Rust | Orling Architecture

10/02/2024

ROA is honored to partner with CLI on the development of a new 91-unit affordable housing apartment building on Elbert Avenue. We've still a ways to go, but the whole team is enthusiastic about seeing this project realized!

Community Lodgings Inc

09/30/2024

We are so excited to have a hand in this amazing project!

A local church is celebrating its 70th anniversary in Fairfax County by offering others the chance to put down roots in the same community — in fact, on the same property. News4’s Derrick Ward explains.

09/20/2024

We are are so excited with the reception of our 45 for 45 anniversary series, we'd like to take the opportunity to brag about some of the people that make the magic happen. First in our Staff Spotlight is the OG, the man who puts the Orling in Rust | Orling!

09/18/2024

45 for 45: #43

ROA is in the neighborhood building business! In the early 2000s, we used a multitude of architectural styles found in Alexandria and surrounding communities in our design of Alexandria's Potomac Yard townhouses for Pulte Group. Each neighborhood represents a single style, such as contemporary, mansion, main street, wood frame, Victorian, and Craftsman to give the appearance of a community created over time. Transition neighborhoods help blend each neighborhood together, as well as blending with the surrounding existing community.

09/16/2024

45 for 45: #42

I'm sure you recognize this building on N. St. Asaph in Old Town Alexandria! We provided the design concept which DCS Design thoughtfully executed through construction. We balanced the design requirements of the Old Town North Review Board with the tricky program criteria of an urban grocery store topped with 175 luxury rental units. This building has an urban feel and maintains the historical charm of Old Town.

09/13/2024

45 for 45: #41

Our Clyde's collaboration continues...
ROA has contributed many remarkable renovations to the storied history of Georgetown's famous 1789 Restaurant, including renovating Fitzgerald's exterior, The Tombs interior, dining rooms, the kitchen, and adding an accessible bathroom. As with so many of our projects, keeping the historical character of this mid-1800s building was of utmost importance. Many talented designers, tradesmen, and proprietors have left their mark on these institutions, and we're proud to be one of them.

Image 2 and 3 show the before and after of the Fitzgerald's exterior renovation.

09/12/2024

45 for 45: #40

Here ROA led the impressive addition, renovation, and restoration of the 1835 Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. This was a phased project starting in 1997 with the restoration of the church (focusing on the sanctuary space). The second phase included an extensive list of additions and renovations: a teen center and nursery on the ground level, an expanded Fellowship Hall, new kitchen and administrative offices on the first level, and new classrooms, a choir room and a library built overtop of the existing first floor. All workers on this project were paid within Davis-Bacon Act guidelines, per the Church's requirement to pay a living wage.

09/09/2024

45 for 45: #39

Sirens on! ROA was an integral part of this innovative public/private collaboration, which combines an Alexandria City fire station, ground floor retail, and a community meeting space with workforce, affordable housing on the upper four levels and below grade parking. The placement of workforce and affordable housing above another city facility eliminated land costs for the housing. The overall aesthetic goal was to express the civic nature of the building while giving both the residential and fire department functions clear and separate identities.

09/06/2024

45 for 45: #38

We saw 118 King St. from the outside in 45 for 45: #12; take a peek inside at the unique second-floor office space. The design challenge was to meet the client’s desire for a traditional Old Town Alexandria office nestled within an industrialized aesthetic with a tremendous height between floor and roof. We used simplified details to create a visually refined blend of traditional and industrial aesthetics. Exposed brick, anyone?

09/05/2024

45 for 45: #37

Ever stop for a meal at Clyde's Gallery Place before a game at Capital One Arena? Designed by ROA in 2005, the design was heavily influenced by the historic Ames Free Library by Henry Hobson Richardson. The intricate details of the restaurant and owner's commitment to quality craftsmanship and materials, such as turned wood columns, barrel vaulted ceiling ornamented with beaded tongue and groove wood boards, tumbled Italian marble floors, original commissioned art, mahogany windows, stained-glass ceilings, and incomparable millwork from Weather Hill Company create a rich experience for patrons.

09/02/2024

45 for 45: #36

We can't believe we're only 10 from the end! We're back on Washington St. in Alexandria with a project realized with one of our favorite clients and local developer, Rafat Mahmood. 700 N. Washington is a mixed-use complex that replaced an antiquated motel. We overcame the challenges presented by the site's immediate neighbors with inventive solutions, like capping the building to three stories next to two-story homes so as to not overpower them and pulling upper floors away from the church behind the building so as to avoid casting shadows through the windows. 700 N. Washington revitalized the block to pedestrian activity with the businesses located on the first level. Construction completed in 2017, the same year the city adopted the Old Town North Small Area Plan, which continues to attract vitality to the neighborhood of North Old Town.

08/30/2024

45 for 45: #34

Rise and shine! Today we are highlighting our last Sunrise Senior Living facility of the series in Fairfax, VA. The location features 83 assisted living and memory care units with lavishly appointed amenities such as dining rooms, activity rooms, physical therapy suites, underground parking, and rooftop terraces. Notably, building on this site involved collaborating with the adjacent school, Merritt Academy. Through this collaboration, the kitchen built in this facility is large enough to make meals for both the Sunrise residents and Merritt Academy students and an "intergenerational playground" allows students and seniors to interact and work on shared projects! Also, Merritt Academy let us use their signature caboose as a part of the site planning.