BGuthrie Photos: DC -- North Cleveland Park -- Intelsat building (3400 Connecticut Ave NW)

DC -- North Cleveland Park -- Intelsat building (3400 Connecticut Ave NW):

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Description of Pictures: Whittle School and Studios is a for-profit educational organization founded by Chris Whittle. It opened here in September 2019. A very private school, its tuition costs the first year were said to be $49,000/year/student (ages 3-18). Nearby Sidwell Friends was apparently $44,000/year/student. Both of course were now shifted into remote learning.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[1] INTELS_200422_01.JPG	[2] INTELS_200422_04.JPG	[3] INTELS_200422_07.JPG
[4] INTELS_200422_10.JPG	[5] INTELS_200422_17.JPG	[6] INTELS_200422_20.JPG
[7] INTELS_200422_22.JPG	[8] INTELS_200422_25.JPG	[9] INTELS_200422_28.JPG
[10] INTELS_200422_33.JPG	[11] INTELS_200422_35.JPG	[12] INTELS_200422_39.JPG
[13] INTELS_200422_42.JPG	[14] INTELS_200422_45.JPG	[15] INTELS_200422_49.JPG
[16] INTELS_200422_52.JPG	[17] INTELS_200422_60.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. INTELS_200422_01.JPG: Intelsat sold the building to the Whittle School & Studios, an exclusive (as in, very expensive) private school.
2. INTELS_200422_28.JPG: Join us for Summer 2020 June 29-August 14 [It's unlikely that semester is going to work out.]
3. INTELS_200422_42.JPG: IEEE Milestone First Atomic Clock, 1948 The first atomic clock, developed near this site by Harold Lyons at the National Bureau of Standards, revolutionized timekeeping by using transitions of the ammonia molecule as its source of frequency. Far more accurate than previous clocks, atomic clocks quickly replaced the Earth's rotational rate as the reference for world time. Atomic clock accuracy made possible many new technologies, including Global Positioning System (GPS). August 2017
Wikipedia Description: Intelsat headquarters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3400 International Drive (also known as Intelsat Headquarters) is an office complex in the North Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. by the Van Ness metro station designed by the Australian architect John Andrews and built by Gilbane Building Company. Formerly used as the U.S. headquarters of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat), it is known for its futuristic, high-tech architecture.
\Structure

John Andrews won the 1980 International Union of Architects international competition to design the complex. The competition had taken place in 1979 with nearly 100 firms from 23 countries competing for the contract to design the complex. Ground was broken on the project on July 20, 1982 in a rather unusual manner. Using a network of four satellites and five earth stations, a signal was radioed around the world two times before it triggered a pre-set explosion at the building site. The complex was built in two phases, with Phase I being completed first in 1984 and Phase II following in 1988. While Andrews' contribution was positively cited as that of a creative professional, the project was marred by the embezzlement of five million dollars by Intelsat's director general and deputy.

The complex consists of fourteen interconnected rectangular "pods" clustered in groups of four around taller glass and stainless steel atria. The circular stairwells external to the pods are constructed of glass bricks and concrete. Unusual for the time, the design incorporate environmentally conscious elements that contribute to energy efficiency, such as the use of tinted-glass sunscreens and the open-air atria that admit sunlight while reflecting direct sun. Also, the complex incorporates interior and exterior water features for cooling and terraced roof gardens to complement the large trees preserved by the site plan.

While the building is 917,000 square feet (85,200 m2), only 546,000 sq ft (50,700 m2) is usable office space, with the remainder being taken up by the lengthy corridor down the center of the building, the atria, and other public spaces.

Intelsat was the initial occupant, but after its privatization in 1999 and its later mergers with PanAmSat, COMSAT and parts of Loral, its continued presence at the site has been uncertain. This is partially as it is looking for a smaller complex. Other occupants include the embassies of Belize, Botswana and Swaziland and formerly included WJLA Channel 7.

Reception

Andrews said his design expressed "a spirit of openness, of optimism, of faith in cooperation between peoples and groups of people, and the use of modern technology." However, since its construction, reception has been mixed. Some consider it "a Connecticut Avenue landmark and a must-see for futurists touring the nation’s capital" because of its unique high-tech design and energy efficiency. Early in its existence, it was noted as being a positive repudiation of architectural conservatism, however, its style was not duplicated and therefore it stands out from the surrounding city.

Other critics also note that it does not interact well with the surrounding buildings and add that it can be difficult for visitors to find the entrance given its odd shape and placement. As of 2005 it had been studied by the Historic Preservation Section of the D.C. Office of Planning as a potential landmark of Modern architecture, but a 2011 architectural-historical review of the area as part of the University of the District of Columbia's student center construction planning found that Intelsat was not old enough for landmark status and was a "visual shock" to the neighborhood, given its arguably inappropriate design and sitting for an urban area. The review did indicate that this opinion could change as the building aged further.
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