Fanciful Annex to Federal Structure Is Nearly Finished
By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 3, 2006
The architect Michael Graves has brought a sense of whimsy to the least whimsical of places: a federal courthouse.
His firm's design for an annex to the U.S. Courthouse at Third Street and Constitution Avenue NW includes sculptural sidewalk benches, an atrium with a six-story circular staircase and a playful roof of bow arches that resemble a series of Quonset huts.
Workers are completing final details of the $104 million building, named the William B. Bryant Annex after the first African American chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It will add courtroom and office space to the storied E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, home to the Watergate and Microsoft trials and to appearances by the famous and infamous, including presidential assailant John W. Hinckley Jr., Monica S. Lewinsky and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff.
Two other major buildings designed by Graves & Associates are under construction in the District: a new headquarters for the U.S. Transportation Department in Southwest and the St. Coletta public charter school, with its colorful geometric shapes, at 19th Street and Independence Avenue SE.
The firm is known for its colorful postmodernist buildings such as the Dolphin and Swan hotels at Walt Disney World. Graves, one of the nation's leading architects, also has been a leading product designer, creating an iconic kettle for Alessi and housewares for Target stores.
The Princeton, N.J.-based firm also designed the headquarters of the World Bank Group's International Finance Corp. near Washington Circle, between K Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. But the firm is perhaps best known in Washington for designing the decorative scaffolding used in the renovation of the Washington Monument in 1999.
The courthouse annex sits on the prominent intersection of Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues NW, at the foot of the U.S. Capitol, next to the Canadian Embassy and across from the National Gallery of Art.
"This is sacred ground," said Thomas P. Rowe, a principal with Graves & Associates and the chief architect of the project, which will increase the courtroom and office space to 248,000 square feet.
The most striking part of the building is the rounded, rotunda-capped portion on Constitution Avenue. On the ground floor is a cafeteria with panoramic views of the Capitol.
Rowe, who designed the Washington Monument scaffolding, the World Bank project and the new Transportation Department building, said rotundas are used throughout the District to mark important sites.
"We wanted to make it more prominent than the turret on the Federal Trade Commission and to take full advantage of the views for the cafeteria," Rowe said. "And we had a lot of fun with the V-shaped rooms.''
Thomas Luebke, secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which approved the design, said the annex was intended to work with the other marquee buildings in the neighborhood. He said the rotunda "creates an interesting interplay with other circular forms within that monumental composition," such as the Capitol, the National Gallery's west wing, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Canadian Embassy and, farther along Pennsylvania Avenue, the Ronald Reagan Building.
Like any major construction on the nation's front lawn, the annex's design went through a long list of reviews and approvals for aesthetics and safety. The courthouse has advanced safety features, including a frame intended to ensure that a single blast wouldn't cause the entire building to collapse.
But the structure does not look like a fortress. Unlike the original courthouse, a dour 1952 building, the annex features large windows and even flashes of color, such as slate blue and Cherokee red.
Rowe said the building's large windows represent openness, clarity and justice.
The annex runs north along Third Street NW, perpendicular to the old building. The two buildings meet at a large atrium, where pedestrian bridges connect each floor. A spiral staircase that connects to each of the bridges provides a central focus and an alternative vertical pathway.
Rowe said the biggest design challenge was fitting the new annex onto a relatively small space. He said it also was difficult to match up the floors in the two buildings. The old courthouse was one of the first to be built in the era of air conditioning, so hallway and office ceilings are half the height of the imposing courtrooms.
The new courtrooms are equipped to handle trials involving multiple defendants, with seating in jury boxes for 12 jurors and six alternates, he said. In the old building, jury boxes hold 14 people; alternates sometimes sit near attorneys. The annex also has new chamber areas for District Court and appellate judges.
The annex and planned renovations to the old courthouse will also provide a more secure facility for judges and the public and improve access for the disabled.
Many of the lawyers, judges, staff members and visitors who use the building say they appreciate the additional breathing room and the sun-drenched cafeteria, which is a vast improvement over the old one in the basement. But some say that the new courtrooms have poor acoustics and less room for spectators and that the craftsmanship does not seem up to the standards of the old courthouse and nearby buildings built to last the ages. Others say that the annex's design lacks the gravitas that should attend a federal courthouse.
Workers are now tackling finishing details such as decorative covers for the posts that surround the building. All of the judges have moved their offices, said a spokesman for the General Services Administration, which constructs and manages federal buildings.
Judicial officials are planning an official dedication, but no date has been set.
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