National Business Aviation Association

Washington, DC


Quick Facts: 

Client: National Business Aviation Association (NBAA)

Market: Commercial

Size: 28,000 gsf

Services: Interiors

Photographer: Jessica Marcotte

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), host of the largest civil aviation trade show worldwide, is the leading organization for the ten thousand companies that rely on general business aviation.   Their new headquarters has been relocated to the top floor of 1200 G Street, NW, at Metro Center in Washington, DC.

The location presented two significant opportunities for MWAP’s design team. As the top floor has a slightly greater height, a ceiling height of 8’-8”could be achieved and more natural light introduced from the perimeter windows. The central elevator core can be accessed in two directions which helped improve the efficiency of the circulation solution and permitted the placement of a large multipurpose conference room in the most column free portion of the building adjacent to the reception area.

The entry to the full-floor tenancy made use of the linear nature of the lobby and its connection to the reception area to make a “runway,” evocative of the aviatic purpose of the organization and serving to lead the visitor into the suite and its conference center. The runway is accented with a porcelain tile floor and reinforced by a continuous reflecting ceiling surface.

The multipurpose room is outfitted by a full complement of audio-visual equipment, and the flexible furniture permits a multitude of conference, meeting, training and auditorium configurations. Discreetly placed and connected to the conference center, the employee lounge provides space for informal gatherings and the necessary food preparation.

The office space presented the opportunity to create a unique blend of open and closed spaces. The workstations are organized in one contiguous zone of interrelated open plan workstations with natural light on three sides. The private offices have the unique feature of all being faced with floor to ceiling glass on the corridor side. Thus every office is visually connected to the office space in general.  They all share the natural light and offfer single occupancy, while the simple action of closing one’s door meets the need for privacy.

Due to the very tight timeframes and modest budget, the project was successfully completed on a design-build basis with rand* construction.