The Hyde Park, in Arlington, Virginia, is a landmark high-modernist condominium building designed in the 1960s. Fifty years on, our studio was asked to perform a complete renovation of the lobby in order to resolve a number of structural and aesthetic issues with the space. The reception area was last updated in the 1980s with design elements inimical to the building’s exterior. Additionally, the configuration of the lobby and adjacent storage areas had proved inadequate for the capacity now required. Mail delivery and package storage for both the commercial and residential elements of the building created a significant circulation problem, as tenants and service providers alike were forced into the same traffic pattern, overtaxing the lobby space and materials. The responsive design reintroduces a modernist vocabulary to the reception area, creating a clean, open, and bright entrance for welcoming residents and visitors alike, with improvements in circulation. With the strategic placement of the newly configured reception desk close to the elevator core, the design delineates a separate delivery entrance and storage areas which greatly increases package storage capacity and improves circulation. The design scheme employs a “cascading threshold” concept which allows for movement through a series of increasingly
intimate spaces to reach the interior of the building. In contrast to this orthogonal vocabulary, a raised ceiling soffit defines a zone of a softer curvilinear surface encompassing the reception desk, elevator wall and seating area. Continuous LED cove lighting and large-scale LED ‘cloud’ fixtures create the effect of a loftier, day lit space within the interior. Additionally, the design incorporates materials and finishes which intensify the relationship to the green space and daylight from the park fronting the building but remain consistent with the modern ethos of the base-building architecture. Blue high-gloss lacquered wall panels and enhanced window glazing with reduced mullion thickness literally draw daylight from the green space into the new lobby. Acid-etched bronze mirrors lining the vestibule and the innermost wall surface softly reflect the colors and textures of the landscape beyond. One of the major lighting challenges of the space was to create a consistently-lit environment cutting deep into the interior of the building. A Lutron lighting control system constantly monitors daylight levels and balances the bright front-lobby space with the needs of the deeper interior spaces, not only saving energy costs and reducing maintenance needs, but also creating the effect of a continuous and unified space.