Form + Function Innovation Award
Winner: District E | District Bites
Owner: Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Washington, D.C.
Architecture & Interiors: Architecture, Incorporated, Reston, Va.
MEP: Interface Engineering, Washington, D.C.
Structural Engineer: Construction Insight DC, LLC, Alexandria, Va.
Contractor: KBR Corporation, Fairfax, Va.
Environmental Graphics: 4040, Cambridge, Mass.
Audio-Visual: McCann Systems, Edison, N.J.
Food Service: fds Design Studio, Washington, D.C.
Sustainability Consulting: Sustainable Building Partners, Fairfax, Va.
Designing a 13,700-square-foot contemporary e-sports themed restaurant and event space had its fair share of challenges. The restaurant seats 168 and includes a 300-person event space. It had to not only support the event space but also stand alone as a unique hospitality venue. Additionally, the restaurant had to serve as a catalyst to introduce e-sports to a wider audience and to represent multiple team brands across various professional sports organizations owned by the client, Monumental Sports & Entertainment.
The flexible design can accommodate both local traffic and dedicated larger events. A small stage can host music acts, lectures and even community events. The folded drywall ceiling includes lighting for nearly any type of event or activity, making the venue appealing to a broad range of potential event customers. Furniture is flexible and moveable. The operable storefront even expands the event venue into the atrium of the adjacent urban mall, where a patio provides additional seating as necessary. The judges felt the flexible space was a plus, that the “design met the challenging multipurpose uses intended for the space,” and that the “design team did a really great job with lighting.”
Images courtesy of Paul Burk
