AIA/DC and Washingtonian magazine sponsored the 2006 Washington Residential Design Awards, for which they team up annually. This past spring, the jurors selected 11 projects, designed by nine firms from across the metropolitan D.C. area. The honorees include condominiums, single-family homes, and uniquely designed structures that enhance living and recreation spaces of residences across the region.

Adams Row, by Hickock Cole Architects, for Adams Investment Group, co-owner, and PN Hoffman Construction Development, co-owner and contractor
Replacing a run-down liquor store and a parking lot in D.C.’s vibrant, multicultural Adams Morgan neighborhood, the architects designed the 68-unit Adams Row Condominium to fit in with the area’s townhouse streetscape. The long façade has several setbacks that alternate with projecting volumes to give a human scale and “rhythm,” the jurors said. The condominium features concrete floors and ceilings, exposed ductwork, glass elevator, and floor-to-ceiling window walls. The residence also boasts private rooftop terraces, sliding barn-type doors, and spacious open floor plans that invite natural light into the living spaces. The jurors lauded the project’s relationship to its dramatic linear site, who noted that “a great deal of things sensitively fit together.”
Photo © Prakash Patel Photography.

The Metro, Washington, D.C., by SK&I Architectural Design Group LLC, with PN Hoffman Construction and Development, owner/contractor
Not long ago, The Metro’s Church Street neighborhood was home to auto body shops, warehouses, and car lots. The architects designed this new 53-unit condominium building to retain what they call the area’s “industrial aesthetic,” creating a contemporary/warehouse fusion to appeal to a young, urban professional market. The architects divided the building’s façade into three distinct volumes to avoid overwhelming the block’s short and narrow confines. At the rear alley, SK&I designed window bays in an angled, saw-toothed pattern, providing the rear units with a longer, down-alley view and access to abundant sunlight. The jurors applauded the three-façade treatment, commenting that the single condominium building “appeared as a group of buildings that integrated into the neighborhood” and enthused about the “saw-tooth elements on the back that are reminiscent of the saw-tooth skylights found in old industrial buildings, just turned on the side.”
Photos © Hoachlander Davis Photography.

Visio, Washington, D.C., by Sorg and Associates PC, with Robertson Development LLC, owner/contractor
This lot challenged the architect to acknowledge a historic brick church next door and overcome the darkness of its narrow alley side, all the while infusing the building with a modern, urban sensibility fitting for its downtown location. The buildings, new and old, have in common their red-brick fronts and long, recessed windows. The four-story building includes eight units, each with two bedrooms and an average of 1,330 square feet. The top units have soaring 19-foot ceilings, with a partial mezzanine above. The infill condominium building in Northwest D.C. offers its residents both walls of glass and striking corner views. The jurors described the VISIO as a “nicely executed bookend that doesn’t compete but complements the church next door.” The jury liked that in this building, “architecture happens on all four sides.”
Photo © Roger Foley Photography.

LeBaron Farm, by Versaci Neumann Partners, with J.D. Eicher Builder Inc., contractor.
The sand-colored stone walls, pale-blue shutters, and pea-gravel patios of this new home in Culpeper County, Va., recall the owner’s childhood in Provence. The architect’s goal was to create a new home that looked like it had been on the 450-acre Virginia farm for years; the result is a stately stone house in the model of a French 17th-century stable with stone walls and a tiled roof that is laid out with modern one-floor living requirements in mind. Like a stable, the farmhouse is essentially one-room deep, with movement occurring from one end to the other through increasingly more private rooms. Guest rooms are on the second floor. Oak-plank flooring, limestone floor tiles, three-color wash plaster walls, and bamboo impart to the interior an earthy feel. Large pairs of French doors throughout the house open onto terraces and courtyards on either side, one of which is shaded by an iron pergola with bamboo screens overhead. The jurors liked the siting, with asymmetrical rooms offering different views across the property. “This house could have been overdone, but it is nicely restrained,” the jury observed.
Photo © Ron Blunt Photography.

Pavilion at Water’s Edge, Great Falls, Va., by Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, for Eric and Diane Garfinkel, owners; Sugar Oak Corporation.
The Spartan outdoor pavilion on a five-acre parcel in Great Falls, Va., consists of nothing more than a stone fireplace with a roof above, a floor below, and open air all around its thin steel frame for clients who wanted a space where they could experience the land, water, and trees from a serene, pond’s edge setting. “It seems to float off the ground,” jurors noted, a feeling amplified by the steep pitch of the pavilion’s copper roof and the stone chimney that gradually tapers as it rises.”
Photo © Hoachlander Davis Photography.

Outlook on the Severn, by Donald P. Lococo, AIA, with Winchester Construction Company, contractor
Due to a sloping site, the house’s main entrance leads to the top floor, a 930-square-foot common area that efficiently functions as a foyer, family room, dining area, and kitchen, plus a screened porch. Inside that top third floor, the interior ceiling soars up 15 feet, bolstered by a web of mortise-and-tenon trusses, and is banded by a continuous row of windows that focus on the wooded lot and the Severn River beyond. The kitchen cabinets on the wall facing the river have glass fronts and glass backs, permitting one to look right through the stemware to the water. The interior finishes are primarily exposed wood, underscoring the indoor/outdoor connection. The lower levels are designed for multi-generational living, with space for an office, playroom, bedrooms, storage, and a kitchenette. The jurors remarked that the architect’s use of the site’s slope enhances the “in nature” feeling of the cottage. “The mostly white exterior on the upper third of the house pops out against the dark green painted surfaces below. This house floats up in the trees,” the jurors said.
Photo © by John Dean.

Randecker Residence, Vienna, Va., McInturff Architects, for Victor and Lorraine Randecker, owners; M.T. Puskar Construction Co. Inc., contractor
The architect describes the home as a kaleidoscope—“a metal tube closed on its sides to very near neighbors and open on each end through colorful window walls to the length of its wooded site.” The architect noted that a tight budget led to the building’s simple shape and dictated economy in the material selection. “But color is free,” he said, as are daylight and woodsy views. The windows at the front and back of the “tube” reinforce the kaleidoscope theme, as they let the sun stream in and create patterns of light and shadow throughout the day. The jurors liked the playfulness and complimented its mix of materials, texture, and colors, and the fact that the “interior reinforces the exterior.” They said the use of materials and form combine to make the house look like “a framed piece of art work.”
Photo © Julia Heine, McInturff Architects.

Mid-century Modern House as Large Scale Structure, Washington, D.C., by Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, with Prill Construction, contractor
The project entailed renovating a mid-century Modern house, originally designed by noted D.C. architect Clothiel Woodard Smith in the 1950s. The architects thoroughly updated the house, while its scale and character—including a unique parking place—were respected. Most of the renovation focused on the interior. The architects opened up the main living space by raising the ceiling and replacing solid walls with glass. The team also installed a large deck and infinity pool just beyond the main living area, to extend space and the views out the back. The architects also enlarged and better defined the previous hidden entry. “We love the carport” is a phrase you don’t expect to hear from the jurors in an architecture competition. In their comments, though, the jurors made it clear they greatly admired the highly visible, linear structure in the front of this house that presents itself as a large scale structure.
Photo © Hoachlander Davis Photography.

Unit Derwin, Washington, D.C., by Studio 27 Architecture, for John Derwin, owner, Tobin Construction, contractor
This project is an example of how a relatively small reorganization can significantly improve a home. A goal of the renovation of the 1,000-square foot, eighth-floor condominium was to maximize views of the faraway shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the close-by Washington National Cathedral. The architects’ solution was to reorient the sightlines by removing some existing walls and inserting others, with clerestories, translucent sliding panels, and doors to create a fluidity of space and light. Each room now provides a framed view of the cathedral, with the best view of all from the soaking tub. Jurors like the skillful way the design brought together differing materials. There’s a “subtle intersection,” they said, of masonry, steel, glass, and exposed concrete.
Photo © Hoachlander Davis Photography.

Kessler Residence, Chevy Chase, Md., Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, for Lewis and Tamara Kessler, owners, with M.T. Puskar Construction Co. Inc., contractor.
The design proves universal access can indeed have universal style. Smooth wood floors run throughout; plus, cleverly designed built-in desks, vanities, showers, and kitchen drawers are proportioned to function smoothly for a wheelchair user. An elevator connects all four levels—basement, ground floor, second-floor bedrooms, and a top-floor office. The narrow lot is maximized by an L-shaped footprint, which allows for a wall of glass—its contemporary façade—along the common living areas in the back. Nestled within the “L” are a patio and a 75-foot lap pool. The house has a strong Modern personality throughout, but blends in with the block, too. The street-side façade, with a columned porch and white clapboard siding echoes elements found on the neighboring houses. The entire front volume, in fact, is positioned as a threshold between the traditional houses next door and the Modern house behind it. Jurors commended the architect for respecting the surroundings. “So many contemporary houses have no response to the neighborhood,” they said, “but this one is in context.”
Photo © Maxwell MacKenzie Architectural Photographer.

W Street Residence, Washington, D.C., by Division One Architects, with Development Studios LLC, Owner, ACT Inc., contractor
The architect says the signature space within this house is a double-height living room featuring an operable window wall that fully opens to an exterior porch. But the jurors also had to consider the open-tread stair, catwalk-like, which leads to the master bedroom suite at the third level; and a master bath, with its mirrored wall from which double faucets emerge to fill a custom cement sink that rests on a stainless steel support. The building also contains a glass-walled efficiency apartment on the ground floor, garage, and finished deck with outdoor kitchen and shade canopies. Jurors thought that, taken together, the buildings interiors forms and street façade make “a bold statement.”
Photo © Debi Fox Photography.

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