Location
Washington D.C.
Original Construction
1801
Construction Cost
$45,000,000
Size
130,000 sqft
Completion Date
Ongoing

The Octagon House, a National Historic Landmark completed in 1801, has served many significant needs including the white house in the early 1800’s and where the Treaty of Ghent was signed. It became the home of the AIA in 1889 and in 1902 became the first American building to become the focus of a major preservation effort in which, rather than the association of historic occupants, “the architectural importance was paramount.” (George McCue, The Octagon, (Washington: American Institute of Architects Foundation, 1976), 73.)

The AIA headquarters is now housed in the adjacent 1973 structure which respectfully embraces the Octagon House and gardens together forming the AIA campus. In 2007 the AIA determined to use their own home as a best practice project in three ways: the retrofitting of Modernist buildings for sustainability, the updating of the work place, and the preservation of the historic integrity of the building so that it can be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

HopkinsBurns Design Studio, selected as the Historic Preservation consultant, as part of the Studios Architecture team, was commissioned for the buildings renewal. Tamara Burns, AIA, led the Historic Preservation services for the project creating a Cultural Landscape and Historic Structure Report for the Headquarters and an existing conditions Evaluation of the Octagon House. These reports were used to guide the design to modernize the buildings for the 21st century while respecting the heritage of each.

The groundbreaking effort of establishing the character-defining features for the Mid-Century Modern AIA Headquarters building per the Secretary of the Interior Standards has established a model for benchmarking the historic relevancy for tens of thousands of similar structures around the country. The resulting design effort significantly documents how a National Historic Landmark building (Octagon House) should expand to include a newly historic Mid-Century Modern building (AIA Headquarters in 2023) to form a historic district as a campus. The documentation was submitted to the Washington DC State Historic Preservation Office, and the strong support led to the AIA Building Renewal project—preceding the designation of the AIA Building as a Historic District—which is currently being worked on.