Crossing DC
Crossing DC borrows architectural language from the monumental character of DC’s famous federal and cultural buildings.
Crossing DC is an 800-unit residential building in Washington, DC’s Navy Yard neighborhood. The design approach turns the block inside-out, inverting the traditional central courtyard with four smaller perimeter outer courts cut into the face of each street wall.
The Navy Yard context was actively evolving as the project was being designed, with a number of new buildings under construction nearby that presented a variety of design styles and façade expressions. In order to ground the building visually, Crossing DC borrows architectural language from the monumental character of DC’s famous federal and cultural buildings, with a façade expression that is light in color but weighty. This frame wraps the building, and then is cut to reveal four courtyards as well as the softer inner frame of a smooth, continuously glazed surface. The outer shell extends all the way down to the ground plane, framing the retail spaces.
By scooping out parts of the building, the design maximizes the number of apartments with views out to the street.
In contrast to the traditional DC courtyard perimeter buildings where most of the interior units face into a courtyard, Crossing DC creates smaller, more intimate neighborhoods within the larger building, giving each apartment visual access to the street.
The scale of the double story grid visually compresses the building mass, while the outer shell is animated by alternating chamfers.
The inner skin visually oscillates as one passes by: the vertical mullions have two colors in warm tones which create a hue to the inner façade.
A 20’x20’ pedestrian easement was required to run through the site, and the team embraced the concept by enlarging it and making it an active public space.
A warm metal was used to frame this space, in another nod to a softer feel once past the building’s outer shell.
The rooftop is the largest landscaped residential rooftop in DC.
Designed as a “meadow in the sky,” the mechanical equipment was hidden so that the rooftop feels like an uninterrupted experience for residents and guests.
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