Riverdale Park Station, In the Works
RIVERDALE PARK, MARYLAND
Construction continues at Riverdale Park Station in Prince George’s County. MV+A designed the master plan of the 38-acre Riverdale Park Station, which includes 160,000 square feet of commercial space, including shops, restaurants, Whole Foods Market, and Gold’s Gym; 22,000 square feet of offices; and nearly 1,000 residential units.
April 2021
DESIGN BRIEF | April 2021
Animating Fairfax with 2722 Merrilee Drive
MV+A Architects is kicking off the design of 2722 Merrilee Drive – a 239-unit, seven level mixed-use building adjacent to the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station in Fairfax, VA. Designing and planning for our client, Elm Street Development, MV+A worked with VIKA, Studio 39 Landscape Architecture, and McGuireWoods to lead the rezoning effort for the site approved earlier this year, paving the way for the project to move forward.
2722 Merrilee will extend the exciting development occurring adjacent to the Dunn-Loring Metro further down Merrilee Drive, which connects to the urban shopping district, Mosaic District, to the south. The added development will create an excellent terminus to Halstead Square Road and the Halstead mixed-use development to the east, along with a new private road to the south of the site acting as an extension of Halstead Square Road. In the future, this road can expand and continue all the way to Dorr Avenue.
At the southeast corner of the site, a retail plaza will form the heart of the project surrounded by retail space envisioned for food use and neighborhood serving uses. Outdoor dining and public art will animate the space with seating areas allowing a moment of rest for pedestrians moving along Merrilee Drive.
The frontage along Merrilee will be enlivened by a residential lobby and amenity spaces featuring a generous streetscape including seating areas and street trees with bioretention areas.
On the northeast corner of the site, a new fitness plaza will add public fitness equipment that is in addition to the western building’s interior fitness center.
The building’s interior will consist of a central courtyard space with a swimming pool, communal seating, and cooking areas for the building’s residents.
The simple yet elegant building will feature symmetrical arrangements of smaller bays along its south elevation, which will break down its scale and provide visual interest. Balconies will provide shade and shadow on the façade to activate the exterior.
Along Merrilee Drive, the residential upper levels are set to give the retail and residential lobby below a better pedestrian scale and prominence. Residential terraces and balconies will activate the façade, and the building will be clad in high quality brick with large windows to add to the overall refined design.
This is MV+A’s first project with Elm Street Development, but we are currently working with the developer on other projects as well. We look forward to the beginning of construction on this project and others to come. Construction on 2722 Merrilee Drive is anticipated to begin in 2022.
The simple yet elegant building will feature symmetrical arrangements of smaller bays along its south elevation, which will break down its scale and provide visual interest. Balconies will provide shade and shadow on the façade to activate the exterior.
UPDATE
MV+A Crosses the Atlantic
The Zung family in front of an okapi statue in their Gombe neighborhood of Kinshasa.
For those of you who do not know, MV+A’s very own Russell Zung is working remotely from Africa! Russell and his family moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September of 2020 after his wife took a two-year posting with the State Department in the country’s capital of Kinshasa. Below is a short Q and A with Russell to see how things are going after six months of living there.
How has your role at MV+A shifted while working in Kinshasa?
“I was initially concerned how things would be affected with working remotely when this move was confirmed in January of 2020, but then the COVID-19 shutdowns hit and forced everyone to immediately shift to a work-from-home environment. As a result, the only difference from my current WFH setup from my DC WFH setup is a different internet provider and time zone. In many ways, my role has not changed at all since most of our staff continues to work remotely. The main difference has been my ability to be at job sites to periodically review projects under construction. Fortunately, we have plenty of other skilled architects to step in and provide the site reviews, though I still remain intimately involved in the execution of these projects.”
What have you enjoyed about Kinshasa since moving there?
“First, our apartment is easily twice the size of our twelve-foot-wide DC rowhouse, and I forgot what it was like to not have to literally step over one another during our daily routines. The second is the warmth. I never considered myself a hot weather person, but I must admit it has been nice walking my dog in shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals all year long. Finally, the fact that every day you see something that legitimately surprises you. Kinshasa is a massive city, now the biggest on the African continent with over thirteen million people. I have described it as a hot-mess of a city filled with color, chaos, and characters, and it is always interesting.”
What aspects of Congolese culture have been an adjustment/culture shock?
“There are so many. Functionally, the country is French speaking and very few people speak English. So, if you want to see a guy bumble through the day using broken French phrases, then follow me around and you will see it is possible. Another major difference is that it is a cash culture. Whether it be getting gas, buying groceries, eating at a nice restaurant, or buying furniture, cash is a must. As a result, you must be very conscious of managing your ability to have enough physical cash in hand before you go out. Driving was also an incredibly big shock. The only way to describe it is organized chaos and it all works in flows. So, if you want to cross eight lanes of two-way traffic, you must slowly and methodically move yourself out into the river of traffic and allow the other vehicles to just flow around you.
I also doubt you can imagine the level of poverty in the population – unemployment is estimated to be around 40%. Even those formally employed may only be making $100/month, if they even get paid at all. As a result, there is a massive informal economy. Everyone is out hustling to get by. We live in the commune of Gombe, which is one of the two more affluent parts of the city. Immediately outside of our apartment walls is an informal carwash, a snack stand, two lunch counters, and a barber shop. Each enterprise starts setting up at 6:00 a.m. and they work the entire day, earning just enough to get by. This setup is everywhere throughout the city.
Another unmistakable item is trash. It is nearly impossible to describe the amount of trash in the city, piled in internal water ways, street corners, ditches, and informal dump sites. Only about five months ago have public-use trash receptacles been placed, and I have witnessed the benefit, but there is a long, long way to go.”
What do you miss most about living in DC?
“Hands-down, the Vietnamese food at Eden Center in Falls Church, VA. We would go there almost every weekend and get pho, bún, or bubble tea.”