Architects are getting an opportunity to redesign their own home — in this case, the headquarters for the profession's preeminent trade association in Washington, D.C.

The American Institute of Architects' building at 1735 New York Ave. NW is located in a structure designed from the Brutalist period of the 1960s and 1970s that some find unattractive. The association is bringing the 184,000-square-foot structure into the modern age with all the latest bells and whistles of environmental sustainability. At the same time, the renovation's designers are looking to keep the best parts of the 50-year-old building's Brutalist bones while improving its overall functioning.

As a result, the AIA's 150 employees and 98,000 members will soon have an historic building powered entirely by green sources like solar and wind that prioritizes comfort, collaboration and wellness.

"We are transforming this existing Brutalist building into a place of high-performance and high impact — a more site-responsive, welcoming, comfortable, inspiring and engaging destination," Rebecca Sharkey, a principal at architecture firm EHDD, told CoStar News. EHDD is in charge of the renovation project.

The most striking new visual feature of the new AIA headquarters addresses sustainability. A shading structure that slightly resembles scaffolding will be attached to the main building to soften the harsh edge of the Brutalist-style raw concrete while reducing heat from sunlight. The shades are solar panels arrayed to generate renewable power.

Other features will also play dual roles of enhancing aesthetics while contributing to the goal of making the building carbon-neutral, meaning the structure emits no carbon to the atmosphere. The original curtain-wall windows that span the entire length of the ground floor will be replaced with windows with superior insulation qualities. An outdoor plaza that's now mostly hard surfaces like brick and concrete will be filled with greenery, helping to mitigate the heat.

Interior spaces are set to be upgraded with the latest workplace design trends. New windows will be carved out of exterior walls to bring in more natural light. Drop-in coworking space, meeting facilities and virtual reality media lounges will be added to accommodate hybrid work schedules and visitors.

Plans call for the AIA’s retail store that sells books and home decorations to be moved out of a dark corner in the back of the building to a central position near the front entry plaza, encouraging more visits from the general public. Tall brick walls and black iron gates will be partially removed to provide better visibility of the building to passersby and improve access to disabled persons.

The $64 million project is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. The building will remain occupied during construction.

Patrick Hanns looked up at the concrete ceiling during a recent tour of the AIA headquarters construction site and pointed to the grid pattern.

“Waffle slab, never again,” Hanns said as he shook his head and laughed.

Hanns is a project superintendent at Turner Construction, the general contractor in charge of the renovation. Waffle slab, a visually distinctive construction technique that forms a ceiling on one building level and a floor on the level above, is notoriously difficult to maneuver around during a renovation, Hanns said.

Some of the waffle slab will be retained in EHDD's renovation because it's such a distinctive facet of Brutalist design.

Brutalist buildings aren't especially known for renovations. That's because the style is often used as a punching bag by those who favor traditional designs and there's usually a desire to demolish the structures, not preserve them, according to designers.

But the AIA, a nonprofit trade association for licensed architects, chose to renovate the seven-story structure that it owns instead of selling it. The AIA wants the project to serve as a model for architects on sustainable design and historic preservation, two central planks of the AIA’s mission.

At the same time construction is ongoing, the AIA is dealing with criticism as some members question the decision to renovate the headquarters because of the costs. A group of AIA past-presidents recently sent a letter to its board of directors raising concerns about the leadership of CEO Lakisha Ann Woods. The group criticized Woods’ spending, citing the nonprofit organization's March retreat in the Dominican Republic and a perceived lack of communication with AIA members about the headquarters renovation, among other issues.

The AIA’s board on June 11 issued a statement in support of Woods and said the organization “takes its fiduciary responsibilities seriously.”

A renovation of the AIA headquarters might have stirred up concern of its own simply because of its Brutalist design. An architectural style that emerged in the 1950s, Brutalism is known for its extensive use of raw concrete and blocky shapes. Critics of the style say it appears foreboding, or even threatening, and lacks creativity.

The AIA headquarters’ opening happened during a wave of federal government buildings in the nation’s capital designed in a Brutalist style. The FBI headquarters, L’Enfant Plaza and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters are some of the most notable examples in Washington. The Washington Metro subway system is also considered to be designed in the Brutalist style.

The General Services Administration last year chose a site in Greenbelt, Maryland, for a new FBI headquarters. But a final decision to move the FBI and demolish its current Brutalist home has not been made.

Brutalist buildings are scattered across the U.S., often housing churches, schools, colleges and local governments. City halls in Boston and Dallas are both massive structures with distinctly Brutalist designs.

Some privately owned commercial buildings are Brutalist, too, like the Hotel Marcel in New Haven, Connecticut, the 55 W. Wacker Drive office tower in Chicago and Nestle Purina’s headquarters in St. Louis.

The National Civic Art Society, a Washington-based nonprofit group that advocates for classic designs in architecture, has railed against Brutalism and supported efforts to require the federal government to encourage traditional building styles. Two bills remain pending in Congress that would affect how the federal government makes decisions on building design — one favored by traditionalists and the other backed by the AIA to give the feds more leeway.

But other architects and design aficionados extol the virtues of Brutalism. The website and Instagram feed Brutalist DC “celebrates” the style through photography and historic research.

Brutalism is “innovative, adaptable and even beautiful in the right light,” Angela Person, a University of Oklahoma architecture professor, told CoStar News.

Person, along with photographer Ty Cole, curated the “Capital Brutalism” exhibit currently showing at the National Building Museum in Washington. The show highlights the many Brutalist buildings in Washington and some ongoing efforts to preserve and renovate the structures.

Brutalist buildings also provide practical benefits, according to Person and Brad Jacobson, principal at EHDD. The large floor plates allow for easier adaptability to different uses. Thick concrete provides a high level of thermal insulation.

The renovation will help AIA meet the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign to cut global carbon emissions in half by 2030, Jacobson said. The project is one of the first fully decarbonized renovations of a large building in the U.S., according to EHDD. It will also meet LEED standards, though the AIA has not yet decided whether to seek an official LEED certification.

It wasn’t always certain that the AIA would remain in its Brutalist home. After conducting an assessment in the late 2000s, the AIA board decided to stay put and renovate the building, even though it was a more-expensive option than moving, said Stephen Ayers, former Architect of the Capitol, a federal agency responsible for maintaining historic buildings around the U.S. Capitol, who advised AIA on its renovation.

The renovation was mothballed during an economic downturn, though later revived in 2019 when the AIA hired Newmark and Clear Real Estate Services for advice on whether it should sell its headquarters and for an assessment on its office-space needs.

The building needed a makeover, Ayers said. Its mechanical and electrical systems and elevators were outdated and routinely failed. Its heating and cooling systems were old and inefficient. The roof leaked and so did internal pipes. The interior walls lacked sufficient insulation. And it wasn’t designed to meet needs of workers on post-pandemic hybrid office schedules.

“The wrong people were in the wrong places, using the wrong furniture and the wrong meeting spaces,” Ayers said. “The way we worked in 1970 is different from the way we work in 2024.”

The AIA picked the design plan submitted by the San Francisco architecture firm EHDD because of how it addressed sustainability.

“They said the best way to spend your money is to achieve carbon-neutrality,” Ayers said. “That swayed the decision-makers.”

No tax incentives are currently available for carbon-neutral building renovations, Jacobson said.

The project’s historic preservation serves not only to commemorate the qualities of Brutalism, but is itself an act of sustainable architecture, said Person, the University of Oklahoma architecture professor. Demolishing a building often leads to new construction, a process that burns through more energy.

“The most sustainable building is one that already exists,” Person said.

The AIA headquarters redesign had an unusual facet to address — the Secret Service leases the top three floors for office space.

That agency also leases space throughout Washington and its headquarters is at 950 H St. NW. The Secret Service leases space at AIA headquarters because the building is about 1,000 feet from the main secured entrance to the White House campus.

The federal agency has special requirements for its security needs, Ayers said.

“Their windows are different from the windows in the rest of the building,” he said. “The access to their spaces is different. It’s all very carefully designed and controlled.”

Ayers declined to provide further specifics, citing the Secret Service’s security concerns.

The AIA is the main tenant, however, and the association was adamant that it wanted to pursue both historic preservation and sustainability in the renovation. The AIA board decided both goals were important enough to proceed with a renovation, despite the higher cost, Ayers said.

But EHDD’s Jacobson said the renovation will also serve as an example to commercial property owners across the country. The example is that old buildings can be retrofitted for carbon neutrality while also preserving their historic integrity without breaking the bank, told CoStar News.

“The story here is not that it costs more to do it this way,” Jacobson said.

EHDD is design architect and architect of record for the renovation led by Sharkey, Jacobson, Jeemin Bae and Christian Wopperer. Hartman-Cox Architects is EHDD’s local partner. Turner Construction is the general contractor.