Breakfast & Learn

Arclinea invites you to a Breakfast & Learn event at the @B&B Italia DC Showroom.

This tour will showcase Margarite, a sophisticated, design-focused apartment building near the booming Union Market. The tour will include multiple outdoor spaces, including Neal Place Park, curated lobby and amenity spaces, as well as residences, including a 2-story penthouse with custom staircase and an expansive private roof terrace.

Situated within the transformative Union Market neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Margarite is designed in response to its surrounding urban conditions. This is most clearly manifest in its carefully considered facade which conceptually references an oyster - the soft, elegant pearl surrounded by a tougher and harder shell. Facing the serene Neal Place Park and the bustling historic Union Market the building presents its “pearl façade” as primarily glass. Conversely, the “shell façade” protects the building from the congested New York Avenue and active train tracks just steps away in the other direction. This masonry shell utilizes a dynamic pattern of solid and void to mimic the active nature of the highway, while providing residents with ample natural light and outdoor spaces. The striking masonry and glass structure with an integrated pocket park creates a refined, urban reprieve in the otherwise bustling Union Market neighborhood. Thoughtfully crafted, luxury apartments, in combination with tailored interior and exterior community spaces, enhance the daily living experience and comfort of each resident.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the creation process of a new construction, design-focused residential building.
• Understand how thoughtful design can play a role in aiding mental health and comfort.
• Learn how high-quality details and craft, typically reserved for custom homes, are adapted and executed across 260 residences.
• Learn how a building can respond to challenging urban context and enhance the neighborhood.

Presented by:

Brad Fowler, AIA 
Founding Partner
ParkFowler Plus

Facades+ Returns to Washington DC on March 12th

Facades+ returns with an all-new program featuring the latest developments in building enclosure design and technology. This symposium features everything from high-performance facades to new iconic projects across the city and region, and strategies for increasing climate resilience and energy performance. Some of the themes that will be explored are:

• The use of natural, low-carbon cladding materials
• New high-performance systems including BIPV and Mass Timber
• The latest projects transforming D.C.’s built environment
• Unique Specifications such as Marble and Copper

Attend the Symposium for a full day of stimulating presentations and panels, with topics such as:

• A High-Performance Building for a High-Performance Brand: Under Armour’s New Global HQ
• Materiality & Urban Scale: The T. Rowe Price Headquarters
• Fabrication Futures: Advances in Materials for Building Envelope Excellence
• Bio-Based Materials and Low Carbon Solutions

Organized by:

The Architect's Newspaper

Come tour this exclusive modern house built by architect Travis Price who constructed this 3,500 square-foot house so that it does not touch the ground. It is a fantastical treetop floating house overlooking Rock Creek Park. The house is situated on a cliff at the edge of the park and appears to be hanging off the cliff, held up by the two steel columns that are bolted to concrete footers underground and anchored by steel rods. 

Featured in numerous books and articles since its AIA Award-winning year in 2001, attendees will learn the story behind this "Tree House", built with super conservation techniques, passive solar, and much more. 

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the unique attributes of the house that contribute positively to the local environment and neighborhood.
• Conceptualize how to design a building that optimizes the use of the natural environment around it, and how the natural environment can positively impact a building's features.
• Identify the design elements that maximize the building's sustainability efforts.
• Analyze the positive impact of the unusual building design on the health and well-being of its residents, mentally and physically.

Presented by:

Travis Price, FAIA
Travis Price Architects

We will explore the iconic National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), which is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women through the arts.  NMWA is housed in a historic 1908 Masonic temple.  In 2023, NMWA completed a transformative renovation.  Project stakeholders collaborated on innovative solutions to expand galleries, enhance accessibility, and replace multiple building systems without adding to the footprint.  These systems seamlessly work together to protect collections, preserve historic elements, and improve sustainability. This will be an interactive discussion of the big spatial moves and the small details that made this renovation successful. 

The National Museum of Women in the Arts is an iconic institution in an iconic historic building.  As this is open to the public, we hope that the attendees visit the Museum again to see how the spaces adapt to changing exhibitions and multiple occupancy scenarios. The greatest takeaway from this project is how regular, in-depth discussions with project stakeholders generate innovative solutions that support the Museum’s mission and the goals of the renovation.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand that the Design Team started the design process with the NMWA's mission at heart and that all of the renovation's goals supported or advanced their mission.
• Understand the importance of engaging multiple stakeholders early in the design process to develop clear goals for the renovation and to assist with creative solutions when hidden conditions arise, which are inevitable in a 100+-year-old building.
• Understand the importance of carefully integrating multiple building systems so that they work together to maximize sustainability, efficiency, and aesthetics.
• take advantage of the opportunities when working with a historic structure by highlighting the unique characteristics of the building.

Presented by:

Gordon Umbarger: Director of Operations, National Museum of Women in the Arts

Sandra Parsons Vicchio, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB: Lead Architect, Sandra Vicchio & Associates

Cara Versace, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C: Project Manager for the Architect of Record, Marshall Craft Associates

The Westerly is a landmark building providing better than market quality for a mixed-use, mixed-income, affordable housing development program in the heart of the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington DC. As a vibrant transit oriented development (TOD), the Westerly is located one block from Waterfront Station on the Metro’s Green Line and is the latest component of the District’s Waterfront Station Planned Unit Development (PUD). That PUD delivers the urban repair of the Urban Renewal era Waterside Mall development of the 1960’s and includes mixed-use municipal office, a large format grocer (Safeway), neighborhood scale retail, and mixed-income residential. 

The Westerly inhabits, shapes, and defines a unique urban site.  The geometry of the building responds to the predominant grid of the District’s Southwest quadrant and to the shifted alignment of 4th Street SW, a two-sided public retail street  To the north, a private drive creates a mid-block, east-west connection linking to the existing church to the north.  This private drive is designed as a woonerf, a shared space for pedestrians and cars that does not give primacy to the automobile but fosters a safe and secure mix of cars and people when vehicle access is necessary and can otherwise be closed off to create a purely pedestrian experience.  The retail program includes an exciting all-day restaurant concept at the corner of 4th and the pedestrian walkway.  The main residential entrance and early education center with playground also face the pedestrian walkway. AppleTree Public Charter School is a pre-kindergarten education staple of the Southwest neighborhood and a dedicated cultural space for the Westerly and the community. The play area serves the pre-school during school hours, while outside of school hours it is accessible to children from the larger community. These programming elements activate the urban public spaces and provide a seamless pedestrian experience for the mid-block connection and 4th Street.   Loading and parking are collected at the west, next to an already active loading zone for the building to the south, keeping the pedestrian and retail experience intact and clear of vehicular conflict.

The Westerly is a true TOD, mixed-use, mixed-income, mixed-finance affordable housing building of the highest quality.

Learning Objectives: 

• Describe the unique attributes of the urban site of the building and how it responds to the grid of DC's Southwest quadrant as well as the shifted alignment of 4th Street SW.
• Identify the effects of the Urban Renewal era on the Waterside Mall development of the 1960’s and efforts to repair damage from that era.
• Analyze the programming elements that activate the urban space and design decisions that impact the pedestrian experience and contribute to the well being of the community.
• Explore the use of balconies as a principal element of the Project’s architecture, function, and post-pandemic marketability.

Presented by:

Sarah Alexander
Senior Principal
Torti Gallas + Partners

Nesli Dogrusoz
Associate Principal
Torti Gallas + Partners

Walk along the beautiful waterfront of one of DC's most up and coming areas, The Wharf, as you explore restaurants designed by local rm / /3877. With a vast knowledge of the area and a keen eye for detail, the architecture and design team will guide the exploration of four recently-completed food & beverage projects: Limani, Lucky Buns at The Wharf, ilili, MI VIDA, The Grill, and Easy Company. Displaying stunning and unique designs, each of the four restaurants are inspired by a different cuisine, providing unique insight into design’s relationship with a variety of menus and operations. 

Kicking off near The Wharf’s Transit Pier, THE GRILL—an upscale American eatery—boasts a mid-century modern theme inspired by Miami living. Around the corner, Easy Company is a French- and Italian-inspired wine bar with al fresco dining with a design inspired by bustling European plazas. The tour will then move to MI VIDA, a fresh perspective on modern, south-of-the-border dining. The restaurant embraces colorful design elements the brand has become known for, particularly the traditional Mexican Árbol de La Vida, or “Tree of Life.” Next, attendees will visit ilili, a stunning Lebanese restaurant housed in a glass box building. The restaurant features a large limestone fountain that rested in Provence, France, in the late 19th century, bird cages suspended from the ceiling, and pops of bright orange and turmeric. Further south along Wharf Street SW, Lucky Buns created by chef and Food Network personality Alex McCoy—showcases a classic neighborhood bar and burger restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. Last on the tour, Limani’s striking exterior architecture greets visitors with a design that transforms a distinct existing building on the pier into an upscale restaurant with panoramic views inspired by Mediterranean cuisine.

Approximately 0.4 miles each way, please be prepared to walk 1 mile through the duration of the tour.

Learning Objectives:

• Explore and evaluate the unique design strategies employed by / /3877 in the creation of four distinct food and beverage establishments, understanding how these strategies contribute to the functionality of food service.
• Learn how cultural influences and themes are integrated into the design of each restaurant, from the European-inspired wine bar at Easy Company to the vibrant, south-of-the-border cuisine at MI VIDA, gaining insights into how cultural storytelling enhances the overall dining experience.
• Study the adaptive reuse of existing structures, particularly at Limani, to understand the challenges and benefits of transforming pre-existing buildings into modern, upscale dining venues with unique architectural identities.
• Discuss the design considerations for blending indoor and outdoor spaces, as demonstrated at Lucky Buns and Easy Company, to create versatile and seamless restaurant environments.

Presented by:

David Shove Brow, AIA, NCARB, Partner at //3877

David Tracz, AIA, LEED AP, Partner at //3877

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