Crystal City Office Project Gets Started Thursday Morning

Lowe Enterprises will host a "groundbreaking ceremony" Thursday on a $70 million office redevelopment project at 1400 Crystal Drive in Crystal City. Fox Architects designed the new building.

The company will seek LEED Gold certification for the project to convert an existing 300,000 square-foot office building in Jefferson Plaza into "Class A" office space complete with a glass facade and roof top terrace. The lobby will be moved to Crystal Drive.

Demolition will bring the building back to its concrete frame before new construction begins, keeping a quick turnaround time and earning LEED points as a retrofit.

"When we acquired the building, we new knew it had good bones," said Harmar Thompson, Vice President of Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group. "So we knew it had a good structure, that we could work with that structure, and not have to do ... ground-up development."

Thompson said the 30-by-30 column grid is solid and lends itself to flexible configuration of the new building, compared to the 20-by-20 grid common in the area that makes renovation more difficult.

Other elements incorporated to achieve LEED Gold certification include using high-efficiency glass the facade and upgrading HVAC to a dedicated outdoor air system that brings cold water to many units throughout the building instead of having it in a centralized basement location.

The new building is scheduled to open in early 2013, with 30,000 square feet more space than the old building, creating more corner offices and pushing it out into the view corridor. "The views out of this building are spectacular," Thompson said.

Lowe acquired the building in 2008. Thompson said the company had the opportunity to initiate the rebuilding project because the National Guard Bureau vacated, leaving it empty. Rebuilding on top of the existing frame allowed the company to create an essentially new building in a short period of time and open it to tenants earlier than other projects in the area. Lincoln Property Company will handle leasing.

The groundbreaking ceremony is set for 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

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The Yard Inside

By Beth Herman

When it comes to families, no one wants a home's manicured front lawn and curb appeal marred by remnants of yesterday's water balloon fight or Saturday's mud pie bake-off. In that respect, relegating the family experience to the back yard is a pretty good idea.

For FOX Architects Principal Jim Allegro and designer Holly Martin, creating both a formal and informal environment for 120 Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) employees, 11921 Freedom Drive in Reston, Va., was indeed predicated on an expanded front yard/back yard concept, with high functioning public and private spaces that reflected the company's work and play ethic paramount.

With employee longevity a hallmark of GMAC, the nonprofit organization was incepted in 1954 as a comprehensive resource to meet the needs of business schools and students. Turning a 45,000 s.f. space into a design that reflected a warm employee family culture, along with areas that spoke to GMAC’s longstanding authority in its field, was a challenge met head-on by Allegro and Martin with their own designs on work and play.

A Fountain Runs Through It

Relocating from Tyson’s Corner to Reston, among GMAC’s primary goals was to improve employee quality of life. With a town center environment (ice skating rink; fountains; shops; restaurants and other amenities - all within walking distance) and abbreviated commute for reduced carbon footprint in the cards for much of its staff, the company jettisoned a 45,000 s.f. facility on two floors in Tyson’s Corner for one of equal size, also on two floors, in Reston.

Speaking to the collaboration between architects and client, Buck Blackburn, GMAC associate director, facilities and office services, said, “They became partners in the process...FOX had in-depth interviews with all departments and made sure to incorporate those requests into their design. They worked closely and smartly with all levels of the organization.”

Allowing that GMAC’s previous space was in fact not outdated or cramped in any way, but “equally modern,” according to Allegro, among the issues FOX Architects faced was ensuring the new space emulated the old but with more style, creativity and advanced technology. With challenges that included lower ceiling height and an exchange of formerly panoramic views for those of surrounding buildings, opening the space and cultivating natural light along the perimeter were intrinsic to the organization’s new design. A focus on state-of-the-art A/V technology and video conferencing, which would minimize extensive travel requirements at issue for some employees, was also a new design objective.

Focus and Balance

“I’d say there was an element of public and private that played into the design concept,” Allegro said, explaining the “front yard” experience was to represent the former and “back yard” the latter. “They don’t get lots of visitors that come beyond their reception area and meeting space, and that’s where the bulk of their traffic is captured,” he said, adding the dollar and design focus went into feature walls in that space with curved, textured plaster and stone flooring.

Opposite a white lacquer, maple and antique glass reception desk, on the other side of the lobby where a bank of five elevators delivers visitors to the floor, Martin chose a double-sided fireplace that bespoke dignity and formality, yet accorded warmth to a space that in many offices can simply be sparse and utilitarian. A graceful, two-story water wall with rock garden base lends a regal, resort-like feel to the lobby area as well.

Because the reception area connects GMAC’s two floors (floors three and four of the building), Allegro said they elected to retain a stairway already in place. “That stair links very active places,” he said, adding “there’s nothing worse than a monumental stair that never gets used.” In this respect, the architect analogized that “…it feels more familial - like kids running up and down, going from bedrooms to kitchen,” noting the reason for the stairs is that they link 4^th floor conference rooms to the highly trafficked reception area below, which also includes a lunchroom and smaller meeting rooms. In the lunchroom, a variety of seating, including touches like mesh “Fit” chairs from Interstuhl that conform to the body and breathe to accommodate body temperature, encourage staff to bring their laptops for a change of atmosphere, or even engage in a variety of Wii games which are readily available. A furnished balcony that overlooks Reston Town Center and supports about 200 people accommodates office and family functions, including holiday gatherings where children can watch the skaters below.

Where the floor above is largely dedicated to training, meetings and conferences, “mini team rooms” for more casual meetings, replete with lounge furniture, exist on both floors for staff purposes. Utilizing Plynyl (woven vinyl fabric bonded to polyurethane cushion) flooring, which is more durable and playroom-like, adds a true “back yard” quality to the mini team rooms which feature TV monitors. Coffee/copy functions nearby facilitate other needs.

According to Blackburn, the previous tenant in the space “…had dark wood and the window line covered with offices.” With a 60/40 closed office vs. open space concept now, access to the perimeter window line is generous. Where offices – which average 140 s.f – are enclosed, clear glass fronts channel natural light. Also, Martin’s light-toned wood, khaki-colored accent walls and white back-painted glass suggest an atmosphere of great balance, the overall design and color palette perpetuating the soothing, spa-like atmosphere first suggested by the lobby’s two-story water feature.

Top of the World

In their former offices, though conference and training rooms were cleverly named for various countries, they were inadequate spaces and Blackburn recalled using hotels for “all hands” meetings, at added cost to the company.

Creating a 2,200 s.f. divisible conference/training room that accommodates 150 in Reston, made up of one large and two smaller rooms, the space was subsequently monikered “the world,” Martin explained, and boasts Skyfold doors that retract into the ceiling for ultimate use of the space. Nine panels, or plasma screens, punctuate one wall, with access to daylight made possible by relocating a mobile wall. Tables on wheels result in unlimited configurations of space. A boardroom has a video wall which is eight feet long and 40 inches high, linking GMAC to various entities and serving to cut down on prolific travel, increase family time and reduce carbon footprint.

“My office is near the lobby and I hear visitor after visitor marvel at how nice the new office is,” Blackburn said, adding he hears staff interacting with visitors about how happy they are to work there. Noting he also gets to interact more with employees and they with each other, Blackburn affirmed, “It will take a few years to discover all the ways to make use of this space.”

Washington D.C. design news

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Lex Architects

By Beth Herman

The Japanese are famous for their economy of space. Who doesn’t recall the indelible “Seinfeld” episode where Kramer accommodated his Asian guests at bedtime by tucking them into large dresser drawers – and closing them. While this may be an extreme example that fired up TV ratings, for centuries, Japan, a California-sized country that supports 125 million people, has understood the profound impact of doing more with less. For D.C. and McLean, Va.-based FOX Architects, the concept of economy of space/maximizing workplace efficiency for area law firms, in light of evolving technologies and soaring real estate costs, is just the beginning of a litany of 21st century trends they must address, many propelled by progressive NY and European law firms.

With concepts such as the universal office, shared or interior associate offices, consolidated library or information spaces and flexible support areas already in play in venues such as NY, London and other points abroad, transforming the D.C. law office, firmly rooted in the "every attorney gets a windowed office paradigm,” is not a task for the shrinking violet architect. Observed FOX Architects Principal Jim Allegro, “It has taken the most challenging economy in decades for people to start thinking differently in D.C.”

Double (means less) Jeopardy

According to Allegro, in a down market a year or so ago, “…it was on everyone’s mind that if we were going to have to give back space, how would we make sure it worked within the minimum footprint?” To that end, and speaking initially at a D.C. Association of Legal Administrators meeting where he addressed return on design, the architect identified trends that have particularly taken hold in more adventurous law firm markets where associates double up and share a space, significantly reducing the firm’s footprint. “They’ll often start out that way when they build new space,” Allegro explained, “rather than it being just a growth strategy where you suddenly get invaded by a second occupant after you’ve been sitting in your office for a year.

“In some NY firms, they essentially have two attorneys facing a common work wall,” he said, with a shared work surface in between. Noting that he must frequently address the prevailing issue his law clients raise about maintaining confidentiality on conference calls and the like in shared offices, Allegro said some firms elect to handle this by providing more small meeting space where one leaves one’s office to make a call of that nature. And because the law profession is by nature collaborative with mentoring a common condition, the boon to working in a cohabited space is the opportunity to quickly share information–something limited and difficult at best if individuals are isolated.

Sanctioning Size

At the D.C. office of FOX client Reno & Cavanaugh, the firm has embraced universal office design and attorneys in shared spaces have everything they need to function including a work surface, guest chairs and overhead storage in each office. “Some of the meetings that may have occurred in partner offices are now in common, shared conference rooms,” Allegro said. “This particular office saw the value in streamlining office size, but it’s also a very egalitarian type of firm with less hierarchy compared to other firms.”

Though a “one size fits all” formula where fixed office size is assigned to both associates and partners is not a popular mindset, Allegro said, for those who understand and make it work there is increased flexibility. Based on the standard that the hiring of an associate, or the promoting of an associate to partner, traditionally precipitates the proverbial move to the corner, or larger window, office, if everybody gets the same size space personnel changes affect nothing, though occupants may differentiate their space with furniture. Reconfiguring of the perimeter is limited because everyone’s essentially in the same footprint. According to Allegro, an office like this may also be augmented by siting it next to a conference room, and a senior partner might have a door that connects his or her office directly to a corner conference room with easy access.

In terms of the prevailing D.C. windowed office issue, Allegro has produced a plan for a hypothetical 43-attorney firm, where perimeter (window) spaces include both partner and associate offices, along with a sprinkling of conference rooms. Support staff (paralegals; secretaries; law clerks) fills interior spaces at about 15 to 20 percent of the entire footprint, with the attorney/secretary ratio at 3:1, which Allegro called a fair metric today, adding that in some cases it is even 4:1.

“It used to be that you had a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio–every partner had a secretary or a couple of attorneys shared one, but those days are gone,” Allegro said, with younger associates doing much more of their own word processing and administrative tasks. With some of the interior spaces collocated with a perimeter conference room, natural light filtering through mitigates excessive use of energy draining artificial lighting so often associated with office interiors. At 700 s.f. per attorney on a 30,000 s.f. space, this represents a very efficient floor plan, Allegro concluded. If one ups the ante and increases the attorney count from 43 to 50 and reduces the number of secretaries (a market trend Allegro said has already taken hold), the attorney/secretary ratio jumps from 3:1 to approximately 6:1. At 600 s.f. per attorney, that 100 s.f. per attorney savings, seen on an annualized basis at a current $50 dollar per s.f. rental rate, can deliver a savings of $250,000 in the first year alone, adding up to $2.5 million over a 10-year lease.

Leather Bound Graveyard

In the past, Allegro noted law offices mandated significant interior space for books, periodicals, filing, records management and other paper-intensive functions. Evolving digital technology such as scanned and barcoded documents precludes the need for previously dedicated massive law libraries of the past, resulting in spaces that require on average only a fraction of their original footprint. Because lawyers as a rule no longer spend hours in libraries perusing pendulous volumes, and with databases such as Westlaw and LexisNexis readily accessible on one’s laptop, records footprints are minimized and in fact these interior spaces can become the office café, or a breakout space, where staff can get away from a desk, sit down and do some actual reading, for example. In fact Allegro has coined the term “Libr-area,” a hybrid space that merges the library function with utility space such as a café or circulation corridor. Carr Maloney PC and Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP are two D.C. law firms and FOX clients that have effectively incorporated Libr-area into their design.

For larger law firms such as the D.C. office of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP, the concept of collocating support functions such as conference rooms to create one large conference center is fairly commonplace now, Allegro said. With increased conference needs, sprinkling these rooms throughout what may be a multi-floor facility encourages separation and in effect polarizes colleagues who may never see one another, the architect explained. Channeling them into a conference hub promotes staff interaction and centralizes technical, hospitality and other accruing conference room functions for maximum efficiency.

Cutting Edge Discourse

Carrying the collaborative torch to its pinnacle where office configuration fosters frequent associate interaction, as well as partner to associate mentoring, Allegro said in many respects Europe is years ahead of the U.S. Citing the example set by pioneering global law firm Eversheds, which bills itself as “the 21st century law firm” and has won multiple awards for innovation from Dubai to Shanghai and more than two dozen countries in between, Allegro said Eversheds’ London office leads the way in the open law office concept. Attorneys sit in actual work groups, he explained, defined by furniture systems, adding that initially he and his group assumed this was done solely for economic purposes - to save real estate. “What was compelling was that their main goal was not economics, but to get attorneys talking and interacting more – to return the practice of law to a high level of collaboration and mentoring,” he said, noting that in the states, “most people would fall out of their chairs” at the mere suggestion of an open plan law firm.

Speaking to the future of U.S. legal design, and D.C. firms in particular, Allegro emphasized that characteristics such as function and flexibility are the cornerstones of maximizing workplace efficiency. “Trends withstanding, we do what we can to help the client,” he said.

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