Will This Be The Skinniest New Building In Bethesda?

• 9:35 AM EDT

by UrbanTurf Staff

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A newly submitted design proposal for a prominent end-of-block site in Downtown Bethesda will turn heads — not for its height, but for its silhouette. 

As UrbanTurf reported at the end of last year, Washington Property Company has plans to redevelop an assemblage at 4719 Hampden Lane and 4720 Montgomery Lane into a slender, 26-story, 260-unit residential tower. 

The site's unusual shape — a triangular block formed by Montgomery, East, and Hampden Lanes — has pushed the design in an interesting direction. Rather than fighting the geometry, architect Design Collective used it as a reason to strip the building down, stepping and narrowing it as it rises rather than stacking a uniform tower straight up. 

Two masonry bookends anchor the north and south ends, while the floors in between cascade toward Hampden Lane in a way that keeps the building looking slim from most angles. Tall vertical columns running up the middle of the facade drive that effect further — included specifically to make the building read as thin and tall, not just as a structural necessity.

The ground floor is lined with transparent facades, resident lounges, co-working space, and a fitness center meant to activate all three street frontages. A "living room" — a large glazed residential lounge near the main entrance — is positioned to visually connect the building to the adjacent Hampden Plaza. 

The project will go back before the Downtown Bethesda Design Advisory Panel next week. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/will_this_be_the_skinniest_new_building_in_bethesda/24657.