Foley and Lardner Law Firm
Conference Center
Client | Foley and Lardner Law Firm
Location | Washington | DC
Size | 30,000 SF | 3,300 SM
Awards |
AIA-DC Honour Award
IIDA-MAC Bronze Award
ADEX Gold Award for Interiors
Associated Builders and Contractors | Award of Merit for Excellence in Construction
Publications |
LD+A (Illuminating Engineering Society) Magazine
Contract Magazine
Project Description | The firm was selected by Foley+Lardner, LLP to perform a total building infrastructure modernization, a structural reconfiguration to create vast, column-free assembly spaces, and modernization of public spaces within their Washington, DC office.
The primary objective of this undertaking involved the creation of a contemporary work environment that reflects the forward-thinking nature of this organization. The Architect’s use of innovative ideas resulted in a design concept defined as a “mini-city within a city.” Given the building’s cluster of smaller buildings overlapping each other, the design sought to establish a sense of “Urbanism” by creating arteries that connect different points, while providing in-between social, collective, and active spaces. To best illustrate this design concept, the Designer established major axes and cross-axes relating to the geometry of the building. Using these axes as guides allowed the Designer to create “boulevards” that served as clear pathways running through the center of each floor. At the termination points of these axes were located all the conference rooms, café, libraries, and social spaces. This design element serves as a link between floors and practices.
Sustainable design elements, including green roofs, energy-efficient natural and artificial lighting strategies, and a state-of-the-art audio-visual facility constituted additional aspects of this undertaking. The major challenge of this project involved achieving these objectives and incorporating space efficiencies in an extremely complex, 198os building in which no prevailing, coherent structural grid exists.
Photographs | Courtesy of and with permission from Group Goetz Architects (d. 2o11) and Iris22 Productions.
