Page 2 of 3
Washington, DC
I looked for answers there, they weren’t mine to find
We’re starting this second page of the slideshow with another AIA24 tour, and this one is a good one. ET203 The New Embassy of Australia was all about a visit to the brand new Australian Embassy by Bates Smart and KCCT, about a mile (or so) walk away from the convention center. The embassy features two beautiful atriums (atria is probably more grammatically correct), only one of which we were allowed to take photos of.
The tour was mostly led by Australians (always a good thing) and the furnishings, artwork and some of the interior materials (like the eucalyptus wood floors in some areas) were brought in from Australia as well. The building is still new (no new building smell but the 100% filtered fresh air change is always nice), was designed to meet both US LEED and Australian Green Star standards, and is still so new that those always fun Australians haven’t even had time yet to install their outdoor barbie where they told us they plan to grill sizzling sausages. I reckon those sizzling snags alone would be worth another squiz (note: I used an online Australian translator for that last sentence).
From the non stop awesomeness of Australia (where they told us that just being inside the embassy counted as being in Australia), we go in a completely different direction with a visit to AIA Headquarters (where just being inside does not make you an AIA member unless your dues check cleared). The ET117d AIA Global Campus for Architecture and Design tour took us to two buildings, and we’ll start with the good one. It’s called the Octagon despite not actually having eight sides (I counted). The building is super historic- it is the oldest still standing private residence in DC (an amazing map there showed it also had waterfront views when built), it was briefly the home of James Madison (famous for both JMU and that whole constitution thing), it was where the treaty to end the War of 1812 was signed (they still have the original desk), it was the home of the AIA, it is where the National Trust for Historic Buildings was founded and it was also (originally) home to 28 slaves. The original slave holding owners did not build separate slave quarters but instead they slept where they worked. Private servants slept on the floor outside the bedroom door of their owners, kitchen servants slept in the kitchen, etc. Like every single thing ever associated with slavery, it sounds just unimaginably awful.
The AIA Headquarters tour was split into two parts. After the Octagon, we visited the construction site at their brutalist headquarters building in the Octagon’s backyard, where a multi year renovation is still underway. The newly fixed up building will feature a larger bookstore, solar sunshades, a flexible boardroom space that can be rented out for weddings and, just as it has since it opened, the United States Secret Service. They lease the top three floors of the building with AIA offices and public spaces below.
Our next stop is on East Capitol Street where, despite the clumsy foreshadowing in this text and picture, we are not there to see the Capitol.
Instead of the Capitol, we’re across First Street SE at the Library of Congress, where even this statue of Jefferson himself can not help but eternally gawk at it wondrous lobby.
Earlier this year when I was in Cincinnati I started to think about the nicest rooms in the country, primarily because I was standing in the jaw droppingly beautiful art deco main hall at Union Terminal at the time. On that list I included some other really amazing rooms like the Cadet Chapel at the US Air Force Academy, the lobby of the Old Faithful Inn and the living room of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House in Chicago. I’m sure if I you ask me about this next year or next month (or even later today) that I’ll change my mind about what those best rooms should be, but I also think that any serious list of the best rooms in the country should also include this one.
You don’t have to be Jefferson himself to gawk at the Library of Congress’ wondrous lobby. Admission is free but timed (a pandemic trend that feels like it has worn out its welcome for spaces like this), and once inside you are free to wander and take as many pictures as you like. I showed as much restraint as I could and only took 92 photos, and edited it down to just these additional four to include in the slideshow. And if one of these photos looks slightly different than the others, that’s because it is from a balcony overlooking the reading room and not from the lobby, a view that is easily accessible for anyone, except possibly for that Jefferson statue in the lobby.
I ended up visiting three libraries but am only including pictures from two of them (sorry Carnegie Library Apple Store across the street from the convention center). This second library is also a good one, it’s the Martin Luther King Library, a Washington DC public library across the street from the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery. The building looks Miesian because it is, it was designed by Mies van der Rohe and then renovated by Mecanoo. They made an already beautiful building a little more fun, with new sculptural staircases, a slide in the children’s library and a beautiful rooftop garden space, all open to the public, no free timed entry ticket required.
I didn’t stay near the convention center for a few reasons, although the outrageously overpriced hotels in that area certainly was a factor. Instead of a convenient hotel near the convention center, I decided to go with a surprisingly convenient hotel in Crystal City, Virginia, which, especially on a weekday, is also incredibly convenient to the convention center. The hotel (which, in and of itself was fine but nothing special) was only a five minute walk to the Metro station, where a Yellow Line train came by every six minutes (every ten on weekends) and was then only a thirteen minute ride directly to Mount Vernon Square and the convention center.
Also the Metro is just pretty damn beautiful. The Yellow Line even goes above ground between the Pentagon and L’Enfant Plaza, over the Potomac with glimpses of the Jefferson Memorial and the city. And the stations, with their high ceilings and super dramatic lighting, are the best example of good brutalism in the country. Even on a busy and exhausting day when I walked over ten miles, I still enjoyed and looked forward to that thirteen minute ride back to NOVA.
