WATERGATE PIED-A-TERRE

Washington, DC | Private Residence

2023-, Under Construction

An infamous address—Washington DC’s Watergate Complex—is known more for political intrigues of the past than for its architecture. Yet the complex remains, to this day, a prime residence for notable Washingtonians and one of the few notable modern architectural landmarks in the District, albeit one whose physical reality has been marred by unsympathetically out-of-character modifications and an identity confused by Washington DC’s uneasy relationship with modern design.

This combined apartment, occupying a prime perch on one of the Watergate’s top floors, rewrites the recent design history of the complex. Stripping away both an awkward layout of tiny rooms as well as the faux-colonial moldings and builder-grade finishes accreted in the intervening years, we reimagined this apartment from top to bottom, rationalizing the plan around axially-arranged spaces sized for entertaining, and stylistically embracing the over-the-top glamour of late twentieth century design in lushly layered, atmospheric tones and patterns.

Services: Architecture, Interior Design

Contractor: BOWA

Client: Private