On View: Green City, Blue City, Old City, New City

Green City Blue City is a ISTUDIO x WAAC collaboration. ISTUDIO architects and designers met with Virginia Tech’s WAAC (Washington-Alexandria Architect Center) students weekly to create a design for making the National Mall more resilient. Much of the national core of DC was once water; there was a bay and canals that were all filled in to build our nation’s capital. With the sea level rising and the 100-year-flood looking more like the 1-year-flood, we have to act to preserve what we all know and love as America’s Front Lawn.

Defining the Capital City

Two rivers shape Washington, DC--the Potomac and the Anacostia. One district, two states, and six counties comprise the National Capital’s urbanized region, and they all border these waterways. The monuments and memorials that define the Capital city occupy the low-lying confluence of the rivers. So too do historic cities, major utilities, transportation infrastructure, and a sizable portion of the four million people who call the area home. The region faces unprecedented challenges related to climate change, including increased flooding due to rising sea levels, storm events, and myopic urban planning. The impact to people, property, and infrastructure is almost incalculable – but where there is a problem there is also potential.

To address these impacts will take more than design and planning – especially political will, cross-sector collaboration, and coalition-building. Architects and planners bring a unique approach to tackling the complex issues: design thinking. five projects in the region represent the range of possibilities within this framework. Individually they are case studies in resilient design, biophilic principles, and sustainable planning. Together they frame a vision for the Nation’s Capital that is resilient and sustainable, equitable and inclusive.

Reframing Resilience - Five projects in the Nation’s Capital

The cities of the future will be blue-green—recognizing that water is precious and that biodiversity is essential. All waters are not the same though. The different waters of this capital city telegraph our social and cultural values and biases: the Potomac, once the division of Union and Confederate states; the Anacostia, mistreated and marginalized in the economically disadvantaged east side of DC; the Tidal Basin, an engineering effort to fight the river’s nature, ringed by commemorative icons; the deceptive serenity of the Reflecting Pool, requiring constant energy and maintenance.

We need to reframe our relationship to the cycles of nature. Water connects these 5 projects, as they reshape the complex ecosystems at the rivers’ edges, 2 unbuilt proposals bracket the city on its west and east sides. Third Century Mall Vision Plan (unbuilt) asks what a civic landscape could be if our respect for the environment were given equal status as our national values and achievements on the National Mall… Kingman Island Environmental Education Center (unbuilt) asks what a civic landscape could be if local values and aspirations for a healthier city, public, and environment are the priorities, on the Anacostia anchoring the east end of the symbolic axis…

Reframing our relationship with each other, and with the elements of air, earth, sun, and water are three built works: Marvin Gaye Recreation Center + Trail—Named for its neighborhood native son, this building breathes… Powell Elementary School—An expansion and renovation, this build teaches… Tubman Elementary School—With extensive community input on the redesign of its courtyard, this building nourishes…

Drawing on historical maps, data visualization, diagrams, photographs, and renderings, this exhibit will show that these five projects together illustrate the technical, social, and cultural aspects of resilience, defined as the ability to rebound from shocks and stresses. Put more simply, these projects demonstrate the power of design to perform, nurture, and inspire.

This project is on display until November 2021 at ECC Venice Biennale - Time Space Existence

Partners: DGS (Department of General Services)

Sponsors: ATAS International, Inc., KI Furniture, SGH (Simpson Gumpertz & Heger)

Press Release: Schneider Elevated to College of Fellows

ISTUDIO Architects is pleased to announce that founder and principal Rick Harlan Schneider has been elevated to the College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects (AIA). The honor, given to a small group each year, recognizes his significant contributions to the profession of architecture and to society.

“Rick is the embodiment of practice transformation that includes a more holistic definition of design excellence and civic engagement.”
- Kira Gould, AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE)

A nationally recognized advocate, educator, and innovator, Rick leads communities to a more resilient future with bold work that emulates the regenerative cycles of nature. Following a simple credo of “Do, Teach, Celebrate” he demonstrates that architecture can provide tools for learning and occasions to enjoy the cycles of life. Built environments from Northern Virginia to West Africa echo nature with rain harvesting, teaching gardens, daylighting, and natural ventilation.

Rick inspires a generation of architecture and planning students from the internationally-renowned school of Architecture and Design at Virginia Tech who go on to practice green. In programs with the National Building Museum and New York’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, he has engaged hundreds of secondary school students.

A pioneer of the movement toward sustainability, Rick builds capacity and mainstreams green design with the AIA COTE and the US Green Building Council. Rick developed a vision of Washington DC as a city of the future which was presented to the US Congress and featured through the History Channel and Washington Post. He embraces civic engagement to address climate change, efforts which have helped the nation’s capital go green. The Mayor of Washington DC honored his work in 2020 with a District Sustainability Award.

“…a model architect – a rare combination of committed practitioner, design talent, and leader within the profession, community, and the academy… a credit to our profession.”
- David Haresign, FAIA

ISTUDIO Architects is a mission-driven practice dedicated to creating artful, sustainable communities. Design shapes our cities and towns physically, culturally, and emotionally. For over 20 years, we at ISTUDIO have dedicated ourselves to the issues of design, architecture, and urbanism. We have collaborated with clients and communities around the globe to increase access to beautiful places and spaces — where we live, work, learn, play, and dream."

Welcome Kavya

We’re growing! Introducing Kavya Veda Sarma - ISTUDIO team member Vivek Sarma's first child born on March 6th! Her name refers to poetry, literature, and the Hindu scriptures. She gets bigger by the day!

On the Boards: Van Ness Elementary School

At Van Ness Elementary School the learning happens outside as well as inside.

Every square foot of this tight urban site was planned to provide inspirational places for learning. The vision for this LEED-S Gold school incorporates a new wing, rehabilitation of a historic field house, and a repurposed health care building. The master plan maintains the central oval green space – with planted stormwater rain gardens and places to play. Interior spaces are daylit and finished with healthy materials. One feature is the rooftop garden and classroom reached by a stair and canopy wrapped in copper-colored perforated metal.

A new addition to this mid-century modern school is clad in metal and perforated to provide screening for an exterior stair to the roof. Exterior stairs like this promote activity and help connect students with the outdoors. An ADA accessible route via the elevator is paired with raised garden beds to provide equitable access for all.

The Rooftop Garden has ADA-accessible raised garden beds and a compost bin - an opportunity for students to learn where our food comes from. An Outdoor Classroom has a tool shed wrapped in white marker board to provide a teaching wall. A Canopy with copper rain chains and a rainwater storage bin is a built in demonstration of the cycle of water.

On the Boards: Arboretum Recreation Center

Stepped, planted patios integrate outdoor gathering spaces with artful storm water management.

A bronze perforated metal screen wall is a nod to the original mid century modern facility with the added bonus of controlling glare and heat gain.

Net Zero Energy strategies like daylighting, and natural ventilation create a comfortable interior environment with less energy demand on the rooftop solar array.

DC DPR’s first cross-laminated timber gym will help to achieve the mayor’s goal for a carbon-neutral and resilient city.

The original building with the folded plate roof was built under the Mission 66 program, a ten-year program by the US National Park Service that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services. It now serves the neighborhood as a DC DPR facility.

Notes from an Awards Juror on the AIA Framework

The AIA is redefining what we refer to as great design in this age of climate action. With the Framework for Design Excellence design awards are not just a beauty contest. To be sure, it’s both a challenge and an opportunity: a challenge for architects to embrace the principles we’ve known since we were in school and an opportunity to tell the stories already embedded in our work.

I recently had the pleasure of discussing the topic with my friend Greg Mella, the OG in LEED platinum design, in a presentation for the AIA|DC. We recounted how we applied the ten Framework principles in a recent jury for the San Diego chapter AIA. Here are some of my own notes:

10 ways to win - The Framework principles cover a range of issues, not just sustainability but also design for resilience, economy, and equity. Not barriers, they are ten very clear directions for architects in design as well as in awards submission mode.

10 ways to learn – Each principle provides an opportunity to learn more about what we’re designing… how much energy does the building use? Site v. Source EUI? How well does it serve the occupants? Is it an efficient use of space? These questions become part of the feedback loop for a good design process.

The framework is not a new set of criteria for design excellence as much as it is a new way of looking at what still matters. Great architecture is still found in form + function, materiality, the use of light, and the artful ways we solve for program. Seen through this new lens they may become climatically responsive design, rapidly renewable resources, daylighting, and long life/loose fit.

The new framework is not easy, but then neither is design excellence in the practice of architecture. There is a reason we call it practice.

ISTUDIO Collaborates with Virginia Tech Students to Re-Imagine a More Sustainable D.C.

In this age of climate action our studio is working with a team of students from the Virginia Tech Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center to re-imagine green space, blue infrastructure, living memorials, and the human ecosystem. 

Green City Blue City / Old City New City takes a holistic look at Washington D.C., the monumental city, and asks what we wish to memorialize in the next Century.  

Adapt. Mitigate. Regenerate. 

washington-alexandria architecture center · school of architecture + design · Virginia Tech (vt.edu) 

ISTUDIO Projects Win AIA Baltimore Excellence in Design Awards

ISTUDIO Architects is pleased to announce that three of it’s projects won the 2020 AIA Baltimore Excellence in Design Awards.

Powell Elementary School won Award for Excellence in Environmentally Sustainable Design; Tubman Elementary School won Award for Excellence in Design; and Marvin Gaye Recreation Center won Award for Excellence in Design, Honorable Mention.

Thank you AIA Baltimore and the Baltimore Architecture Foundation for these prestigious awards.

In the jury’s words, “ It was quick to point out Powell Elementary’s design intention as a laboratory of learning. The building embodies progressive sustainability strategies and passes that knowledge on to the next generation.”

In the jury’s words, “Tubman’s Good design provides a foundation for unforeseen added benefits … The result is more than the sum of its parts—architecture that inspires us to do, teach and celebrate.”

In the jury’s words, “ Inspiring, progressive, and with expansive attitude towards resiliency.”

ISTUDIO Projects Win AIA NOVA Design Awards

We are excited to share that three of our projects win 2020 AIA Northern Virginia Design Awards.

Powell Elementary School win Award of Merit in Institutional Architecture; Tubman Elementary School win Award of Excellence in Institutional Architecture; and Marvin Gaye Recreation Center win Award of Merit in Institutional Architecture.

We are grateful for our mission-driven clients and honored at the recognition our work has received.

In the jury’s words, “Powell Elementary School stood out for its clever use of simple materials… bring the issue of sustainability and wellness to the forefront.. with a tight budget that public schools tend to have.”

In the jury’s words, “transformational is the word that i would have to use to describe Tubman, on all levels for equity, inclusion, sustainability… it hit all the different criteria for contextuality for functionality for serving the community it hit on all those levels.”

In the jury’s words, “For Marvin Gaye Recreation Center, We admired the architect’s skill in... design that is sustainable, resilient, and one that becomes a real asset to the community.”

Studio Wellness in the Face of Covid-19 Pandemic

Socially-distant meet-up at Dupont Circle

We had another team talk recently about life and work in times of pandemic. Our colleagues brought up the added stresses we face now that the weather is changing and days are getting shorter. Everyone agreed that it’s too easy to just keep going, but far better to acknowledge and address it directly.

Here are some of our takeaways:

We’ are our greatest asset. By far our greatest project is our studio itself. We’ve worked hard with intention to create a healthy and creative culture, forming bonds that allow us to do good work and to shore each other up.

Our expertise can help us through. It makes sense, after all it’s part of our training as architects to identify challenges and come up with creative solutions.

Our plan includes communication, in-person meet-ups, and virtual mentoring sessions where interns can gather around a Revit model. The image above is a collage of photos from a recent socially-distant meet-up in the park at Dupont Circle.

Studio Salon 02 – Designing with Water

“Do not build any homes below this point.” “High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants. Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis.” 

 Tsunami Stones – these ancient markers warned builders in coastal Japan where not to build, even as they memorialized past disasters. Jane Withers shared the story in our latest studio salon and the conversation turned to climate crisis: What will it take to bring people together to address increased flooding and sea level rise in Washington DC?

 Jane began the evening with images from her curated exhibit of projects that reconnect people with urban water. Riverine swimming pools and stepwells are the nexus of human interaction with waterways. But much is needed to improve water quality before people will consider immersing their bodies in contaminated waters. Cities like Washington have done much to improve water quality in the last 40 years with initiatives like daylighting streams, increasing pervious surfaces, and requiring better stormwater management.

 Public access to water defines Michael’s vision for waterfront development in Old Town Alexandria. We see our waterfronts differently now, not just as the industrial access points they once were – but opportunities for revisiting the past with an eye to the future. It takes a multi-valent approach, considering economic inclusion, transportation planning, and smart floodwater infrastructure.

Steven emphasized the need to engage with at-risk communities as critical to the process of planning and building. Data and modeling are powerful tools that do not yet measure less-tangible things like human suffering. It may be time to reconsider our metrics. A recent article in Vice “Our Infrastructure Is Being Built for a Climate That’s Already Gone” outlines the risk of continuing to use the past as a guide. In times of deep uncertainty we can no longer put our trust in stationarity – a constant unchanging world.

The good news for architects, planners, and developers is that we’ve trained ourselves to tackle wicked problems like non-stationarity, design for reducing human suffering, and rising waters. Design thinking is our approach, and it will require many voices with different expertise to do so.

Many thanks to our panelists.

• Jane Withers, Design Consultant + Writer

• Michael Winstanley, Principal of Winstanley Architects + Planners

• Steven Stichter, Director of Resilience America Program with National Academy of Sciences

Here are links for further reading:

Jane in Domus 

Jane on Urban Plunge 

Vice article on Infrastructure

Washington Post on Resilience

Forbes on Tsunami Stones

ISTUDIO Principal Rick Schneider testifies before the Washington DC City Council

ISTUDIO Principal Rick Schneider testified before the Washington DC City Council in the days before Coronavirus became the news.

Rick lauded the DC Department of General Services (DGS) for their commitment to “build, maintain, and sustain” green in testimony before the DC City Council. Each year the agency responsible for building green schools, rec centers - and a host of others - goes before the council for a performance review.

Our studio has been planning and designing public projects in Washington DC for 20 years, and we’ve seen incredible progress. In that time ISTUDIO has worked with DGS to build the first resilient hub (Marvin Gaye Rec in Ward 7), the first infrastructure academy (DCIA in Ward 8), and the first public school with solar chimneys (Powell ES in Ward 1). We’ve made great progress but there is still a lot to do…

The last time Rick addressed the DC City Council was to advocate for the Green Building Ordinance in 2006. This year he advocated for a Waterfront Resilience Plan. We face our greatest challenge in climate change with intensive storm events, increased flooding, and rising sea levels. Now is the time to develop a vision for resilience, equity, and sustainability along the waterfronts of the National Capitol Region. For more on this topic check out our past efforts with the Third Century Mall and the City of the Future.

Dogon Eco-tourism Center and Trail Wins Rethinking the Future Award

We are honored to receive the Rethinking the Future 2020 Award for the Dogon Eco-tourism Center and Trail.  ISTUDIO developed this vision for eco-tourism in East Africa with inspiration from Dogon vernacular architecture and the cultural landscape of a region defined by water scarcity.

 The eco-tourism center for this UNESCO world-heritage site is part green design, part urban planning – incorporating a vision of tree-lined streets, green space, and a visitor center that will be a model for sustainable community-building. Site sensitive landscape interventions provide visitor information at the entrance to surrounding villages along an interpretive trail. The team worked with the US Forest Service and Solimar International to coordinate site selection, assess local/regional capacity, and develop this vision with city leaders.

Project Information: Dogon Eco-tourism Center and Trail

Marvin Gaye Recreation Center Wins AISC Award

We are excited to announce that Marvin Gaye Recreation Center won the 2020 Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture Award (IDEAS²) Merit Award.  Thank you to the American Institute of Steel Construction for recognizing our project for the national award.  The IDEAS² Award are the US structural steel industry’s highest honor to recognize creativity and skill in using steel.  We appreciate all of our collaborators hard work and coordination in constructing Marvin Gaye to be a successful, award winning building.

More about the award: https://www.aisc.org/ideas2/

Project Information: https://www.istudioarchitects.com/marvin-gaye-recreation-center-and-trails

We're Hiring: Staff Architect/Emerging Project Architect

Description: We are an award-winning, collaborative firm focused on sustainable, artful, community-minded projects.  We see design as serving the greater good.  We value ‘small studio’ culture: collaborative; supportive; curious; creative; and rigorous – in both work and play.  We provide a full benefits package, PTO, comp time, support for LEED accreditation and professional licensure, good teammates and opportunity to grow with a group of like-minded people.

You are an emerging project architect, most likely on the path to licensure with a professional degree in architecture and 2-5 years of experience (similar to the AIA Architecture Staff Level 1 or Recent Graduate). You are working on becoming a well-rounded architectural designer who can work on both sides of the wall (interior and exterior) and in all phases of a project – from high design schematics to tight CDs.  You are interested in working on our small, collaborative, and growing team to provide exceptional service for civic, cultural, and commercial clients.  You are proficient in Revit, Office 365, Adobe Suite, and Sketchup..

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with the project principal, project designer and project manager in each phase of the project delivery process.

• Work directly with an experienced PA to develop yourself as a Project Architect.

• Contribute to all aspects and phases of the architectural design process.

• Assist in creating project schedules and budgets.

• Attend project meetings.

• Maintain and organize project files.

• Travel to and from project and client meetings as required.

Requirements:

• Bachelor of Architecture or Master of Architecture (accredited degree program required).

• Minimum of Two years of experience. The ideal candidate will have relevant built work experience.

• LEED accreditation required within 12 months.

• Experience with civic, cultural or higher education projects will be considered a plus.

• Ability to work well in a team environment as well as independently.

• Proficiency in documenting all phases of the design process.

• Excellent graphic and verbal communication skills.

• Exceptional client service orientation and relationship building skills.

If this sounds like a good fit for you, please send a PDF of your resume + work samples to careers@ISTUDIOarchitects.com

FAB Public Program Series - Resilient Cities

Join us as ISTUDIO Principal Rick Schneider presents case studies in design for resilience. Susan Piedmont-Palladino, Director of the WAAC of the CAUS-VT moderates, with panelists Kevin Bush, Chief Resilience Officer for Washington, DC and Keith Anderson, Director of the DC Department of General Services. The four will speak on their areas of expertise before engaging in a dynamic conversation to examine the issues, challenges, and possibilities of a Resilient City.

Part of the FAB Public Programs Series hosted by the Virginia Tech Washington Alexandria Architecture Center.

FREE, Tuesday 12 November 7PM at 601 Prince Street, Alexandria VA

See link for details: https://archdesign.caus.vt.edu/events/panel-discussion-this-building-breathes/

ISTUDIO Delivers Awards to DC Department of General Services

It’s been an award-winning year! Principal Rick Schneider and the ISTUDIO team delivered a bevy of design awards to Director Anderson and the team at DC Department of General Services. Great, award-winning projects like these come from great clients. We are grateful for the recognition from NAIOP and AIA and remain committed to building resilience and equity in our neighborhoods.

• NAIOP, Best Institutional Facility

• AIA|DC Design Excellence + Sustainable Design.Marvin Gaye Recreation Center

• AIA|DC Sustainable Design

• Architizer A+.Twin Oaks Community Garden

• AIA|DC Universal Design

NAIOP Awards of Excellence - Best Institutional Facility

Powell Elementary School has been awarded an Award of Excellence, Best Institutional Facility by NAIOP DC|MD. We are very grateful for the recognition that this project has received and for the opportunity to showcase the excellent work that is being built in our region.

Award Anouncement: https://naiopawards.com/15.php

More about the project: https://www.istudioarchitects.com/powell

Architizer A+ Awards Special Mention

We are pleased to announce that Marvin Gaye Recreation Center won an Architizer A+ Awards Special Mention in the category of Concepts-Plus-Architecture + Climate Change! This international award recognizes projects that respond to contemporary challenges facing our environment. MGR is our city's first rec center with integrated natural ventilation and is designed to be resilient against natural disasters.

ISTUDIO x DesignDC 2019

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Principal Rick Schneider presents recent case studies in civic architecture that emulate powerful forces of nature to build community resilience.

Washington, DC is leading the way as a member of the 100 Resilient Cities Network. The DC Department of General Services (DGS) is working with agencies like the DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to build the civic infrastructure of the future. New DPR projects fulfill the agency’s mission to promote wellness, conserve the environment and provide universal access. Members of the 100 Resilient Cities Network, along with DC’s Chief Resilience Officer and the Director of DGS, will talk about citywide efforts to plan for and build resilient facilities. The panel discusses the part sustainable facilities play in equitable design, community resilience, and green infrastructure. Case studies include Marvin Gaye Recreation Center, the first center with integrated natural ventilation. The center was designed on biophilic principles as a resilient hub to withstand floods and power outages.  

“This Building Breathes: Tales of a Resilient City”

with:

Keith A. Anderson, Director - DC Department of General Services

Susan Piedmont-Palladino, Director - VA Tech WAAC

Kevin Bush, DC Chief Resilience Officer

Rick Schneider, AIA, LEED - Principal, ISTUDIO Architects