Community Matters!

Q&A with Susan Stine of Redteam Strategies

By Beth Herman

As owner of interior design and strategic planning firm Redteam Strategies, Susan Stine is a long time resident of D.C. landmark The Westchester, 4000 Cathedral Avenue NW. She has served and continues to serve on many of the building’s committees, including as former chairman of the house committee that oversaw the comprehensive redesign of the building’s public spaces, completed in 2010. DCMud spoke with her about old vs. new and her traditional outlook on what it means to live in the District.

DCMud: In the last five years, D.C. has had this huge push to build new apartment buildings—part of the urban planning concept known as Smart Growth America. It’s building around public transportation - building up urban areas so it’s a work/live/play scenario. There’s now a lot of new product on the market, largely for rent, but what about people who want a different kind of lifestyle and wish to buy?

Stine: Washington has some very significant older apartment or condominium buildings that are beautiful, and The Westchester has the lowest fees and biggest apartments per square foot–and it’s on 11 acres—it’s a real, established community.

DCMud: In what sense?

Stine: People say that you buy here because of the square footage but stay because of the community. We have people at the Westchester who have moved around within the (five building-) campus four and five times. They purchase up or they purchase down. It’s a real community within Washington, D.C., and there’s something to be said about buying into that.

DCMud: In 2010, we reported on a kind of democracy in action major Westchester renovation, where residents were given a voice and got to vote for their favorites.

Stine: Unlike many newer buildings, a few older communities and particularly The Westchester are more likely to involve its member-owners in processes such as major renovation decisions. We embrace transparency because we think that makes the community better and stronger. In 2008 we began a major redesign executed through surveys, workshops and focus groups, with each household getting to vote on key components of the project. You generally don’t find that in newer properties.

DCMud: So there are opportunities for involvement on many levels.

Stine: You’re living in history, you’re living in a community, and you’re getting a lot of square footage—plus you’re still convenient to downtown. When you go into a new apartment building, you’re right smack downtown and your community is outside of your building—it’s on the street. Do you meet your neighbors? You might meet them on the treadmill, but that’s it. People buy into older, established communities like this because of the history, and they become a part of it.

DCMUD: Speaking of history and design, do you have a favorite venue in the District?

Stine: It has to be the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, which underwent the most beautiful restoration about 10 years ago. Then five years ago, a canopy was created there to join two buildings together. I go all the time to restore myself because it’s filled with art and feeds my soul.

Washington D.C. design news

A Jewel Box for Literary Gems

Q&A with Michael Wiencek

By Beth Herman

Opening in June, the 22,500 s.f. Francis A. Gregory Library, 2100 36^th Place SE, was the result of a collaborative effort between London- and New York-based Adjaye Associates, charged with the design, and architect of record Wiencek & Associates. DCMud talked with Principal Michael Wiencek about influences and site challenges the LEED Silver building posed.

DCMud: You are known to specialize in what some have called transformative multifamily housing. How did this inform your work on the Francis A. Gregory Library?

Wiencek:  We knew that Ginnie Cooper, chief librarian for D.C., was interested in making libraries iconic, even though they may be neighborhood or branch libraries. She has the same passion about changing people’s lives through her libraries as we have about changing them through our multifamily housing. Ginnie wants people, and kids in particular, to start to view the library as an asset. Just like our housing—when we’re designing something in a disadvantaged neighborhood, we’re always trying to do something that raises the level of design quality people are used to. It gives them a boost of self-esteem. In the library’s case, it draws you to it so you’re utilizing something you may not have.

DCMud: So children factor into the space in a very special way.

Wiencek: The formative years really make a big difference in your life, so you’re experiencing good architecture and by virtue of that you’re pulled into this building.

DCMud: What did you find at ground zero, and what was the genesis of the design?

Wiencek: In both this library and the William O. Lockridge/ Bellevue Neighborhood Library’s case, we replaced two 1950s brick boxes with no character, ambience or design whatsoever. David Adjaye’s inspiration for this building was a fabric jewel box, which appears to be how he does a lot of his designs. He works from an object.

DCMud: Simplistically, the building has been compared to a large, beveled mirror. What can you tell us about the process?

Wiencek: The curtain wall (glazing) systems that we used on the two libraries did not exist before they were built. We worked with the manufacturer to design two new systems. In a normal building, the curtain wall is an aluminum frame that hangs off the building and carries the glass. In this case it is laminated wood—of course renewable— that carries the glass. Also, there are varying diamond shapes. They may look very uniform when you first see them, but each one is different: The angle of the curtain wall is changing at each facet. There are only one or two pieces of glass that are actually the same size in that building. Adjaye also didn’t want to have columns sitting out there as support systems. So we made the curtain wall become the structure at the perimeter. And the grillage canopy which floats above the roof has a similar faceting design to it.

DCMud: Describe the site and any site challenges.

Wiencek: The library abuts National Park Service land at the rear with lots of trees. It’s the jewel box sitting on the street, playing against nature. In fact if you go at the right time of day, the building almost disappears because the glass has some reflectivity to it and reflects the trees from across the street and in front and in back. What everybody sees as this very structured, rigid frame design sort of disappears.

Parking was a challenge, as it went on the old site and there was none. But it is near main transit lines, and these libraries are meant to be within walking distance of the surrounding community.

To make our building work we had to keep a wall from the original library there, or we’d have had to encroach on the Park Service land. We wanted to use a small portion of their land as access, but that was not allowed as it is a national park. If you stand in the library and look back into the park land, it slopes down and away. If we could have cleared some of the undergrowth and made a lawn below the trees, it could have been an even more amazing space. Looking down at that park would have made it an experience like being at an art gallery—the trees like sculpture sitting out on the landscape.

DCMud: What about your own landscape? How did you come to your specialty in the area of affordable housing?

Wiencek: At the beginning of my career (1978), I met an architect at the very end of his: Hilyard Robinson. The auditorium at the Howard University School of Architecture is named after him, where he was on the faculty. He was an African American architect who started practicing in the 1930s, and did a lot of the housing near Gallaudet University like Langston Terrace. His buildings were geared toward affordable housing, but the results had a lot of design and respect for the people who were going to live there. He put so much thought into this work, and we had many talks about why he’d done what he’d done.

My father was director of personnel at NIH, and he’d always talked about social justice. He was all about creating jobs for all kinds of people back in the ‘60s when it wasn’t yet part of the culture. Between the two of them, it gave me the desire to make a difference and respect people through architecture. I hope to get the chance to renovate some of Hilyard Robinson’s buildings.

Haute from a Tote

Q&A with Carol Freedman of Carol Freedman Design

By Beth Herman

Celebrated for the abundant colors that define her work, interior designer Carol Freedman of Carol Freedman Design spoke with DCMud about an unusual commission: designing a house around the colors in a tote bag.

DCMud: So much of your world is about the unabashed use of color, accordingly what made the redesign of this residence different?

Freedman:  The inspiration for this 8,000 s.f. Bethesda house was a tote bag that the client really loved. It had geometric patterns of leaves: a rust leaf; turquoise leaf; an olive leaf; a caramel leaf; a black leaf. And her color preferences were also deeper than many I’ve used before, as exemplified in the tote which was our canvas.

DCMud: So how did the tote manifest itself in the home?

Freedman: To begin with, there are three floors, and the back of the house faces dense forest with a beautiful woodland view. We started in the great room with a large custom round patterned Odegard rug from Nepal. I then found this geometric fabric that picked up all of her colors and decided it would be great to use a fair amount of it, but not too much to overpower the room. So we used solids for the base of the couch and the chairs, applying the fabric for all the sofa’s throw pillows and back pillows. A complementary floral fabric from the same company is on some chairs, which pick up all those beautiful colors.

DCMud: In a previous story we did together, the inspiration for a home came from a painting. Though this home’s design was predicated on a tote bag, what about the spirited artwork in so many of the rooms—particularly the diptych in the living room?

Freedman: We wanted some really dynamic art on the walls, and my client and I fell in love with Susan Finsen who does exquisite work at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria. This was a custom commission we did, based on one of her previous designs, where she employed our colors with her artistic sense.

DCMud: The home’s master bedroom also appears to reflect the tote’s theme.

Freedman: I found the rug first, which picked up a lot of the same colors I used in the great room. The client already had the custom wood furniture, so I wanted a color on the walls that would make the furniture sing. We used turquoise from the tote, and then found this wonderful Duralee geometric pattern with turquoise and orange in it. Though many clients would be afraid to use such a bold pattern, this client was daring enough to use it on the window treatments. My favorite kind of person! The fabric on the bed is Donghia—more subtle with intricate designs that complemented the bold area rug.

DCMud: What about the art which, in the best sense, appears almost indistinguishable from the space—as if it was born there.

Freedman: It’s another piece by Susan Finsen—a spectacular artist in our region.

DCMud: How did you design spaces for family fun in this residence?

Freedman: Because the game room is adjacent to the great room, we used a deeper caramel color (seen in the tote bag) which flatters the rich-looking pool table. The client already had a suspended art deco light fixture. She and her family are avid baseball fans, and coincidentally Susan Finsen had designed these silkscreens of baseball fields around the country, so she custom colorized them for this space.

DCMud: Embracing your color addiction, it seems you might be drawn to D.C. spaces that speak to this.

Freedman: One of my favorite parts of D.C. is the area of 14^th and U Streets. I absolutely love jazz, both of my sons are jazz musicians, and the area is riddled with jazz clubs. We also love the great restaurants there, particularly Masa 14 and Estadio. What I love about Masa 14 is the juxtaposition of natural wood finishes, brick and metal, and the use of black, with a pop of red in the simple pendant light fixtures. It’s got that urban modern aesthetic going on with exposed metal ductwork. It feels hip, modern and earthy all at the same time.

photos courtesy of Anice Hoachlander

Designing Eden

Q&A with Ron Schneck of Square 134 Architects

By Beth Herman

As a mixed market rate and subsidized housing development, Eden Place at Beulah Crossing—with Phase 1 at 400-414 Eastern Avenue NE—in some ways has been seen as a bellwether of revitalized multifamily housing in D.C., but not for obvious reasons. DCMud spoke with Principal Ron Schneck of Square 134 Architects about the firm’s role in making aesthetics a key component of affordable housing.

DCMud: Tell us about the genesis of Eden Place at Beulah Crossing.

Schneck: Under the Fenty regime, there were a series of RFP’s put out to galvanize underutilized city-owned sites in the District. Washington Interfaith Network was involved with this one, specifically Beulah Baptist Church.

DCMud: What makes this housing project different?

Schneck: We chose an Arts and Crafts style. There’s always a site plan condition that’s governed by economics, and the problem with large townhome developments typically is you always fluctuate between designing individual town homes vs. a block of buildings that create one mass. The more material and colors that you can have at your disposal makes (the former) a lot easier.

DCMud: Tell us about the site.

Schneck: The existing site was public housing that had been abandoned for many years—a real blight on the community. The church identified the site, and we worked with two development groups: UrbanMatters Development Partners LLC and Denning Development, who partnered with Beulah Baptist Church—which was critical in convincing the community that this was something it needed. NCD Management was integral as they provided development and construction management.

DCMud: What is the time frame?

Schneck: Eden Place at Beulah Crossing is being developed in two phases, with the first broken up into two different buildings on Eastern Avenue NE. Part A of the first phase, along Eastern Avenue, has been completed and is occupied. Part B of Phase 1 is probably going to be finished by the end of the year if not sooner. There are to be 63, approximately 1,500 s.f. units altogether when Phase II along Dix Street NE and 61^st Street NE is built (estimated completion 2013).

DCMud: Describe the interior space.

Schneck: Most are three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and there is the gabled space. They’re big, inhabitable bedroom or playroom-type bonus spaces. These townhomes have really nice finishes: hardwood floors; brushed nickel; chrome; some with stainless steel; Energy Star appliances; nice interiors that are market rate. The first floor is contemporary open concept.

DCMud: Is it fair to say the neighborhood is undergoing a lot of revitalization, which doesn’t stop with Eden Place?

Schneck: There’s more development scheduled to go on around it—plans to take over abandoned structures.

DCMud: How do you frame this and your role in it?

Schneck: The reason I’m doing multifamily housing right now is we’ve more or less maxed out the suburbs. Everyone understands that they don’t want to live 60 miles away from where they work. That’s why the housing market is so strong in D.C. because everyone’s moving back into the city, and it’s not just young professionals anymore—it’s families. (The Office of Planning reports about 1,100 residents moving into the District each month.)

DCMud: So what kind of design gauntlet does this throw down for you?

Schneck: The challenge for architects is to try and find a language and a style that is appropriate for that new demographic, which is ‘the family in the city.’ Granted, this is not downtown, but it’s not suburban and also not urban. It’s that buffer area that I think we’re going to be seeing more and more of. People want to live in the city.

DCMud: Speaking of the city and its challenges, what area impresses you the most?

Schneck: I’m a big fan of Penn Quarter. When I first came to D.C. in 1996, the neighborhood did not exist or at the very least had nowhere near the vibrancy it has now. It reminds me that D.C. is a big, international city, and it happened so quickly that it’s now a dynamic area. Penn Quarter and Columbia Heights are the two neighborhoods that happened seemingly overnight. In a couple of years’ time, they have completely transformed and impacted the surrounding neighborhoods.