The District Architecture Center (DAC) just unveiled their summer exhibit “reIMAGINE: Creating New Uses for Old Buildings” and our Press House Warehouse is one of the featured projects! SK&A Structural Engineers’ Asst. Project Manager, Sebastian Jongerius, PE, attended the reIMAGINE grand opening on May 8th and captured these photos of the event.
DAC describes the exhibit, which is open to the public through August 29th, as follows:
“This exhibition presents 19 buildings in the Washington, DC, area that architects have recently reimagined, bringing new life to structures that might otherwise have been doomed to disuse, decay, and ultimately the wrecking ball. Any building that survives long enough is likely to undergo regular maintenance, occasional restoration, or possibly comprehensive renovation. Even so, some buildings inevitably become obsolete due to changes in business practices, technology, demographics, or other factors. Fortunately, many structures facing obsolescence can be converted to purposes other than the ones for which they were designed—a process known as adaptive reuse. Essentially a form of recycling at a large scale, adaptive reuse offers numerous potential advantages over new construction, including environmental, economic, and social benefits.” (dcarchcenter.org/event/exhibition-opening-reimagine-creating-new-uses-old-buildings)
As mentioned above, one of the 19 buildings featured is the Press House Warehouse, an adaptive reuse project we collaborated on with Foulger Pratt, Torti Gallas + Partners, and James Davis Construction. Now a mixed-use complex, the 462,511 SF historic building at 301 N Street NE was originally a warehouse designed in 1931 for the National Capital Press. The transformed 2nd and 3rd floors now house Hickok Cole Architects, for whom we provided tenant fit-out services. SK&A Structural Engineers not only delivered repair and restoration design services for the renovation project completed in 2022, but also conducted historic assessments, structural probes, testing and inspections, and façade services in 2016.
