CREW DC: News-Program Summary

PROGRAM SUMMARY

April Program – A vision for Southwest – the Portals

CREW DC's April Program “A vision for Southwest – the Portals” highlighted the $1 billion mixed-use project located at the waterfront in Southwest Washington DC.

Susan Strohm, Architect at Nelson Architects moderated the panel, which included: Steven A. Griggs, President and CEO of Republic Properties Corporation; Uwe Brandes, project manager of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, District of Columbia, Office of Planning; and Mark Boekenheide, AIA, ASID, managing partner of the Washington offices of Brennan Beer Gorman Monk/Architects & Interiors.

Uwe Brandes began the presentation by giving a background of the project. Three years ago Mayor Williams pulled together a partnership of developers/owners of land in Anacostia. They drafted a “Memorandum of Understanding” which was the beginning of the Waterfront Initiative Project whose goal is to make Washington DC known as a waterfront city and raise the awareness that the Southwest area is both metro accessible and steps away from the National Mall and core of the city.

The biggest challenges for the project are to eliminate asphalt barriers (multiple lanes of traffic) between projects and the waterfront. A master plan was approved that set the following goals:

Close Water Street
Transform Maine St. to a Boulevard
Create new public spaces:
Retail near the Fish Market
A cultural park – Arena Stage
Extend other streets to the Waterfront sites
Encourage mixed-use, pedestrian friendly development
Raise the standard of architecture for public spaces

In 1985 Republic Properties' master plan for Portals was chosen above other competitors for the strength of its team and also for its ability to persevere. Steve Griggs noted that the Arthur Cotton Moore design's most important feature was that it fit into the fabric of the city. Phase I and II and The Mandarin Oriental Hotel are now complete. Phase III of the Portals project will begin shortly. The only change to the initial plans along Maryland Ave. will be to extend the street from the courtyard.

The just completed Mandarin Oriental Hotel is a five star full service luxury hotel with two high-end restaurants and a spa. Mark Boekenheide outlined three challenges the project had to face.

The first was how to set apart the building vocabulary of the hotel from the office buildings. This was accomplished by the use of double hung windows, canopies, and awnings, which changed the scale of the vocabulary while keeping the same general features (French Empire Style) and color of the adjacent office buildings.

The second challenge was the geometry of the site. A large drop off and the proximity of the railroad tracks made the site difficult to plan. The architects also restored the old railroad bridge and used it to access the waterfront.

The last challenge was the Commission of Fine Arts who needed to approve the design. The Commission mandated a building, which would keep the same basic vocabulary as the Portals office buildings, but take it a step beyond and create a unique building. Mark noted that the Hotel would bring another level of life to the area because of its 24-hour weekday/weekend operation. As noted by several city officials, the Hotel is both an anchor and a catalyst for the Waterfront development.