WDG’s renovation and adaptive-reuse experience is rich and varied. The firm has led full rehabs, as well as targeted interventions including modernizing building systems, developing new space plans, and integrating advanced glazing technologies. From preserving a historic structure’s essential character to making major structural changes and repositioning obsolete buildings, WDG has the tools and expertise to achieve these goals. Our approach is built on an appreciation for context and considerations of architectural continuity, or alternatively, on creating a new architectural language to enliven outmoded or disused buildings and spaces.
Whether the renovation calls for major structural modifications, new energy-efficient HVAC systems, or a purely aesthetic update, WDG’s architects and interior designers can deliver new spaces that meet program requirements, as well as any new structure. Understanding the importance of reusing existing structures is the ultimate in sustainable building. WDG’s renovations often include “green” technologies and pursue LEED-certification.
Years of experience have given us a foundation of best practices for the challenges posed by older buildings in the face of modern commerce and changing consumer preferences. This foundation is reinforced through insight into the client’s unique programmatic requirements. WDG often undertakes considerable research by conducting in-depth interviews with building users helping us understand the key processes and behaviors critical to the success of a workplace or to the building’s success in the marketplace.
WDG’s historic preservation experience includes a thorough appreciation for architecture. Within the ten-mile square of our nation’s capitol, we have sensitively updated and adapted at minimum a dozen structures. These include a Romanesque Revival building in sight of the White House, the 1920s former headquarters of the Southern Railway, and most recently the Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue, which will become a flagship hotel for Trump International.
