Metro Village

SITE
The in-fill site located on Spring Place NW consists of 2 parcels totaling 1.2 acres directly adjacent to the Takoma Metro platform in the Historic District of Takoma, DC. The property was formerly occupied by light industrial uses, including auto repair shops, and was zoned C2-A, allowing multi-family housing by right.

PROGRAM
The program challenge was to design a feasible mixed income, sustainable and transit-oriented project within the constraints of the site. These constrains included the site's triangular shape, its close proximity to CSX and Metro tracks, poor soils, zoning restrictions including a 50 foot height limit, Historic Preservation requirements and budgetary constraints.

SOLUTION
Our vision was to create a transit oriented rental community which would provide high quality, sustainable affordable and market-rate housing. The project design includes a variegated brick and panel facade, which reflects the materials and scale of the surrounding neighborhood, located within the Takoma Park Historic District. The project team worked closely with the Historic Preservation Review Board and with the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission to incorporate community design input. The final design incorporated amenities which include community meeting rooms, an exercise room, secure bike storage, a landscaped courtyard and landscaped roof terraces. Thanks to the design's incorporation of green roofs and various energy-saving green technologies, Metro Village was successfully certified through the Energy Star for Homes program and the Enterprise Green Communities program.