Saint Elizabeths East Gateway

The ISTUDIO team worked together on the master plan and design for this highly visible gateway to the St Elzabeths East Campus – a place for workers and residents to gather at lunchtime, weekends, or evenings at any time of year.

The site plan includes a Promenade that runs diagonally across the whole site from NW to SE and a Pavilion that spans the wedge formed where it crosses a road. Café buildings line the Promenade facing MLK Blvd. Facilities provide cafe/dining areas, a covered pavilion, vendor spaces, and bathrooms. The landscape is partly planted, partly green space, and partly paved with permeable materials.

The landscape concept incorporates urban agriculture to promote community engagement with a low initial cost. The larger plan includes developing small planted areas along the campus edge and a kiosk with planted area at the Congress Heights Metro.

The team developed the project with modular building units to be scaleable and easy to implement on a tight timeline with minimal utilities on a challenging site.