2050 M Street maximizes its façade’s potential to set the new standard of trophy office space within the DC market. image © REX Architects

REX Architects revealed the visuals of its new project called ''2050 M Street'' in Washington, DC- 2050 M Street is located in the city's 'Golden Triangle’ business district, the approximately 400,000 sf building will host CBS’s Washington Bureau-including its television studios- amongst other tenants. It will be constructed in two phases to enable uninterrupted broadcasting. 

Washington, DC’s building stock is largely composed of two typologies: heavy masonry or concrete buildings with high-relief facades and punched windows—in the Beaux Arts, Neoclassical, Art Deco, and Brutalist styles- or modern structures with taut glass envelopes and many with applied external decorative treatments. ''Because building heights and massing are constrained by DC’s strict zoning codes, the two typologies match in scale, but are aesthetically unreconciled'' adds REX Architects. The project hes been developed by Tishman Speyer Properties- which the building will employ sustainability best practices and will target LEED® Gold certification upon completion in 2019.

image © Luxigon

image ©Luxigon

The unique glass also creates a new DC office type, one which combines the advantages of an all-glass building with the modulation of a high-relief façade befitting its context.

image ©Luxigon

A high performance, low-E coating is applied to the glass within the insulating cavity to meet thermal performance requirements. Paired with the curving panels, it creates an unusual kaleidoscopic effect of repetitive transparency and reflection that simultaneously animates and dematerializes the façade. 

image © REX Architects

The façade’s approximately nine hundred identical, insulated-glass panels—3.2m tall by 1.5m wide (11’-6” tall by 5’-0” wide)—are subtly curved to a 2.9m (9’-6”) radius through a heat roller tempering process. The curve yields structural efficiency, which meets the wind load requirements and enables a thinner monolithic outer lite than normal, providing greater transparency. Because of the curve’s inherent rigidity in compression, only the top and bottom edges of the panels are supported from the floor slabs, while the ‘mullion-less’ vertical edges are flush-glazed for a minimalist aesthetic that improves sightlines, while gaining useable floor area. As a counterpoint to the crystalline façade, the lobby is a warm oasis of cowhide wall panels (whose dimensions, ironically, suggest stone), and wood floors and ceilings. 

image © REX Architects

The vestibule is enlarged to accommodate a site-specific piece of art commissioned for the building.

image ©Luxigon

Its curtain wall provides the leasing ideal of hyper-transparent, floor-to-ceiling glass without any view-impeding mullions. 

image ©Luxigon

The concave side of the curved units faces outwards, resulting in an elegant fluting effect, which in turn gives the building its unique presence. To emphasize the ethereal lightness of the skin, all perimeter columns are pulled 3.8m (12’-6”) in from the façade, and the ceiling is tapered to the depth of the structural slab as it approaches the exterior.

image © REX Architects

image © Wikimedia, architecture by RTKL

image © Google Earth, architecture by Kickok Cole Architects

image © REX Architects

Project Facts

Client: Tishman Speyer
Program: Premium office building in Washington, DC’s ‘Golden Triangle’ business district, which will house CBS’s Washington Bureau (including its television studios), amongst other tenants
Area: Approximately 37,100 m² (400,000 sf)
Construction Budget: Confidential
Status: Commenced 2015; commenced Design Development, 2015; completion expected, 2019
Design Architect: REX Architects
Personnel: Timothy Burwell, Adam Chizmar, Maur Dessauvage, Kelvin Ho, James Kehl, Elizabeth Nichols, Joshua Prince-Ramus, Matthew Uselman (PL), Cristina Webb (PL), Vaidotas Vaiciulis, Michael Volk
Executive Architect: Kendall/Heaton
Consultants: Arup, Baumann, Blades, Cerami, ECS, Front, Janson Tsai, LERA, LSM, Richter, George Sexton, Walker, Wiles Mensch, WSP

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