Constitution Center (Washington, D.C.)

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Constitution Center (originally named the David Nassif Building) is a highrise office building in Washington, D.C., United States. The 140 ft (43 m) 10-floor building has three basement floors, overhanging eaves, and 1,019,000 sq ft (94,700 sq m) of usable floor space.. Its architect was Edward Durrell Stone and its chief contractor was Volpe Construction. The building was constructed from July 1968 to July 1969 at a cost of $26,500,000. The main entrance its 7th Street SW. It included an open-to-the-sky central courtyard. Four 15-ft (4.6 m) high arcades pierced the building in the center of the block on each side, creating access to the courtyard. The marble of the original facade's vertical ribs were obtained from a quarry near Carrara, Italy. The building was developed by David Nassif, Sr.. From 1969 until 2007, the the building served as the headquarters of the United states Department of Transportation. It is served by the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station and the VRE L'Enfant Station. it was designed to have removable interior walls to permit easy reconfiguration of the interior space.
The David Nassif Building was reconstructed between 2006 and 2009. SmithGroup oversaw the redesign, and David Construction oversaw the construction. The 700,000-square-foot (65,000 sq m) underground parking garage contains 1,500 spaces on 3 floors. The original facade was replaced with an energy-efficient all-glass facade. Installed as part of the project were a chilled-beam HVAC system, motion and daylight detectors, and exterior windows which automatically dim to prevent daytime heating. The central courtyard now has a 1-acre (0.4 ha) park with a very large granite abstract structure by Richard Deutsch titled "Legacy". A light sculpture title "Transformation" was installed near the entrance on D Street SW. The floor area was increased to 1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 sq m). The renovation cost $220,000,000. The building if LEED Gold-certified. A lease was signed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for 900,000 sq ft (84,000 sq m) in August 2010. In January 2011, the Office of the Comptrololler of the Currency agreed to lease the remaining space in the building.