2023 Recap: Looking Back and Giving Thanks

Our studio looks back with gratitude on the meaningful work we accomplished in 2023 and the recognition that came with it. We celebrated another birth in January and added to the studio team in June. Some highlights:

• We began the year with NBC News coverage of the opening of our DC Homeland Security Operations Center…to glowing praise from Federal DHS Secretary Mayorkas and US FEMA Administrator Criswell. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/new-law-enforcement-center-unveiled-dc-help-prevent-another-jan-6-rcna72445

• Mayor Bowser cut the ribbon at the Arboretum Community Center, DC government’s first mass timber building. This solar-powered project serves the vision of a more sustainable future with design for net zero energy and a smaller carbon footprint. https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-cuts-ribbon-new-arboretum-community-center

• We opened the Emery Men’s Shelter with beds and resources for 150 clients.

• Powell Elementary School received a National AIA design excellence award and was published in Architect magazine. https://www.architectmagazine.com/awards/aia-selects-13-recipients-of-2023-education-facility-design-award_o

• Van Ness Elementary School was published and picked up national and regional design awards. https://www.istudioarchitects.com/van-ness-elementary-school

• Kingman Island Environmental Education Center was selected as an Architizer A+ Finalist. https://www.istudioarchitects.com/news/2023/6/21/kingman-island-is-architizer-a-finalist

• We closed the year with a master plan for the Training Academy of the Future - a vibrant, net zero, carbon-neutral campus for Fire, EMS and Police training in the nation’s capital.

  Thank you to our fabulous clients and consultant teams who made all of these projects possible! We are excited for another year of impactful design!

Students Tour DC's First Mass Timber Community Center

We recently hosted a joint tour of Arboretum Community Center for architecture students from regional universities, including Virginia Tech’s WAAC campus, and Catholic University’s School of Architecture. Our own Sara Al Khatib and founder Rick Schneider hosted the tour, diving deep to teach students about sustainable community design, net zero energy standards, and mass timber. The project, in partnership with DC’s Department of General Services and Department of Parks and Recreation, is the city’s first mass timber recreation center. An addition to the original “Mission 66” Field House, the project added a new wing including a multi-purpose space, computer lab, fitness room, and gym. The mass timber gym successfully reduced the carbon footprint by 30%, working to achieve Carbon Net Neutrality.

Students learned about sustainable strategies integrated within the project, from stormwater management to daylighting, and we discussed the design and cost implications of using these methods in the project. Students even paused to shoot hoops in the new gym! Thank you to Catholic University professor Jaime Van Mourik, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP for arranging the tour, and we look forward to hosting future classes!

Read more about the project here: https://www.istudioarchitects.com/arboretum

Awards and Publications:

2021 Rethinking the Future Award, Public Building Concept

2021 Global Future Design Awards, Second Award for Institutional Architecture Concept

Arboretum Wins 2023 NAIOP Award