The previous newsletter left us on the ground floor of the AIA headquarters at the landing between two staircases.

One ascends to the second floor. The other descends to the basement.

Beyond the practical means of circulation the stairs provide, the materials used in their construction offer a more abstract form of travel. Take the ascending stair back to the building’s modernist origins, when raw concrete––béton brut––was a celebrated material. And when Brutalist architects of that era pushed the limits of what the material could do, sculpting gravity-defying forms with sweeping curves and dramatic angles that were structurally impossible with other traditional materials.

Take the descending stair toward the future, where innovation and sustainability meet, using carbon-sequestering mass timber as a connection point to nature, and human and climate health.

“The design of that stair was really seen as a complement to that historic feature stair,” said Rebecca Sharkey, partner at EHDD and the project’s design lead. “We took the similar form, that soft, curving nature of the stair and used that in the design of the new mass timber stair.”

Acknowledging the innovative use of the exposed concrete in the original stair, EHDD wanted to emulate that ambition, but with a lower-carbon material. Applying the ethos of the Brutalist building, they used mass timber in a rather novel application, sculpting it into a striking, curving interior element.

Dig a little deeper, however, and you discover the tribute to the building’s Brutalist past is just one chapter in the mass timber staircase’s story. The other chapters reveal what good design means to the AIA, the value embedded in existing buildings, the often overlooked superpower of architects, and what designing to meet the 2030 Commitment targets looks like in practice.

Storytelling on display

“It's part of the story that we want the public to understand,” said Melanie De Cola, director of Climate Action Pledge Programs at the AIA. “A lot of our firm survey people respond that they are concerned about the reputation of architects and architecture, and that people don't understand what architects do or the value they bring.”

As such, one of the design priorities was to entice visitors to learn more about the profession––and the staircase is just one element meant to stimulate interest in the practice of architecture and healthier, low-carbon materials.

Beyond raising public awareness, the renovation also intended to serve as a model for others in the profession, providing replicable and cost-effective low-carbon design interventions.

“It's important, with the AIA as a client, for this project to be a model for the profession and for members, demonstrate innovation and new approaches, and meet the Framework for Design Excellence in all categories,” Sharkey said.

If the mass timber stair is the gateway to the building’s low-carbon design story, the photovoltaic shading system on the facade and components concealed behind the walls are the plot twists that pull visitors in deeper.

Decarbonizing Brutalist architecture

To achieve full decarbonization of the building, EHDD took a three-phase approach starting with basic energy retrofitting.

“It was really about tightening up the envelope and systems within known cost-effective approaches,” Sharkey said. “The next step was to electrify the systems. But the energy efficiency moves we used in the first step were really critical to being able to do that electrification, because it’s not cost effective to electrify a building that has really high electrical loads.”

The third step was adding on- and off-site renewables. Because of the building’s relatively small footprint, they didn’t have much space for rooftop PVs, so they incorporated additional PV panels into the facade shading system.

“We were able to accommodate about 10 percent of the loads on site, but then we were looking at leveraging offsite renewables through the D.C. Power Connect program,” Sharkey said.

This addressed operational carbon, which left embodied carbon.

“The biggest move that we could make, and that the AIA could make, in addressing embodied carbon was reusing the existing building,” she said.

To limit the impact, they left building cores in place––restrooms, MEP rooms, etc.––then established a robust material vetting process, examining manufacturer processes and supply chains to validate low-carbon claims. With these moves, they were able to drive carbon down significantly, but naturally, with new materials comes carbon.

“So, the final step we took in the decarbonization approach was this local community offset project,” Sharkey said. “It's not just buying offsets and calling it done. We really wanted to come up with a solution that was meaningful and would support the surrounding community in similar ways.”

They landed on a partnership with the local Habitat for Humanity in which they purchased PV panels for homes in the surrounding community in the equivalent of the remaining embodied carbon on the project. That equated to approximately 72 homes.

“They're getting the same benefits of clean, renewable and reliable power that we're getting at the AIA building,” Sharkey said. “And it's saving the homeowners close to $1,000 a year on their utility bills.”

This decarbonization story has it all: history, deep connection to place, community, human health, climate health, challenges, innovative solutions, and the list goes on.

See the full story here:

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Interesting bits...

• The facade shading system not only incorporated PV panels, it also features a custom frit design that echoes the building’s boomerang shape while also creating dappled light reminiscent of a shade tree.
• Unrelated to this project, but no less interesting…the Secret Service occupies the floors above the AIA.
• During the renovation, they discovered a safe behind one of the walls. But it didn’t contain anything the AIA historian didn’t already know about.

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