CORE has worked with Gould Property Company and Oxford Properties Group to design 600 Mass.
The 11-story LEED Platinum building offers over 400,000 square feet of multi-tenant and retail space. Its design combines highly efficient floor planning, clean aesthetics, and forward-thinking amenities. And its green spaces blur the line between indoors and outdoors. 600 Mass occupies a parcel near Mount Vernon Square, which has a very complex geometry due to the site's irregular shape.
It starts as an 11-story glass office tower facing Massachusetts Avenue. Then the building shape cascades down towards Eye Street in a series of landscaped terraces, and finally ends in a brick façade that reinforces the adjacent historic structures. The design takes advantage of the site's unique geometry to create a prominent corner element with views east down Massachusetts Avenue towards the Capitol.
A departure from traditional Washingtonian architecture, the articulated “folding” glass of the building’s corner, across from the Chinatown Park on 6th Street, introduces a new formal language to the site. “We envisioned this building as a glass crystal embedded in a brick block – mediating between high-rise Massachusetts Avenue and historic Eye Street.” said Guy Martin.
The design was subject to review by the Historic Preservation Review Board, the District of Columbia’s Office of Planning, and the Chinatown Review Board. The City Council also had approved an alley closing. “Guy and the CORE team have collaborated with us, taken advantage of this unique site and made 600 Mass into a truly unique building,” said Kingdon Gould III.
“This project has evolved and grown over time and without CORE’s commitment to our vision – and deep architectural knowledge and creativity – we would not be creating such a landmark building.” 600 Mass offers many high-end amenities, including a spa-quality fitness center, bicycle locker room, multi-use conference facilities, and a rooftop living room. Tenants include Venable, Haworth, Brunswick, Oxford Properties Group, and Farmers and Distillers.
Photo credit: Maxwell MacKenzie
Awards:
Washington Building Congress Craftsmanship Awards, Sitework: Underpinning, Foundations and Excavations, Winner, Doors & Windows: Exterior Glass
