Washington Metro Canopy Program

Richard Chenoweth specializes in transit architecture, residential architecture, architecture history, historic preservation, and visualization.

Lourie & Chenoweth LLC, won an international design competition for the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) prototypical canopy design in 2001. Richard was the Principal Designer during the competition and the Metro Canopy Pilot Program. Since then, Richard and Jon together have designed about fifty canopies throughout the Washington DC region. Some of the canopies can be seen in this slideshow.

One of the goals for the design was to create an iconic transit structure for Washington DC in the spirit of Burnham's Union Station and Saarinen's Dulles Airport terminal. The canopy has become iconic in its own right, as a symbol and a beacon of the Metro in DC, Virginia, and Maryland.

Lourie & Chenoweth LLC contracted with WMATA as Architect of Record, Arup (Boston) was the Engineer of Record, and Grunley Walsh was the builder. Between 2013-2015, Richard and Jon designed the largest canopy in the system for Dupont Circle North Station. It's a ninety-foot diameter glass dome on a circular arrangement of struts placed on the circular parapet. They also have designed six specially proportioned canopies for sites owned by the National Park Service.

I will post more information about the Metro canopies when I get a chance.


Click here for a virtual reality of the Dupont North Station.

Architectural History Research

Richard's research agenda as an architectural historian is the forensic digital investigation of lost or destroyed works of architecture using original drawings, letters, and documents. The main goal is to tell complex historical narratives that otherwise could not be fully understood using visual and spatial evidence. Richard's methodology includes computer modeling, digital imaging, and hand techniques such as watercolor. Resulting computer models can be used to study architecture objectively (conceptually) and sub-jectively (perceptually). He employs Image-Based-Lighting, animation, video, and web-based techniques.

The first several projects are investigations into destroyed or visionary projects by B. Henry Latrobe at the U.S. Capitol. Images, animations, and javascript sliders can be seen at his website MostBeautifulRoom.com


Click here for a vr of the Capitol in 1814.

Residential Architecture

Richard also specializes in residential architecture, and using a typological approach, is adept at both historical and modern languages. Good house design is a creative solution to a set of challenging requirements and is not necessarily a certain style. But it can be. A client's lifestyle and needs will be the foremost requirement. The house also must be well-planned, efficient, and structurally logical. It also must respond to resilient and sustainable construction practices. The house might reflect the materiality of its surroundings or its region. But a house can do more. It can be an expression of its own presence within nature, a part of the landscape. Or, it might be a more formal expression of how one lives, or aspires to live, as expressed by traditional designs.

Richard takes a hands-on approach to integrated solutions ranging from siting and landscape to custom millwork.

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