KGPdesign studio

The Foggy Bottom-GWU metro station ranks the eighth-busiest station in the Metrorail system yet accommodates all passengers through a single entrance mezzanine. Strained by this existing passenger traffic, future growth projects would further weaken the station's access, efficiency, and safety. As architectural designers on an architectural engineering team, KGP evaluated, analyzed, and conceptualized a new second entrance and mezzanine to alleviate these issues for this critical station.

The project creates a separate entrance/exit at the east end of the station, allowing direct access to and from the eastern edge of GWU's campus and adjacent downtown office buildings. A new stair and escalator array and two handicap-accessible elevators on the southeast corner of 22nd and Eye Streets NW will lead to an entry mezzanine outside the existing station envelope. Creating this external mezzanine is critical in providing the needed access level at the platform's east end. Additionally, the arrangement of the surface-level elements (stairs, escalators, and elevators) conforms to a typical column bay structure to allow for future development over these entry elements.

This solution proved to be much less expensive by pulling the new mezzanine entrance out of the station box where it could be built without stopping and delaying trains. KGP re-arranged the service rooms to allow passage through them to access the station platform. New elevators were also installed in this area to keep the intrusion into the active station at a minimum.