Three Washington-area projects have been recognized by the American Institute of Architects as winners of their 2005 Honor Awards. The Gannett/USA Today Corporate Headquarters in Tysons Corner is among the recipients of the AIA’s Honor Awards for Architecture, while the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative Framework Plan and Cady’s Alley in Georgetown are among the projects awarded the AIA’s Honor Awards for Regional and Urban Design.
One of 13 buildings chosen from more than 400 entries, the Gannett/USA Today buildings have already garnered a great deal of praise from architects and architecture critics. Designed by the New York firm of Kohn Pederson Fox Associates PC, the complex consists of two towers built on a common four-story podium, modeled after a town square. Particularly notable is the building’s glass curtain wall, which lets in a great deal of light and connects the workers to the green space outside, but also lends the building an otherworldly glow in the evenings, making it seem to float above the Dulles connector road. Much attention has been paid to the landscaping, and the campus is oriented around a five-acre stormwater management pond. In addition there are a variety of employee amenities on site, including free parking, a health club, two basketball courts, tennis courts, a jogging trail, a softball diamond, restaurants, a bank, a credit union and a convenience store.
