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The District’s popular Shakespeare Theatre is expanding to a second venue and the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) is building a new headquarters facility at 620 F Street, N.W. Known as The Harman Center for the Arts, the theatre is part of a development made up of an 11-story office building, with the first five and one-half floors housing the theatre and the remaining floors comprising 120,000 square feet of class A office space that will be owned by the BAC. Clark Construction Group, LLC was awarded the $44 million contract to build this mixed-use complex, which also includes an underground 140-space parking garage. Team members include CarrAmerica Urban Development LLC, the owner’s representative and contract administrator along with JM Zell Partners Ltd., the owner’s consultant.
“Our downtown should be a vibrant, 18-hour neighborhood with housing, retail, arts and entertainment at its core,” said D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams. “The new Harman Center gets us one step closer to that goal. By supporting this project, we’re drawing people from across the city into our downtown, creating more jobs and new revenue for our city.”
Class A Office Space
SmithGroup of Washington, D.C. designed the 11-story office building and the headquarters office space for the BAC. The office space is entered from a dramatic glass winter garden, which will serve as BAC’s public amenity and display space. The French limestone facade pays tribute to the masonry craft of stonework, while the north facade is highlighted by a glass screen element that gives a layering or scrim effect to the building. Additional office team members include Tadjer-Cohen-Edelson Associates, Inc. of Silver Spring, Md., structural engineer; Girard Engineering, Inc. of McLean, Va., MEP engineering, Wiles Mensch Corporation of Reston, Va., civil engineer and the International Masonry Institute of Annapolis, Md., facade and masonry consultant.
“We are very excited by the opportunity to develop this most extraordinary building for two very special organizations,” said CarrAmerica Urban Development, LLC President Robert O. Carr. “The Shakespeare Theatre and BAC are together making an enormous contribution to the quality of life in the Pennsylvania Quarter neighborhood.”
Theatre Component
Diamond & Schmitt of Toronto designed the theatre component, to be known as The Sidney Harman Hall, which is highlighted by an elegant, three-story glass curtain wall. A projecting glass bay or “urban window” functions as a three-story marquee, drawing in the passersby to the light and movement within the lobby. Flexible configurations within the theatre will allow for a proscenium, thrust, semi-arena or bare stage. The space also is acoustically isolated from the parking garage below and offices above.
Additional theatre team members include theatre consultant Fisher Dachs Associates of New York City, the Chicago-based acoustical firm, The Talaske Group, Inc. and the theatre mechanical firm Crossey Engineering Ltd. of Toronto. Together the team designed an adaptable interior space that will accommodate a variety of presentations in drama, dance, jazz, chamber music, poetry and film.
Funding for the theatre project comes from both public and private sources, including a gift from The Harman Family Foundation and a grant from the District of Columbia.
Contact: Corporate Communications
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