A Residential Hotel in D.C.

LOCATED ON DELAWARE AVENUE, a critical corridor in a new proposed urban development linking Union Station to Capitol Hill, this hotel design draws on architectural languages prevalent in America’s golden age of hotels during the turn of the century. In America’s historic hotels, permanent residents typically occupied a certain percentage of rooms, making up what is considered “missing middle” housing today. This new hotel draws inspiration from that tradition by setting aside a set number of rooms for a fellowship program, which gives high-achieving students and young professionals access to Capitol Hill in the midst of one of America’s least accessible housing markets.

Of critical importance to the hotel’s organization and navigation of the irregular site is a central atrium. The atrium’s glass dome is based on careful study of the Art Nouveau dome in Galerie Lafayette in Paris, which uses an exterior conical dome to carry the load of the interior shell.