Paved Paradise

It's amazing what a little imagination can make out of a rooftop parking lot

Photos
Paved Paradise
A spacious outdoor terrace blends seamlessly with the airy, modern interior of this rooftop loft in Washington, D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood.

THEIR DINGED-UP CAR WAS IN NEED OF A FIX-UP. So, back in 1995, architect Steve Dickens and his partner, Martin Moeller, drove it to Rainbow Auto Body & Painting Co. just off 14th Street in Shaw. Seven years later, while working for Washington architect Eric Colbert, Dickens would be back in the same 1929 auto-repair building, assigned to reconfigure and expand it into lofts. He and Moeller then found themselves parking their belongings there -- in one of the newly created apartments atop the building.

"We were ready for something modern," says Dickens, who moved there with Moeller in 2005 from a nearby apartment built in 1912.

Though, as Dickens says, "every unit in the building is designed to my taste," the pair was choosy -- they wanted only a top-floor, two-bedroom condominium in the glassed-in rooftop addition, one of only five in the building with outdoor space. "What sold us on the unit is the terrace that's almost as big as the main [interior] space," says Moeller, who is senior vice president and curator of the National Building Museum. "In warmer weather, we have double the living space." Shielded behind the brick parapet of the former body shop, the 28-by-13 1/2 -foot deck stretches the entire length of the condo's living-dining area. The wall separating the terrace from the interior is almost entirely transparent and, reaching nearly to the 11-foot-high ceiling, seems to disappear.

Inside the glass barrier, the open living space is anchored by a seating area in front of a gas fireplace. In the zone behind the sofa are a custom dining table topped with translucent cast-resin and accompanying Italian-designed chairs. The furniture is placed in front of the big windows next to the kitchen, with a 10-foot-long island that can serve as a buffet.

"We thought about creating a mirror image of this layout outside, and we came pretty close," Moeller says. Like the interior, the terrace is arranged with a sitting area at one end and a dining set at the other. The outdoor pieces are sleeker versions of those inside. Modular seats and ottomans, made of woven plastic with cushions upholstered in weather-resistant outdoor fabric, can be reconfigured into different groupings and stay out year-round. A stainless-steel, cone-shaped barbecue grill serves as a fire pit on cooler evenings. Planters filled with grasses, bamboo and black-eyed Susans in warmer months screen the space from the neighbors.

Well, almost. "The spring after we moved in, we started seeing other people on the terraces across the street," Dickens says, pointing out the new loft buildings that have recently sprung up around the converted auto-repair shop. "Since then, we've gotten to know each other. We've gone to barbecues over there, and they've come here. I call it the Terrace Club."

Easy flow through a pair of glass doors allows the couple to use the rooftop loft for entertaining practically year-round. "People will go out there during our New Year's Eve parties and in the middle of winter," says Dickens, who has been host to upwards of 150 friends and colleagues. "Even when the doors are closed, the people outside can keep an eye on what's going on inside through the glass . . . and know where the action is," Moeller adds.

Full of light surfaces and clean lines, both living areas convey the pared-down loft style that is fashionable these days. "It is practical minimalism, not super-chic," Dickens says. Though the dining set, quartz-stone kitchen countertops and appliances are white -- "Stainless steel has become such a cliche," says Moeller -- splashes of bright color and varied textures keep the open room from looking too antiseptic.

Rather than fill the condo with statement designer pieces, the couple mostly recycled furnishings from their previous apartment and splurged on custom built-ins to conceal their belongings and save space. Among the elegant furnishings specially designed for the rooms is a white-lacquered entertainment center in the living area with drawers precisely sized for DVDs and CDs. Wall-mounted bookshelves and a desk in the study are finished in the same English sycamore used on the custom bed and dresser in the master suite, where a shallow balcony provides another outdoor perch.

Orange- and chartreuse-painted niches, specially sized for a dramatic, art moderne architectural drawing and a model of the Chrysler Building, accent thresholds from one space to the next. For the dining area, Dickens and Moeller hired a local decorative painter to add sparkle to the rear wall with reflective aluminum leaf. Extending nearly the entire width of this wall is a work commissioned from a Wisconsin artist: a backlit painting that glows like a fiery sunset. At night, its ribbon of magenta and red is reflected in the glass lining the terrace, and appears to stretch across the outdoor space. The effect is a vivid reminder of this home's almost seamless connection between indoors and out.

NEXT: See the photos.

Deborah K. Dietsch writes on art, architecture and design. She can be reached at dkdietsch@aol.com