The first phase of the Reservoir District, also known as McMillan, opened in June 2024 at the intersection of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue. The historic former water filtration site with a landscape embellished by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. is today becoming a vibrant and diverse community anchored by a new six-acre park and community center. This complex public project, years in the making, celebrates and respects the 25-acre historic setting with new mixed-use development, public open space, unique preservation strategies and context sensitive design to create a truly unique community resource for the local neighborhood and the residents of Washington, DC.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the how the overall site master plan navigates the complexities of the issues related to the redevelopment of the historic site.
• Understand how the specific historic characteristics of the landmark can be woven into the new park and community center in Phase One.
• Conceptualize an architecture that both memorializes aspects of the landmarks characteristics yet introduces a new language that is compatible with the complex.
• Identify techniques to integrate new large-scale and detailed design approaches with the local community context and yet remain a distinct and identifiable 25-acre complex.

Presented by:

Matthew Bell FAIA
Christian Calleri AIA
Tom Jester (Quinn Evans, Invited)

1425 New York Avenue is an exciting office to residential conversion project located in the heart of downtown DC. The project team is transforming an existing 1990s office building into 243 rental units for delivery in Summer 2025.

With its prime location, the project is a showcase for downtown living in a building that tells a story through its history and adaptive reuse. After making strategic modifications to the existing structure and façade, the design team has been able to introduce updated materials, contemporary design, and sustainable practices to transform the dated building into a desirable residence with a sense of place.

This tour offers an inside look at an active construction site, showcasing the transformation of an existing building and the design challenges it presented. Visitors will see firsthand how these challenges were overcome while exploring residential units in progress, amenity spaces, and one-of-a-kind rooftop views. The experience will provide valuable insight into the growing trend of converting office buildings for new uses.

Important Information:

• The tour meeting point is the front of the building on the New York Avenue side.
• Please wear close-toed shoes.
• Please bring helmets and vests if you have them, otherwise, helmets will be provided.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the design approach for renovation/conversion projects.
• Identify some of the challenges of conversion projects.
• Understand the sustainability strategies unique to conversion projects.
• Understand how conversion projects contribute to the vibrancy of downtown DC.

Presented by:

Siti Abdul-Rahman, AIA, LEED AC Managing Principal, WDG

Susan Salsbury AIA I LEED AP I WELL AP, Senior Associate, WDG

JP Gonzalez, Project Designer, WDG

A collection of residences, workspaces, and cultural beacons, the 9½ Street Initiative celebrates U Street’s rich artistic character and cultural history. The multi-building redevelopment provides a new and permanent home for the African American Civil War Museum and creates a supportive mix of commercial and residential uses. As a result of the thoughtful and surgical-like urban infill design, this adaptive reuse celebrates the historic character of the former Grimke School while creating new modern living, working, learning and “making” spaces.

Learning Objectives:

• Explore how architects, urban designers, and planners can work in conjunction with Public Private Partnerships to generate practice and simultaneously contribute to community vitality.
• Analyze the impact of cultural anchors on a neighborhood.
• Summarize the history of the Grimke School and describe the major considerations in its adaptive reuse.
• Identify different approaches in design for the ownership condo building facing U Street and the rental apartment building on 9 1/2 Street.

Presented by: 

Murphy Antoine, FAIA
President, Torti Gallas + Partners

Sarah Alexander, AIA
Senior Principal, Torti Gallas + Partners

Please join us for a behind-the-scenes architecture experience of President Lincoln's Cottage, organized in collaboration with President Lincoln's Cottage staff.

This tour, presented by President Lincoln's Cottage's Director of Preservation Jeffrey Larry, will go in depth into the architectural history of the house, as well as what it takes to preserve such a historic building. You will depart this tour with new intelligence on the history of this home, its various purposes over the years and, of course, how the beautiful Gothic revival house was built. 

Presented by:

Jeffrey Larry, Director of Preservation- Jeff joined the staff at President Lincoln’s Cottage as Preservation Manager in January 2008. He started his career as sole-proprietor of a restoration business in Burlington, Vermont soon after receiving a BA in Historic Preservation from Mary Washington College in 1996.  After moving to Washington D.C., he completed projects on several local historic homes and sites, including the Decatur House and the south porch of The Old Naval Hospital, a building commissioned by Abraham Lincoln in 1864 to be the District’s first naval hospital. In addition to his work at the Cottage, Jeff uses his preservation and project management skills to bring improvements to his community in Baltimore.  He serves on the Board of the Charles Village Community Foundation, an organization that provides grants for groups and individuals whose projects will enhance the neighborhood’s quality of life; he is the Vice President of the Friends of the 26th Street Corridor, a community lead group that has been working with the city to turn a section of 26th street into a park; and he is a volunteer member of the Village Learning Place’s (VLP) Facilities Committee where he has performed pro-bono restoration work, developed a cyclical maintenance plan and managed numerous restoration projects to the slate roof, brickwork, interior surfaces, and gardens.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the challenges in preserving a historic building, such as ensuring proper accessibility and maintaining integrity of the building, and how to overcome these challenges.
• Explain the importance of preserving a historic structure, including the benefits to the local community.
• Describe the cottage’s beautiful arched doorways and large windows, exploring the different characteristics of the Gothic revival style, as it relates to Washington D.C.’s diverse architecture history.
• Discuss the history of the cottage, and how the museum utilizes the building today to promote the true spirit of the Lincolns, build empathy, and inspire patrons to act upon their own ideas for social justice.

Organized by:

The District Architecture Center and President Lincoln's Cottage

On April 8th, students from six regional architecture schools will gather to present their innovative projects themed 'climate/sustainability', with a secondary theme of 'housing.' This event will highlight forward-thinking designs and solutions aimed at reshaping design around the world, offering a glimpse into how emerging architects envision a sustainable future.

Learning Objectives

• Identify various design strategies for affordable housing that prioritize environmental sustainability, cost-efficiency, and long-term durability.
• Explore how core design principles can be incorporated into affordable housing projects to promote physical and mental well-being for residents.
• Assess the impact of well-designed affordable housing on the surrounding community, understanding how it can foster social cohesion, economic opportunity, and overall quality of life, particularly for vulnerable populations.
• Gain knowledge of sustainable building techniques and materials, and how these practices can be applied to affordable housing projects to minimize environmental impact while maintaining accessibility and affordability for residents.

This walking tour, led by Joseph Himali, a public historian, licensed real estate agent, and lifelong Washingtonian, will discuss one of Washington, DC’s most historic neighborhoods. 

This tour will discuss the history of Georgetown, DC which is the oldest neighborhood in the Capital City. 

We will discuss the early building requirements of land ownership in Georgetown in the 18^th century. We will examine the construction methods used in the earliest commercial buildings in the city including the structural engineering issues that manifested in the buildings. 

We will discuss the architecture, design and construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and its effects on the surrounding neighborhood. We’ll review some of the earliest examples of historic adaptive reuse in Washington DC including examples by Arthur Cotton Moore, who was one of the most important architects in Washington in the second half of the 20^th Century. 

We will explore the use of various building materials including brick, stone and wood in the construction of commercial and residential properties. And we’ll review the effects of historic preservation laws on the shaping of the streetscapes of Georgetown. We will see a variety of architectural styles from Federal, Italianate, Art Deco, Tudor, Post-Modern and many others. 

Learning Objectives

• Explain the building and construction trends of Georgetown’s residential dwellings for over 300 years from the Colonial period through today.
• Summarize the significance and history of Georgetown in the overall history of Washington, DC.
• Describe the hallmark characteristics of many architectural styles and how they are affected by historic preservation laws.  
• Analyze the impact of zoning laws and structural engineering on the development of Georgetown and how it affects people living there to this day.

This tour is organized by Best Address.

This walking tour of Southwest Washington, DC, led by Joseph Himali, a public historian, licensed real estate agent, and lifelong Washingtonian, will discuss one of the first neighborhoods in the District to be developed. 

We will discuss the architectural styles and how development began in Washington in the 18^th Century. In addition, there will be discussion about the materials and construction methods used in early Washington, DC buildings.

This tour will discuss this history of the neighborhood and how the architecture and built environment of Southwest Washington, DC was used a political propaganda tool of the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.  It will discuss the redlining and restrictive covenants that were used to limit access to affordable housing for marginalized communities.

We will also review the ideas of Le Corbusier and other proponents of the “radiant city” ideals and how they were implemented in the urban renewal schemes employed in the redevelopment of Southwest during the mid-1900s. We will see unique architectural styles and interior configurations that led to new architectural styles in Washington, DC and around the country.

We will discuss the concept of the “Super Block” and the removal of alleys in the city and how that affected the people who lived there. Additionally, we’ll discuss the integration of landscape architecture in the design of the neighborhood.

The tour features some of the finest mid-century modern architecture in Washington, DC including work from Cloethial Woodward Smith, Charles Goodman, and the buildings that earned I.M. Pei his first awards. 

Learning Objectives

• Discuss the redevelopment of the mixed-use development of the Southwest Waterfront
• Summarize the impact of the “Super Block” in architecture and the integration of the landscape with the architecture of the buildings.
• Describe the history and impact of Cloethial Woodard-Smith who was the most influential woman architect of mid-century America.
• Analyze the impact of the Urban Renewal scheme on Southwest.  

This tour is organized by Best Address.

Join the AIA|DC Board and AIA|DC Members for a networking session and to build relationships that could lead to future collaborations. This networking hour will include food and beverage and a touch of fun!

Please join the National Gallery of Art for the 74th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts presented by Mabel O. Wilson. Cultural historian, architectural designer, and curator Mabel O. Wilson addresses the history of slavery and dispossession in US civic architecture in this four-part series.

Over four lectures, Wilson presents key themes and examines buildings, works of art, and other historical documents through the interplay of race and the construction of national identity. She brings together historical research on the United States’ early civic architecture, including Richmond’s Virginia State Capitol, the White House, and the design of Washington, DC. Her talks explore the complex dichotomy between the founding ideals of these institutions and the reality of their construction.

The Annual Fellows Celebration Dinner honors local Chapter Fellows, new and old, from the DMV including AIA|DC, AIA NOVA and AIA Potomac Valley. Along with the celebration of their achievements, this event is also a major fundraiser for the Fellows’ Endowment of the Washington Architectural Foundation’s Barbara G. Laurie Scholarship Program.  Awarded initially in the freshman year, the scholarship follows the student through a four-or-five-year degree as long as they remain in an architecture program in the United States and maintain a good grade point average.

Our scholarship was renamed in 2013 in memory of Barbara G. Laurie. Laurie, an architect who was devoted to the Washington Architectural Foundation and the community, was a partner of Devrouax + Purnell, a prominent architecture firm in DC. She was a founding member of the Organization of Black Designers and professor of architecture at Howard University.

2025 AIA|DC Fellows:

Lisa Cholmondeley, FAIA

Arathi Gowda, FAIA

Benjamin Kasdan, FAIA

Suzanne Klein, FAIA

Regal Leftwich, FAIA

Sponsors: 

Dinner Sponsor

• SOM 

Bar Sponsor(s)

• David and Patricia Haresign, FAIA, Bonstra | Haresign ARCHITECTS
• KTGY

Popover Sponsor

• MV+A Architects

Sponsorship/Ticket Levels:

Individual Tickets - $295

Photography Sponsorship Ticket - $750 (1 sponsorship available at this level)

• Preferred seating for 1 Guest
• Sponsor Professional Photography for the Event 

Popover Sponsorship Ticket - $750 (1 sponsorship available at this level)

• Preferred seating for 1 Guest
• Sponsor The Cosmos Cub Popovers at the Dinner 

Bar Sponsorship Tickets - $1,500

• Preferred seating for 2 Guests (Yourself and 1 additional guest)
• Company or Individual Name of Event Materials
• Hyperlink on Scholarship Webpage

Dinner Sponsorship Tickets - $4,000

• Preferred seating for 4 Guests (Yourself and 3 additional guests)
• Company or Individual Name of Event Materials
• Hyperlink on Scholarship Webpage