How have you seen the District change in terms of what it needs from architecture firms?</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>From a city perspective, I think the thing that we’re always interested in—and this is particularly related to housing—is designing for the neighborhood.</p>
<p>I think at a point in time before the housing boom in D.C., there were a lot of large-scale housing developers that did commodity type work. In other words, they had a model, and then they would put it in Arlington, and then they would take that model in D.C. or some other location, and they were pretty much all the same. It was really a brand new kind of approach. I think what we really are good at is that we’re really good at designing for each neighborhood and the character of that neighborhood.</p>
<p>Because D.C. has just boomed with a lot of people moving back into the city, that kind of authentic sense of the place has become important.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Are there any unique challenges when it comes to designing and working in the D.C. area?</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Every jurisdiction has their quirks. I think some of them have to do with incorporating historic structures, which happens all over. Because D.C. has more of them, we’re often in a situation where we’re incorporating the existing structure, or we’re building adjacent to a historic building, or in a historic district or an arts overlay district.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are always many constituencies involved in most projects, and over time, the Planned Unit Development process, or the PUD process, has been used more and more, meaning that a developer wants to gain greater density and more units on their site or more of anything on their site.</p>
<p>So, they go through a specialized process, which is more scrutinized by different entities along the way. That’s been used more and more over the last several years. So, it’s become more complicated. It takes longer to do, but then the end result is that they get more out of the site.</p>
<p> </p>
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<p><strong>Only roughly </strong><a href="http://dc.curbed.com/2015/3/16/9983334/10-kickass-female-architects-who-practiced-in-dc"><strong>two out of 10</strong></a><strong> architects are women. Has that affected how you view your work or how you manage your company?</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>No. Different women have different philosophies about how they go through that. My philosophy has always been that I am just me. I behave how I behave.</p>
<div><aside><q> I happen to be a woman who is an architect, and I just ignore it. </q></aside></div>
<p> </p>
<p>In the end, you have to live and work in the environment that exists, and you have to accept that. That doesn’t mean it’s not harder than it might be for a man, but I just don’t make it an issue. I don’t think about it much. I just do what I do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>One final question: What are your favorite places in D.C. in terms of architectural beauty?</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Well, there are so many, and there’s beauty in different ways, right? I mean, certainly Washington, D.C. is known for the beauty of its major streets, its monuments, and all of the historic L’Enfant plan that exists. That’s the baseline for what makes D.C. D.C., but what I’ve grown to appreciate—and I’ve lived here since 1994—is that this return to this city and people moving into the city have really given D.C. a whole ‘nother life that is not the federal government.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, what we like to say around here is there’s the federal government, and then there’s the District. The District is what has been growing by leaps and bounds in the last 10 years and this whole idea about neighborhood identity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, one of the places that I find fascinating is Union Market. It’s a work in progress, but I do enjoy the uniqueness of it, the grittiness of it, and my hope is that as it gets developed that this kind of original feeling of the place can be maintained, while also allowing for progress.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There are a lot of cool places being redeveloped around the city: Capitol Waterfront, the Wharf … What’s really cool is that there are so many interesting new places to be in D.C. It’s not just a daytime city anymore; it’s day and night.</p>
<p><em>This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity</em></p>
<p><em>• </em><a href="http://www.hickokcole.com/">Hickok Cole Architects</a> [Official Website]</p>
https://dc.curbed.com/2016/2/26/11121520/yolanda-cole-hickok-cole-architectsMichelle Goldchain2016-02-19T16:55:33-05:002016-02-19T16:55:33-05:00Award-Winning Architect on Challenges, Rewards of Working in D.C.
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<p>"Wow, we're really lucky for what we have in Washington"</p> <p>In the more than 40 years of experience Mark McInturff has gained as an architect, he has not only shaped the way Washington, D.C. looks, he has also been able to watch the District evolve into the city it is today. In his eight-person firm in Bethesda, Maryland, McInturff's residential, commercial, and institutional projects have been published both locally and nationally. Along with his more than 250 design awards, the American Institute of Architects has granted him three national honor awards and two monographs.</p>
<p>In an interview with Curbed, McInturff spoke on how much denser the nation's capital has become and how he hopes to adapt to these changes. He also shared his input on what unique challenges architecture firms encounter when working in the D.C. area, and how those challenges may actually be necessary.</p>
<p><style>.site-cdc .post .post-title { width: 1000px !important; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-top:6px } .site-cdc .post h1.post-title a { font-size:35px !important} .site-cdc #leadintro { width:1000px; font-size:16px } .site-cdc .post .post-body .post-more {width:660px;} .site-cdc .post .post-body img.bigpic {width:640px; max-width:640px !important; height:auto } .site-cdc .post .post-body #leadphoto {width:640px; max-width:640px !important; height:auto } .site-cdc .post .post-body .pullquote { float:right; width:250px; margin: 0 0 10px 14px !important; padding: 8px 4px; font-family:TradeGothicLTStdBoldCondensed; Helvetica, Arial; font-size:32px !important; line-height: 35px !important; border-top: 4px double #FF0000; border-bottom: 4px double #FF0000; } .post p { font-size: 17px; line-height:27px; margin-bottom:10px } .post h3 { font-family:TradeGothicLTStdBoldCondensed; Helvetica, Arial; font-weight:normal; font-size:38px; width: 640px; padding: 18px 0; } .post h4 { font-family:TradeGothicLTStdBoldCondensed; Helvetica, Arial; font-weight:normal; font-size:36px; width: 660px; padding-bottom:5px; padding-top:14px; } .site-cdc .post .post-title { font-size:36px !important; width: 660px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-top:6px; line-height:40px !important } .post-metadata {margin-top: 685px !important } #column-right { padding-top: 126px } .post .post-body object, .post .post-body img { max-width: inherit !important; } .firstcharacter { float: left; color: #FF0000; font-size: 75px; line-height: 60px; padding-top: 4px; padding-right: 8px; padding-left: 3px;</style><strong>McInturff Architects has a long history in the D.C. area. How would you characterize the firm and its legacy?</strong></p>
<p>We are a modernist firm that grew out of essentially a residential practice, but we do still have one foot in residential and one foot in everything else.</p>
<p>I guess because we grew out of a residential practice, we became really good listeners. So, to all of our other work, we apply the same emotional involvement that people apply to their houses.</p>
<p><strong>Which projects do you believe are the most noteworthy?</strong></p>
<p>We've done a few highly visible houses just because of where they are. One of the more famous ones is the steel glass house that is overlooking Key Bridge, the modernist house there. We did the Woolly Mammoth Theater. We did one of the buildings in Cady's Alley, but I guess we're mostly known for the houses you see around town.</p>
<p><strong>Is there a goal or a mission when it comes to what you design or how you design in the D.C. area?</strong></p>
<p>I think our mission is two-fold. One is to come at it from the point of view of the context of the city, and I think that our work is always trying to fit into where it is, but we're trying on the one hand to sort of about the buildings that fit into the city, on the other hand, we're trying very hard to tailor the building to our clients and what they need and what they care about and all those kinds of things.</p>
<p>So, the result, which is very interesting to me anyway, is that our buildings all look fairly different. So we don't have kind of an office look. Our buildings don't look all the same color or are made with the same materials. I think there's actually quite a wide variety of appearances that you see if you kind of look at our website or in our books.</p>
<p><strong>Over the next few years, where do you see your company going?</strong></p>
<p>Sort of outward, I guess. First of all, I don't really want a big company ever. We're eight people. That's a comfortable size for me. I've never wanted a big firm. I've always wanted to maintain a strong hand in being a designer so I don't want to be a manager, so I don't want a large firm. That said, I like doing some of the larger public buildings that we're doing now or buildings in the public realm that might be commercial buildings. And so, I like the idea that our work is accessible to more than just the owners of the house that we're designing because I want to continue to design houses.</p>
<p>So, there are kind of three directions that I see. One is we will continue to do houses of all sizes. The second is I like doing small houses, so I would like to do more of those. It's something I've always been drawn towards. And the third is I'd like to do larger buildings. So, we're going smaller and bigger at the same time.</p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="credit"><em>[Photos of the Woolly Mammoth Theater courtesy of McInturff Architects]</em></span></p>
<p><strong>How have you seen the District change in terms of what it needs from architecture firms?</strong></p>
<p>It's almost unbelievable to me. I've been here all my life, so I grew up when Bethesda was a two-story town and when Downtown was the cross roads of F street and Seventh or something like that, and now if you look at the density of the city and the kind of variety of sort of new communities and neighborhoods and stuff, it's almost not the same city—in a good way. I mean, I think it's really, really matured.</p>
<p>So, one of the things that we're looking at doing I think in the next few years is more multi-family housing because there's a lot of that happening, and I think it's a really good thing to do in the city to kind of in-fill some of the empty sites and bring back neighborhoods by providing housing.</p>
<p><strong>Are there any unique challenges when it comes to designing and working in the D.C. area?</strong></p>
<p>Well, we are regulatory-heavy. I will say that. So, to make a building in almost any neighborhood, you're really going to a large number of community and regulatory meetings whether for historic preservation or something like that.</p>
<p>That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's time-consuming, and I think in many cases you do get good feedback and good participation by people. So, it's a good thing. It's just you have to account for it, and I think clients are always surprised with how long that can take.</p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="credit"><em>[Photos of <a href="http://dc.curbed.com/archives/2016/01/georgetown-townhome-on-the-market.php">this Georgetown townhome</a> at 3618 Prospect Street NW courtesy of McInturff Architects]</em></span></p>
<p><strong>What would you say has been the most fulfilling aspect of your work in the D.C. area?</strong></p>
<p>It's like when I gave this talk <a href="http://dc.curbed.com/archives/2016/01/your-city-your-architects-aia-washington-dc.php">last week at the District Architecture Center</a>. I had a lot of clients with people I built for over the years, and you build up these kinds of relationships. As I said, there's kind of an emotional involvement when you make somebody's house, and so if you do it well, you have all these friendships. You have all these relationships to go back—in some cases 30 years.</p>
<p>We have lots of clients we've worked for multiple times, including their retirement houses after years of being in our other houses. We also have lots of houses when our original clients move on, we stay with the house and make changes to that.</p>
<p>So, there's this kind of continuity that you get over time when you practice as long as we have that begins to make this kind of fabric that you've created in a way.</p>
<p><strong>I have just one last question: what are your favorite places in D.C. in terms of architectural beauty?</strong></p>
<p>I like the Finnish Embassy a lot. That's probably 10 or 15 years old by now. I like new and old things. This is actually a tougher question than I thought.</p>
<p><strong>Is there anything else you'd like to add?</strong></p>
<p>I think what's unique about Washington, and I run award series in a lot of other places. I look at the working being produced there, and I think, "Wow, we're really lucky for what we have in Washington."</p>
<p>We have a really diverse population, a really educated population, and in many cases an international population. So, the kinds of people I get to work for are really interesting people. It's almost like they were the best of the best of where they came from. I only notice that asset I guess when I go some place else. I think, "Oh, they don't have the kind of dimension that we have."</p>
<p>As I said at my lecture the other night, I think the plan of Washington is the greatest urban design plan ever executed on the planet, and I think we also don't every now and then sit down and say, "Wow, that is extraordinary. We are an extraordinary place."</p>
<p><em>This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity</em><br>· <a href="http://www.mcinturffarchitects.com/">McInturff Architects</a> [Official Website]<br>· <a href="http://dc.curbed.com/tags/field-note-fridays">Field Note Fridays</a> [Curbed DC]</p>
https://dc.curbed.com/2016/2/19/11079982/mark-mcinturff-architectsMichelle Goldchain