New NAR building in Washington, D.C.
Location and Design Produce Future D.C. Landmark
The facilitator of NAR’s building design competition shares his view of the association’s new headquarters.

BY L. WILLIAM CHAPIN, II, FAIA

Last year the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® was considering its housing options. With its current lease set to expire in October 2004, the Real Property Operations Committee (RPOC) was debating whether to rent, buy, or build a new home for NAR’s Washington staff. It was at this point the committee learned that the last building site overlooking Capitol Hill was available. The timing could not have been better. After due analysis, the decision was made to go forward with a new NAR office building on this highly visible site.

Sitting just two blocks north of the U.S. Capitol building at 500 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., the new NAR property will accommodate a thirteen-story building with a total of 105,000 square feet. The top three stories of the wedge-shaped building will be the association’s Washington, D.C. office. Meeting and conference rooms on these floors and a rooftop garden deck will all offer views of the Capitol Dome to the south. The remainder of the building would provide rental office space, with high-end retail at street level.

Being able to locate at the very doorstep of the Capitol, where the majority of the NAR’s important legislative work takes place, is a stroke of good fortune. But the project is not without challenges. Land costs in such a prime location are high. In addition, the site is narrow and triangular, requiring an expensive wedge-shaped structure. At the same time, the well-located property will surely command equivalently lofty rents. Even more importantly, it will demonstrate to NAR’s congressional neighbors and to visitors from around the country that good design plus compelling location equal great real estate value. All these circumstances dictate that nothing less than a superlatively designed building would do.

To help ensure that the completed building met this challenge, Terry McDermott, NAR’s chief executive officer and an old colleague of mine from the American Institute of Architects, asked me if I would help select the best architect for NAR’s new headquarters. Knowing that there is nothing like a competition between talented designers to generate architectural inspiration, Terry and I agreed to hold a limited-invited design competition

Three distinguished architectural firms were invited to participate—Graham Gund Architects, Cambridge, Mass.; Clark Redfield Architects, Charlottesville, Va.; and Bing Thom Architects, Vancouver, B.C. A mere 60 days later, three designs were delivered, each with its own special architectural attributes. Any of the three would have resulted in a brilliant building. In the end the jury, consisting of George White, FAIA, former Architect of the Capitol; Harry Robinson III, FAIA, former dean of architecture at Howard University and chairman of the D.C. Commission of Fine Arts; Colden "Coke" Florance, FAIA, a prominent D.C. architect; Jim Helsel, CCIM, CPM , SIOR, chairman of NAR's Real Property Operations Committee; Dale Colby, vice chairman of RPOC; Richard Rosenthal, CRE, chairman of the RPOC D.C. building subcommittee; Al Mansell, NAR first vice president nominee; and Steven Leader, CRE, past president of The Counselors of Real Estate, selected the submission by Graham Gund Architects.

Gund’s design features softly curved blue-green glass exterior walls suspended above a unique floating steel canopy, which stretches nearly the full length of the south-facing entry side of the building. A slender space frame tower of open struts and braces forms the intersection of the two sleek and seamlessly curved planes of glass. This three-sided tower rises from the ground to a flag mast at the top, creating a powerful terminus for the north point of the building. All aspects of the building combine to create a powerful composition that is unique and memorable—a true landmark of the future. And the building is as energy efficient as it is beautiful. It features an exterior skin of double-veneer glass that generates energy-saving convective airflow at each floor, reducing heating and cooling costs.

Upon its completion in 2004, the NAR Washington headquarters will demonstrate by example the importance of timelessness, quality, and good neighborliness in real estate. NAR members will be able to take pride in owning a building that speaks glowingly of their organization while creating substantial equity over many generations.


L. William Chapin II, FAIA, is a practicing architect and consultant located in Daytona Beach, Fla. He is a former national president of the American Institute of Architect, headquartered in Washington, D.C.