Velocity is a phased, mixed-use development occupying an city blockin DC’s emerging Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. Since the developmentis geared specifically to a young demographic, it was particularlyappropriate to create a “design forward” series of spaces at both ground level and on the roof deck.At the ground level is a courtyard developed over occupied space. Itsdesign is based on an angular geometry in both plan and section. A “stream” runs the length of the courtyard, between angular earth forms. At the center of the courtyard, the ventilation shaft for the garage below has been clad with stone and used as a water wall, the source forthe stream. On the roof, LAB designed both seating/planted areas that are in the language of the courtyard below and also a steel trellis system. The treillage, in the crystalline language of the project as a whole, sets off the pool as a social space, shades residents using the roof and, by projecting past the façade plane in several locations, becomes anidentifier for the building from below.
