Thursday, May 16, 2013
The White Flint building into which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving received high marks from the U.S. Green Building Council.
One of White Flint's gleaming new buildings recently received LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the building's environmentally-friendly design and features. It's the 14-story, Three White Flint North building, located in real estate company LCOR's North Bethesda Center, by the White Flint Metrorail station. It will be used as offices for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The building's features include a reflective roofing surface and vegetated roof areas, systems to reduce water usage by 41 percent and efficient mechanical systems including three frictionless chillers, a water purification system, a fully integrated building automation system and four emergency generators. More than 35 percent of …
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Washington National Cathedral will receive a $100,000 grant to help restore the earthquake-damaged vaulted ceiling inside its nave.
The Washington National Cathedral won the 2013 Partners in Preservation contest, securing a $100,000 grant to help restore damage caused by the 2011 earthquake. The cathedral was one of 24 local historic sites competing for grant funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express. “I would like to thank the entire Cathedral community, both near and far, who joined in voting for us, resulting in our popular vote win today," Andrew Hullinger, the cathedral’s senior director for finance and administration, said in a press release. "We wouldn’t be the National Cathedral without the support of so many who have come before us, or without those who are part of our community today who want to ensure that the Cathedral …
Just what does a LEED Gold building look like? Take a look.
Buildings typically consume a lot of energy, but they can be designed for reduced energy use. That doesn't mean they have to be ugly, utilitarian buildings—in fact, they can be quite stunning, as these photos of the new science building at the German School of Washington, DC, in Potomac, demonstrate. The building recently received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to an announcement from the school. The LEED certification system ranks buildings of a variety of building types according to how environmentally-friendly they were built and how ecologically they function. There are four levels of LEED certification: Platinum, Gold, Silver and a basic …
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Partners in Preservation, a partnership between American Express Co. and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, lets you vote for deserving historic sites in the DC area.
Georgetown University, Dumbarton Oaks Park, Washington National Cathedral and others are among a field of 24 DC-area historic sites vying for $1 million in grants from Partners in Preservation. The initiative stems from a partnership between American Express Co. and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The contest lets you vote online for your favorite local historic site. The site with the most “votes” online wins full funding for its preservation project. “Washington’s historic sites reflect not only important chapters in our nation’s history, but also the diversity and unique character of our city,” Mayor Vincent Gray said in a press release. “Partners in Preservation celebrates these places by encouraging the public to support…
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Montgomery College's Science Center was featured as a significant example of a LEED project.
Maryland ranks No. 6 in the nation for new LEED certifications, according to a report released by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The LEED designation stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" and provides a measurable and verifiable review of a building's design, construction, operation and maintenance from an environmental impact point of view. USGBC's rankings are based on the number of square feet of LEED-certified space per resident in the state. Maryland clocks in at No. 6, with 127 projects totalling 10,954,324 square feet of LEED-certified space, equating to 1.90 square feet per person. Maryland's 2012 per-person rate is just 0.04 behind that of Illinois. Montgomery College's Science Center in Rockville …
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
County planners present design guidelines for the Chevy Chase Lake Sector to the county planning board on Thursday, Jan. 31.
Montgomery County planning staff will present design guidelines for the Chevy Chase Lake Sector to the county planning board at the board's weekly meeting on Thursday. Staff planners recommend that the board approve the guidelines and send the guidelines to the county council for approval, according to the meeting's agenda. One of the key issues addressed by the guidelines is making buildings look smaller in the proposed new development (called Town Center East) on the east side of Connecticut Avenue between Chevy Chase Lake Drive and Manor Road, according to the background information for Thursday's work session. To make buildings seem smaller, the guidelines advise: In terms of building materials, the guidelines advise using local red …
Thursday, August 23, 2012
High above Washington, DC, a crocket stone was hoisted into place, marking the formal start of the post-earthquake restoration of the Washington National Cathedral.
It was just a small, carved stone, but it symbolized so much more. Cheers erupted as a newly carved crocket stone was carefully put into place in the southwest pinnacle of Washington National Cathedral's central tower—the "Gloria in Excelsis" tower—on Thursday afternoon, one year after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the region. A pulley hoisted the stone from the roof of the tower to near the top of the pinnacle. With all of Washington, DC, at their feet, stone masons Joe Alonso (the cathedral's head mason) and Sean Callaghan guided the stone into place, then shook hands, 676 feet above sea level (according to cathedral facts). (A crocket is a carved stone—often depicting foliage—that projects from a pinnacle, according to New York …
Thursday, July 26, 2012
County planners suggest the Chevy Chase Lake Sector be developed in an architectural style that reinterprets the traditional, red-brick-and-white-trim look of the mid-Atlantic region.
As debates about building heights, density and floor-to-area ratios for the Chevy Chase Lake Sector are resolved, a new question arises: What will the new buildings actually look like? Over a year ago, the buildings sketched out by the Chevy Chase Land Company's architects were vaguely futuristic. One public meeting attendee called the sketches a "brave new world," Patch reported. The land company ended up scrapping those plans, and drew together a new team to re-envision something more low-rise and residential in character, Patch reported. Since then, the only clue as to what the development—which spans Connecticut Avenue between Manor Road and Chevy Chase Lake Drive—might look like has been issued by the county planning department. …
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The International Council of Shopping Centers honored The Shops at Wisconsin Place with a Silver Design and Development award.
You don’t have to be a paying patron of Tiffany & Co. or Saks to enjoy the very best that Chevy Chase has to offer. Just walk onto the plaza of The Shops At Wisconsin Place, and you’ll be in the middle of an award-winning, internationally recognized design—and it’s all yours to enjoy. This past winter, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) honored The Shops at Wisconsin Place with a Silver Design and Development award in its annual U.S. Design and Development Awards, which recognize “outstanding projects for excellence in the creation of new retail projects, and in the expansion or redevelopment of existing projects,” according to a statement issued by the ICSC and New England Development, the Newton, MA-based real estate …
Diana Edensword Conway
9:19 am on Friday, May 17, 2013
Thanks for the article. It would be helpful to know what "regionally-sourced" means in the discussion of where building materials originated. I find that in some stores it means DC-VA-MD, and in others it means the East coast, writ large. Thanks. more ›