WASHINGTON — Completing the campus of Dumbarton Oaks, a Harvard University-affiliated research institute, library, museum, and garden located in Washington, DC, Farrand House, a new building by Selldorf Architects and landscape architecture firm Reed Hilderbrand, is now open. Located on the far western edge of campus, Farrand House, a Selldorf-designed three-story academic building, will provide the first-ever dedicated space for K-12 programming on the property, along with a digital humanities lab, artist-in-residence studio, and gallery. Farrand House joins Dumbarton Oaks’s architectural and landscape lineage that includes architectural works by Beatrix Farrand, McKim, Mead & White, Philip Johnson, and Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates.
"Nestled in a wooded pocket behind our Guesthouse, Dumbarton Oaks is honored to open Farrand House, initiating a new phase of learning and creativity on our campus. Centered around K-12 educational programming, the building adds an artist’s studio and exhibition gallery, as well as offices for our Harvard post baccalaureate fellows. Farrand House is a beautiful space that furthers our mission as the home for the Humanities for all people," said Thomas B.F. Cummins, director of Dumbarton Oaks. Continued Executive Director Yota Batsaki, "The long-imagined Farrand House brings together our contemporary art and education programs with skill-building opportunities for Harvard humanities graduates. It provides these initiatives with a beautiful and inspiring home, while deepening our connections to local and Harvard communities."
Clad in brick with a zinc roof and fieldstone base, Farrand House sits harmoniously within the landscape. Responding to its gently sloping site, it has an east/west bi-lateral entry to accommodate visitors arriving by vehicle, including school buses, as well as those arriving on foot from the rest of the campus. Both entries converge at the mid-level of the building where the classrooms are located. “Farrand House celebrates and extends the unique interdependent relationship of landscape, architecture, and art that is at the heart of Dumbarton Oaks,” said Annabelle Selldorf, Principal of Selldorf Architects. “It is an honor to support Dumbarton Oak’s critical mission to advance scholarship in the humanities connecting its collections and gardens for all through this new building.”
Expanding Dumbarton Oaks’s signature expressive horticulture and providing further space for students to convene and socialize, the landscape design honors the storied legacy of the garden while adapting it for its expanded educational role. To integrate this new academic precinct into the broader landscape narrative, Reed Hilderbrand conceived a series of telescoping terraces—vistas and horizons stepping down through the sloped site, cultivating connections between each level and composing immersive experience of plants. "Carrying forward the brilliance and sensitivity of Farrand’s garden is an enormous honor” said Beka Sturges, principal at Reed Hilderbrand. "We saw an opportunity to expand and interpret Farrand’s attention to the shape of the ground and exceptional plant knowledge. Her artistry and understanding of how to connect people and plants inspired the organization of our project. The close relationship we have with plants and climate drove our design and we made every effort to bring forward the movement of water and the canopies of trees."
Apertures and overlooks reestablish visual connectivity to National Park Service-stewarded Dumbarton Oaks Park, and a new plaza provides a gathering space for students, acting as a nexus point for connection, exchange, and contemplation around art, the humanities and nature. The planting palette features primarily native species with select non-invasive, horticulturally significant introduced plants, and distantly related plant “cousins” from common genera, inviting engagement, horticultural observation, and research.
Tracking for LEED Gold certification, Farrand House employs state-of-the-art building systems to reduce its energy and water use, such as geothermal heating and cooling as well as photovoltaic panels on the roof. Passive strategies include massing for maximum daylighting and exterior shading. Ceiling fans, low-flow plumbing fixtures, high-efficiency irrigation, and all LED lighting further contribute to almost net-zero operational carbon. The gardens are accessible and flexible and conceived to support resilient, sustainable management practices.
Selldorf Architects also led the 2024 renovation and restoration of the historic greenhouse, which was originally designed by Beatrix Farrand and McKim, Mead & White in 1925.