Square 54 Development Complete in Foggy Bottom

September 29, 2011

Square 54 Development Complete in Foggy Bottom

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Clark Construction Group, LLC, has completed the third and final phase of construction at Square 54 a mixed-use development at 2200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. In Phase I, Clark completed a five-level below-grade parking structure. Phase II, completed earlier this year, was the construction of a 10-story office building with 476,000 square feet of office space. Phase III, which recently reached substantial completion, is a 335-unit apartment building. Square 54 is located on the campus of George Washington University in Washington, D.C.'s Foggy Bottom neighborhood. Phase II of the project was recently named regional Retail/Mixed-Use Project of the Year by Engineering-New Record and earned an Excellence in Construction Award from ABC of Metropolitan Washington in the Mixed-Use Project Over $50 million category.

The office building is defined by transparent glass, custom finishes, and multiple curves that mimic the nearby Washington Circle. The project has five radii at different parts of the building perimeter and courtyard. The building envelope consists of unitized curtain wall framed by white aluminum caps and glazed with fritted glass or German Jura stone. The three-story lobby is bordered by two structural glass point-supported entry walls that allow passersby to see through the lobby into the public 18,000 square-foot courtyard. The lobby features two curving, 30-foot-tall silver travertine stone walls, each containing a recessed bianco travertine wall. The curved walls were laid out over a different arc: one wall on a 172-foot radius, the other on a 397-foot radius. The stone work on these walls earned a Star Award nomination for craftsmanship from the Washington Building Congress earlier this year.

Square 54's office building was designed to achieve LEED® Gold certification. The building is topped by a 5,000 square-foot green roof system. A cistern in the parking garage collects gray water which feeds the courtyard foundation and irrigation system. The Clark team earned numerous construction credits and recycled approximately 93 percent of the project's construction waste.

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, New York City, is the executive architect. Sasaki, Boston, is the landscape architect and Hickok Cole Architects, Washington, D.C., is the project architect. Additional project partners include Thornton Tomasetti, Inc., Washington, D.C., structural engineer; Wiles Mensch Corporation, Reston, Va., civil engineer; and TOLK, Inc, Fairfax, Va., MEP engineer.