80M Project Gives DC Its First Commercial Office Building Using Mass Timber

The 80 M Street SE project, located in Washington, DC’s Navy Yard neighborhood, is the city’s first commercial office building to feature a vertical extension constructed using mass timber. It is also the first mass timber structure in DC to exceed 85 feet in height.

Designed by Hickok Cole and Arup, the 108,000-square-foot-additions add three full floors to the existing seven-story concrete building, which will include a penthouse level with additional office and amenity spaces and a rooftop terrace.

In order to gain approval for the project, which exceeds 85 feet in height, Arup’s integrated team of mass timber experts worked with Hickok Cole and the DC code authority to demonstrate that the “proposed solutions fulfilled current fire and life safety code requirements and aligned with the standards of the 2021 IBC, which allow mass timber buildings of up to 12-stories.”