The Triumph

4225 6th Street, SE

Washington, DC 20009

DLR Group's Ward 8 Community-Based Short Term Family Housing facility design successfully integrates the new building within its residential neighborhood. It avoids the institutional sense often negatively associated with similar projects. A significant challenge in designing the facility was how to accommodate the full programmatic requirements on a steeply-sloping site, surrounded by shorter structures to the east and taller structures to the west. The design solution employs creative siting and modulation strategies for a
6-story structure which is thoughtfully integrated into its smaller scale context. Upper floors are modulated through the use of projecting bays toward the front to scale down the building's size rhythmically. The residence provides families with a beautiful, inspiring, and dignified environment along with in-house support services to help families re-join their communities within a shorter time frame.

The design of this 36,000 SF housing facility responds to the District of Columbia Department of Human Services' initiative to transfer homeless residents from an existing over-populated and dilapidated central emergency shelter into smaller, decentralized shelters in each ward of the city. This facility provides 50 residential family units, laundry rooms, study spaces, and common rooms distributed throughout the five upper floors of the building. The ground floor houses resident amenities, including a multipurpose room, dining facility, computer lab, health clinic, and operational and case management offices to provide wrap-around social services to residents.