Design Arlington Awards honor nine projects, highlighting Fire Station 8 and Ballston duplex
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Summary
The biennial Design Arlington Awards named nine winners across architecture, landscape and public art; highlights included Fire Station 8, a Ballston duplex and public‑realm work in Rosslyn and Clarendon, with jurors thanked for selecting the winners.
Speaker 1, the presenter, said the biennial Design Arlington Awards recognized nine winners across architecture, landscape design and public art and thanked the jurors for reviewing submissions and selecting this year’s winners. "This year, 9 winners were chosen," the presenter said, and later added, "Thank you to the jurors who took the time to review submissions and select our winners."
The awards highlighted a range of project types. "Metropolitan Park integrates spaces for work and living within a lush, emphatically social environment," Speaker 1 said, underscoring the project’s emphasis on nature and public life. The renovation of a post‑war home in the Arlington Forest neighborhood was described as mirroring the original gabled massing while enlarging the footprint and retaining the home’s defining language through material and detailing.
The presenter described the Grace in Riva as evoking site history with tower variations using clay and earth tones; the facade’s gridded geometry, the presentation said, balances order and complexity while terracotta cladding and curved forms recall mid‑century modernism. Terraces East, adjacent to the Army Navy Country Club, was noted for maximizing daylight and nature‑filled views while stepping down massing to the row house scale and creating an inviting corner entry.
A Clarendon Courthouse infill project on a triangular half‑acre site was explained as cantilevering upper floors above an existing Wendy’s footprint to create residential units while preserving public space; the presenter highlighted a striking chamfered glass prow and angled Carrara‑clad columns that reflect the site geometry.
On civic architecture, Speaker 1 said, "Fire Station 8 stands as both a working fire house and a living monument," pointing to the building’s red‑brick exterior that references history, metal panels and glass for transparency, a granite timeline and six virtue words etched on the facade, and a lobby exhibit with archival images.
The Ballston Duplex was presented as two for‑sale units on a formerly single‑family lot, with a three‑story central massing flanked by two‑story elements that step down to meet the adjacent residential context. The transcript includes a presenter’s statement that "The modern design achieves LEED for HUB Gold Certification." That phrasing is reported here as stated by the presenter.
Rosslyn BID’s NOW project was described as a public‑private placemaking effort that keeps a key pedestrian corridor at Nash, Oak and Wilson active by using durable temporary materials to elevate a transitional site into a cohesive, welcoming space. The Stewart House was noted as a new Craftsman foursquare that honors historic fabric while adapting to contemporary living through traditional detailing.
The presentation did not record formal votes or motions; the presenter closed by thanking jurors and celebrating the breadth of projects recognized across Arlington.
