Washington, D.C, USA
Breathing new life into a neglected 1917 church, StudioMB has completed the reuse and transformation of the 13th Street Sanctuary into a unique set of eight affordable co-living housing units in a striking combination of old and new.
13th Street Sanctuary has recently been awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture, Design, and Urban Studies.
The structurally complex challenge of accommodating residential uses in a grand but damaged worship space required a carefully orchestrated sequence of construction involving subtle insertions that meet the demands of shared living while adhering to the city’s standards for retaining significant architectural defining features.
Thermally improved exterior walls, low-E glazing, and significant roof insulation ensure that, while retaining the original structure, current stringent energy-efficiency standards are also met.
This innovative and complex adaptive reuse project in DC’s Columbia Heights neighborhood .
The technically challenging re-use of the structure required the introduction of new openings into the heavy masonry exterior while paying homage to the existing decor.
The result is a striking combination of old and new elements including a suspended stairway within the existing church tower.
The decommissioned church sits squarely in a region riven by rising housing costs and chronic housing shortages—problems that conventional market-based development has failed to alleviate.
Second, the church structure had been critically undermined by a disaster far less common in the area: a minor earthquake in 2011.
Project: 13th Street Sanctuary
Architects: StudioMB
Lead Architect: David C. Bagnoli
General Contractor: Harbor Builders LLC.
Client: Outlier Realty Capital
Photographers: Thomas Holdsworth
