1701 Rhode Island Avenue

Owner

Akridge (Developer + Previous Owner)
Washington, District of Columbia

General Contractor

The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Greenbelt, Maryland

Structural Engineer

SK&A DC Structural Engineers
Washington, District of Columbia

MEP Engineer

GHT Limited
Arlington, Virginia

Copper Installer

The James Myers Company
Beltsville, Maryland

1701 Rhode Island is the renovation of a former YMCA into a seven-story, 104,000-SF office building designed to reflect the historic character of the neighborhood with a contemporary interpretation. To pay homage to the nearby historic St. Matthew's Cathedral and its copper dome, the new building exterior features a glass and copper façade. Each of the 1,700 shingles along the six-story façade was individually patina treated by hand to exalt the copper’s natural hues and chamfered at their corners. The exterior layer is made from 100 percent copper sheets which allow for an authentic shingle installation method and preserve the ability to recycle the material for future use.

1701 Rhode Island’s new design intent was to preserve the warmth and depth of the rich, variegated patina in a way that standard commercial coatings could not achieve. The team collaborated with a copper manufacturer to select a nanoceramic coating that would protect the copper while preserving the visibility of the patina - its first application for outdoor commercial architecture. Numerous tests helped fine-tune the coating so shingles could be bent on-site without compromising the integrity of the coating. A salt spray test verified the coating’s ability to protect against the weather. To ensure there was a range of treatments and tones across the building’s façade, the shingles were randomized within their crates before arriving on site.

In February of 2019, the LEED Platinum-certified building was delivered fully leased to WeWork, deeming it the co-working giant’s first flagship location in Washington, DC. In July of that year, it was announced that 1701 Rhode Island was sold for a net recorded price of $105.7 million, or just over $1K per square foot. The sale—which occurred just three years following the acquisition of the building—represents one of the top five prices per square foot for an office building ever achieved in Washington, DC.