Proposed building capping I-395

Good news: The open gash through downtown that is the Center Leg Freeway will soon be capped by a large multi-building air-rights development. Developers will deck over the highway and construct 2.3 million square feet of new mixed-use buildings, with office, residences, and retail. With this hole filled, no longer will Union Station be cut off from the rest of downtown. The central city will be continuous.

Bad news: The proposed buildings absolutely stink. They’re banal glass boxes straight out of 1970. It’s possible they had to be value engineered because of the cost of decking the highway, but considering the other recent buildings in the city from the same architecture team, it seems more likely they’re just not well conceived. Note to the architecture world: No matter what you say on your website, when you design a glass box you are not being “futuristic”, “state-of-the-art”, or providing an “example of the very best office building design in Washington, DC”. You’re also not building “of our time”. On the contrary, you’re designing buildings for 40 years ago that aren’t interesting, aren’t unique, and just plain aren’t good.

I love this project for what it accomplishes with regards to the highway, but I hate it for its utterly hackneyed, monotonous architecture.

Update: Apparently, in response to community opposition to such banal architecture, the buildings are being redesigned. Yay!