A transparent ploy: Architects used fluted panes to give 2050 M Street its unique shimmering skin.
Photos: Alan Karchmer and Iwan Baan courtesy of REX. Illustration: Stephanie Davidson
A DC Office Building Offers a Lesson in Glass and Sculpture
New manufacturing technology allowed the architects of REX to push the limits of transparency in this glass-skinned District newcomer.
(This story is part of “Look at That Building,” a Bloomberg CityLab series about everyday — and not-so-everyday — architecture. Read more from the series, and sign up to get the next story sent directly to your inbox.)
From the outside, the facade of 2050 M Street, an office building in Washington, DC, looks like it’s made with liquid soap. Standing inside and looking out, its structure is almost invisible. The building, which was finished in 2020, boasts an ethereal curtain wall, created from hundreds of fluted planes of glass treated with a special industrial coating. The result is a multifaceted surface that pushes the limits of transparency, enhanced with a silver opal shine.