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January 27, 2023
in Uncategorized
by Site Admin

Summer School

Like so many disruptions, the pandemic brought a flurry of activity for our K-12 school clients. For the past three years GBR Architects has been deeply involved in capturing and creating meaningful changes for schools during their summer break.  This involves advanced planning to design, permit and contract for construction in advance of the “summer window.” Perhaps the most challenging has been at Gonzaga College High School at the foot of the Capitol grounds.  Here, school activities never fully stop. Summer is full of on-going school activities from academic focused programming to advancement, admissions and pre-season athletics. Gonzaga never sleeps!  GBR Architects has not only been challenged with these fast-paced construction phases of summer, 12 weeks maximum, but also returning to repurpose areas from our very first project on campus over 2 decades ago.  Most of all it remains fulfilling to find our previous design work 20+ years ago still relevant...

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December 16, 2022
in Uncategorized
by A. Wheaton

2022 AIA Northern Virginia President Sonia R. Jarboe Congrats!

News Release: December 16th, 2022 Distinguished Leadership AwardAIA Northern Virginia President Sonia R. Jarboe, AIA Sonia R. Jarboe, AIA, GBR Architects Associate, received the Distinguished Leadership Award in October for her dedication and diligence as AIA Northern Virginia President over the past year, during which she worked tirelessly with the AIA NoVA Board and Staff to plan events and develop a strategic plan for the Chapter through 2027. The previous image shows 2022 AIA Northern Virginia President Sonia R. Jarboe, AIA, standing with 2022 Past President Manoj V. Dalaya, FAIA, with AIA NoVA Board Members and 2022 Honorees. At the AIA NoVA Autumn Social, the Chapter met to celebrate and honor individuals in Arlington. 2022 AIA NoVA President, Sonia R. Jarboe, AIA, lower right, is joined by the rest of the incoming 2023 AIA NoVA Executive Committee. Clockwise from lower left: Anh Tran, Secretary; April Drake, President; Christopher Kehde, Treasurer; and Braden Field, AIA,...

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March 11, 2020
in Uncategorized
by phillip

Seven Years in the Making

We are thrilled to witness the last chapter in the story about “the little church that could.” In February, 2020, Riverside Baptist Church was certified by the US Green Building Council – a long standing project goal – marking project completion. Project design began in 2013 and even with construction completed in 2018, closing out all components extended until recently.   GBR Architects was commissioned with the design to replace a church situated in the center of The Wharf, one of the region’s most ambitious developments.  Envisioned as a destination waterfront community by developers PN Hoffman (now Hoffman and Associates) partnered with Madison Marquette, Riverside Baptist Church literally sat at the front door of the future development immediately across Maine Avenue SW. The Riverside project included both a new church for Riverside and a mixed use, multifamily residential development on the former church property.   The new church is LEED® Silver-certified. Sustainable features include...

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March 21, 2019
in Uncategorized
by phillip

Looking down, not up?

Looking down, not up? Today, we are celebrating an award to our structural engineer, Ehlert & Bryan, specifically to principal, Jason Sparrow.  Jason’s approach to this project has been singled out by the Structural Engineering Association of Metropolitan Washington for their creative solution to some dicey conditions.  See their award at  https://seamw.org/projects-2019 .  An early decision by both owners,  Riverside Church and developer PN Hoffmann, placed the new church at the prominent corner of Maine Avenue SW and 7th Street SW directly across from PN Hoffmann’s signature Wharf.  Normally designing sacred spaces we are focused upward seeking inspiration from the heavens.  For this unique project we had to start looking below – below the ground.   The WMATA Green Line passes directly under the corner of the lot.  The location presented design issues but the elevation of the tunnel was even more challenging.  With the top of the tunnel a mere 30 feet...

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March 11, 2019
in Uncategorized
by phillip

Kresge REimagined

For the past two years, GBR Architects has been working with Dr. Jo Allen, president, and facilities staff at Meredith College to realize improvements to their 1974 Kresge Auditorium.  The Meredith example is one of numerous such campus facilities sprinkled over the US higher ed landscape by the Kresge Foundation, under the leadership of Sebastian S. Kresge, an American retail icon, who supported the arts on a large scale.  Perhaps the most famous of these is the MIT version, designed by Eero Saarinen which opened in 1955. Meredith’s version is part of the Cate Student Center, designed by local Raleigh architect Valand Benzing Associates.   Under Dr. Allen’s leadership the project goals sought to completely transform the original space by creating a warm and friendly atmosphere unlike the previous version, improve accessibility and sightlines, update A/V and student connectivity while enlarging the performance area to support a variety of uses.  By all...

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February 26, 2019
in Uncategorized
by eliza

Postcard from Living Product Expo 2018

Last fall I attended the Living Product Expo in Pittsburg, PA, put on by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI).  I was curious about what type of products would be exhibited and how they would vary from the ‘sustainable’ products that I have been specifying for years.  I also wanted to find out what manufacturers are stepping up to the plate to be leaders in the development of healthier building products.  The International Living Future Institute has a rating system called the Living Building Challenge (LBC) (similar to how USGBC has the LEED rating system).  My quick definition of the Living Building Challenge is ‘LEED on steroids’.  It not only incorporates LEED standards but goes beyond their requirements and requires testing of the building performance during a twelve-month period after occupation.  I’ll back up a little for those who aren’t familiar with the Living Building Challenge.    The Living Building Challenge...

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February 19, 2019
in Uncategorized
by natasha

Designing for Extremes: Building a Resilient City

As weather patterns continue to fluctuate at a dramatic rate, those involved in the design of the built environment are looking for ways to adapt structures to the inevitable consequences of climate change.   I attended the seminar Designing for Extremes: Building a Resilient City at the District Architecture Center on February 7th where speakers with backgrounds in meteorology, development, architecture and planning addressed issues of a warming climate and it's impact on our infrastructure. The days of avoiding climate change are over, as it's already here. While D.C. has not experienced a natural disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina or Sandy, the District is still recovering from the Federal Triangle Flash Flood of 2006 while also having the wettest year to date in 2018. Not to mention the increase of days above 95 degrees Fahrenheit year after year with decreases in average snowfall.   Efforts to mitigate the damage from rising temperatures...

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December 3, 2018
in Uncategorized
by John W

Riverside Baptist Church featured on WUSA9

Last Friday, WUSA9 ran a segment on the recently completed Riverside Baptist Church at The Wharf in Southwest DC. The segment captures a great deal of information in a short video.  Not only does it illustrate the character of the space and the attention to detail, it also talks to the history of the church and the development opportunity that led Riverside to a new building on its own site.   The video can be viewed here:  Riverside Baptist Church is renewed.   For several years before GBR was formally engaged in 2013, Riverside had been exploring options on how to best utilize their real estate assets to overcome mounting maintenance issues.  At that time, the church was poised to move forward with PN Hoffman with a Letter of Intent to redevelop their site and replace the building that had been their home since 1967.  While not an uncommon solution for an urban church...

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November 15, 2018
in Uncategorized
by John W

GBR Sketchers Club

It all started on a sunny day in October.  A weekly exercise led by Gabe Romero, the GBR Sketchers have been out sharpening their skills in seeing and communicating architecture through freehand sketching. While we all love to use the latest 3d software and gee-whiz techniques to illustrate and animate our design presentations, there is no replacement for putting an HB pencil to paper. (Ok, for some it’s putting an Apple Pencil to iPad, but the judges have ruled and determined that does not qualify as cheating).   Old Town Alexandria is full of great buildings and there are many opportunities within a short walk of the office for an afternoon sketch break – especially on pleasant Fall day. As of today though, we officially have a dedicated group. After the first snow and slush storm of the winter season, the sketchers went out and worked on their craft.  Well done!   The weekly...

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