Capital One Corporate Headquarters Block A

Overview 

In McLean, Virginia, Capital One has been building a vast mixed-use headquarters campus that encompasses Capital One Hall, The Watermark Hotel, Capital One Park and additional retail. Block A includes two new towers, rising 12 and 19 stories each, connected by a soaring, 12-story atrium through which various bridges and floors cross. 

We provided structural design services for the 1.63-million-square-foot mixed-use office development to Gensler, the architect of the project. The two towers sit atop an 11-story podium, and the structure consists of 752,000 square feet of above- and below-grade parking and 882,000 square feet of office and retail space. 

Highlights 

• The towers feature structural systems of cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete.  
• A major challenge for this project was determining how to connect the two office towers. The initial design entailed the introduction of a large expansion joint detail that included clear-span façades. After reviewing numerous options with the design team, we eliminated the expansion joint and included connector floors within the 12-story enclosed atrium to tie the buildings together.