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Pedersen wanted to capture the high-speed energy of the nearby highways while creating, through the U-shaped layout, the sense of community of a small town square. He has succeeded admirably.

Transparent Think Tank

KPF's other recent Washington building, for the Institute for International Economics (IIE), is in a more urban setting. It is wedged between two beaux-arts buildings on Massachusetts Avenue, the city's most prestigious thoroughfare, lined with embassies and "think tanks." Neighbors include the Embassy of Uzbekestan, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Brookings Institution.

But unlike those foreboding, largely masonry buildings, the IIE is four stories of transparency. Its front facade is divided into a narrow service wing with the first-floor elevator lobby and a wider section containing the metal-canopied entrance and upper floors jutting out over the canopy. Each section's roof slopes down to their intersection.

The entrance lobby, with a sculpture by Joan Miro, is elegant and dignified. It is fitted with flamed "Jet Mist" granite pavers, "Ramon Gold" Jerusalem limestone walls, and anigre wood running from the limestone to the ceiling. This formality befits the IIE which describes itself as the "only research think tank in the United States devoted solely to international economic policy."

Beyond the lobby is the auditorium and beyond that a sculpture garden, a lovely oasis of quietude at the rear of the lot. In a building full of surprises, the main block has a large, square three-story atrium with a skylight serving up natural light equally to all the facing offices. The atrium's several niches are filled with art from around the world.

Jerusalem limestone also appears on the building's exterior wall facing the alley. According to Scott Springer, a KPF associate principal who worked with von Klemperer on the project, this stone is intended to relate the mostly-glass IIE to its masonry neighbors.

Fred Bergsten, director and founder of the institute says, "The openness, transparency, and modern design of the building accurately depict the cutting-edge nature of the institute's work on the world economy. The building enhances both the productivity of our work and the appeal of our conferences and meetings to our Washington audiences."

The IIE and Gannett/ USA Today buildings each give their occupants a distinctive, highly visible, symbolic architectural expression within the glass box genre. And while each building is clearly a glass box characteristic of KPF, the subtle balancing of competing masses, the attention to detail and function, and the dynamism of these crystalline massings being pulled apart put these low- and medium-rise buildings on a higher plateau.

William Lebovich is an architectural historian and photographer from Chevy Chase, Maryland who photographs new projects for architects and developers and documents properties of historical, architectural, engineering, or industrial significance throughout the continental United States.

The two companies, Gannett and USA Today, are tied visually through their glazed corporate campus, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Photo: Timothy Hursley KPF wanted to capture sense of a town square. Photo: Timothy Hursley A glazed facade at Gannett/ USA Today. Photo: Timothy Hursley The Institute for International Economics, by KPF, is "four stories of transparency" in a beaux-arts neighborhood of Washington D.C. Photo: Michael Dersin The entrance lobby of the Institute for International Economics is home to a sculpture by Joan Miro. Photo: Michael Dersin The Institute for International Economics formal entrance is fitted with granite pavers, limestone walls, and anigre wood. Photo: Michael Dersin Lobby of the Institute for International Economics by KPF. Photo: Michael Dersin The center of the Institute for International Economics features a three-story atrium with a skylight serving up natural light to all the facing offices. Photo: Michael Dersin Institute for International Economics, ground floor plan. Image: Kohn Pedersen Fox Top floor plan, Institute for International Economics. Image: Kohn Pedersen Fox   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.