Outerbridge Horsey Associates, PLLC

The Watergate South apartment building was built circa 1970. The existing double-apartment before our intervention was constructed at that time.

The new owners were drawn to the apartment because of its sweeping views to the west overlooking the Potomac River and the Georgetown waterfront. The quiet interior courtyard looks toward the Kennedy Center to the east. However, there was a need for a more coherent entry sequence, a more open layout and a more appropriate disposition of rooms to the existing views.

According to the new design, the public rooms (living room, library, dining room, kitchen/family room and den) are laid out enfilade along the west side, parallel to the balcony overlooking the river. The master bedroom and primary guest bedroom (the den can serve as an additional guest room) are located on the east side and overlook the quiet interior courtyard. The curving exterior wall and walls perpendicular to that curve define the shape of the rooms.

At the center of the plan, between the two sets of exterior rooms, is a sequence of purely geometrical spaces: the round Entry Hall, the rectangular Galley, and the Octagonal Hall, which integrate all of the rooms.

In the interstitial space between the central, geometrical spine and the perimeter rooms are located the service facilities, powder room, laundry room, bathrooms and storage closets.