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Architects: Höweler + Yoon Architecture
- Year: 2007
Text description provided by the architects. Located in the under-developed neighborhood of Anacostia in southeast Washington DC, Building 2345 stacks a series of interlocking uses in order to maximize the site. With an existing FAR of 1.5, and an additional FAR bonus of 1 for mixed-use developments, the building maximizes its FAR potential on a narrow lot, 25’ wide by 130’ long. The program includes a doctor’s office, retail and residential uses.
The project packs 5 floors of disparate uses into a zoning envelope with a 50’ height restriction, folding a complex mixed-use program into a compact site, discovering unexpected potential in what was initially seen as a limitation. The floors are stacked and shifted such that each floor has an 8’-6” floor to ceiling height in the core zone for shared access to 2 means of egress and an elevator, and a 12’-6” floor to ceiling zone to give more height to the primary space of each floor.
The interlocking section exploits the building’s compact urban site to produce variable height spaces for both living and working with views to the Capital and Monument to the north. The exterior cladding takes cues from its context, creating a patterned façade along its long west face, while opening up to views on the north and south faces. The project folds a complex mixed-use program into a compact site, discovering unexpected potential in limits and constraints, transforming them into strategic advantage.
