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The Robert C. Weaver Federal Building is a 10-story office building in Washington, D.C., owned by the federal government of the United States. Completed in 1968, it serves as the headquarters of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).〔 Built by the General Services Administration, it is a prime example of Brutalist architecture.〔〔〔 The structure is named for Dr. Robert C. Weaver, the first Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the first African American Cabinet member.〔〔 The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 26, 2008.〔 Accessed 2013-12-25.〕 ==Building conception== In 1962, President John F. Kennedy established the Ad Hoc Committee on Federal Office Space and charged it with developing new guidelines for the design of federal office buildings.〔Gutheim and Lee, ''Worthy of the Nation,'' 2006, p. 410.〕 On May 23, 1962, the Ad Hoc Committee issued a one-page report, ''Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture,'' which established these new design principles.〔 The document encouraged federal planners to consider and build structures that "reflect the dignity, enterprise, vigor and stability of the American National Government" and "embody the finest contemporary American architectural thought."〔"An Eyeful of Washington Eyesores," ''Washington Post,'' December 21, 2008.〕 In 1965, major revisions to federal housing policy resulted in the creation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The United States Congress passed and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 on August 10, 1965, which President Johnson called "the single most important breakthrough" in federal housing policy since the 1920s.〔Semple, "$7.5 Billion Bill, With a Rent Subsidy Proviso, Signed by Johnson," ''New York Times,'' August 11, 1965.〕 The legislation greatly expanded funding for existing federal housing programs, and added new programs to provide rent subsidies for the elderly and disabled; housing rehabilitation grants to poor homeowners; provisions for veterans to make very low down-payments to obtain mortgages; new authority for families qualifying for public housing to be placed in empty private housing (along with subsidies to landlords); and matching grants to localities for the construction of water and sewer facilities, construction of community centers in low-income areas, and urban beautification.〔〔Pritchett, ''Robert Clifton Weaver and the American City: The Life and Times of an Urban Reformer,'' 2008, p. 256-259.〕 Just four weeks later, on September 9, President Johnson signed legislation establishing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.〔Pritchett, ''Robert Clifton Weaver and the American City: The Life and Times of an Urban Reformer,'' 2008, p. 262.〕 Design work on the future HUD building began immediately. Karel Yasko, Assistant Commissioner for Design and Construction in the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), oversaw the design process in accordance with the Ad Hoc Committee's guidelines.〔Gutheim and Lee, ''Worthy of the Nation,'' 2006, p. 301.〕 In 1946, the Congress had passed the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act, which established the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency and provided for clearance of land and redevelopment funds in the capital.〔Committee on the District of Columbia, ''Amend Redevelopment Act of 1945...,'' 1978, p. 112.〕 After a decade of discussion, public comment, and negotiations with landowners and developers, the Southwest Urban Renewal Plan was approved in November 1956.〔Committee on the District of Columbia, ''Amend Redevelopment Act of 1945...,'' 1978, p. 46.〕 In part, the plan cleared the way for GSA to build new large federal office buildings between Independence Avenue SW and Southeast Freeway to its south.〔Gutheim and Lee, ''Worthy of the Nation,'' 2006, p. 274.〕 The HUD building, the only office building south of the railroad tracks (which bifurcated the area on an east-west axis), was designed to be a showcase for the Ad Hoc Committee's design guidelines.〔Wasserman and Hausrath, ''Washington, D.C. from A to Z,'' 2003, p. 92-93.〕〔〔Grooms, "The Charrette Process: A Tool for Achieving Design Excellence," in ''Federal Facilities Beyond the 1990s: Ensuring Quality in an Era of Limited Resources,'' 1997, p. 108.〕 Internationally known architect Marcel Breuer submitted the building's winning design.〔〔 Breuer became the building's lead architect, assisted by his associate Herbert Beckhard and the firm of Nolen-Swinburne.〔〔〔 Breuer drew on many of his previous buildings for inspiration for HUD Heqadquarters. He had built curvilinear precast concrete buildings before for UNESCO's world headquarters in Paris and the IBM Research Center in La Gaude (both in France).〔Hodges and Hodges, ''Washington on Foot,'' 1980, p. 41.〕 The curvilinear shape allowed the maximum amount of natural light to reach the maximum number of offices.〔〔 This design also reflected much of the architectural style adopted during the early 1960s in Washington, D.C., (notably at the Watergate complex).〔Kennon and Striner, ''Washington Past and Present: A Guide to the Nation's Capital,'' 1987, p. 71.〕 The final design resembles that of a giant capital letter "X" with an elongated spine and four bilateral, symmetrical, curving arms.〔〔〔 The four arms created four spaces. The northern space was given over to gigantic HVAC vents.〔 The western space was planted with grass and with low concrete benches lining the semicircular space.〔 GSA's design specifications required that extensive underground parking be incorporated into the building. Breuer designed a lightweight, six-acre (2.4 hectares) plaza to fit as a sort of roof over the underground parking garage.〔Schwartz, et al., ''Martha Schwartz: Transfiguration of the Commonplace,'' 1997, p. 162.〕〔Porter, "Disillusioned in D.C.: I Was Dazzled By The Virtual HUD Plaza—Then I Saw the Real Thing," ''Landscape Architecture,'' July 2001, p. 32.〕〔 The plaza surface would be covered in masonry "stones", with a curving driveway (mimicking the building facade) to lead vehicular traffic into the garage entrance and exit (which were situated in the center of the plaza).〔 An offshoot of the driveway (set off by bollards) came up to the front doors to allow the limousines of high-ranking visitors to pull up directly to the building's front doors.〔 Because the weight of the plaza/roof had to be kept light, no plantings (lawns, trees, shrubs, etc.) were envisioned for the plaza.〔 Although the plaza was devoid of plants, its shape and vast expanse were designed to relate aesthetically to the nearby National Mall.〔 Deep-set windows in rectilinear shapes, a Breuer trademark, were planned for the facade.〔Williams, ''Southwest Washington,'' 2006, p. 67.〕 The window frames were made of precast concrete. The building was the first Breuer-designed structure in the United States to use a precast concrete facade,〔Beckhard, "The Breuer-Beckhard Precast Facades," in ''Exterior Wall Systems: Glass and Concrete Technology, Design, and Construction,'' 1991, p. 158.〕 and this was the first federal building to be built of precast concrete.〔〔Nelson, ''Guide to the Presidency: The White House and the Executive Branch,'' 2002, p. 972.〕〔Scott and Lee, ''Buildings of the District of Columbia,'' 1993, p. 239.〕 The facade was designed to be load-bearing, with the panels on the second, third, and fourth floors designed to carry the weight of the building.〔 The window frames on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors were slightly thinner, because although they were not load-bearing they had to contain HVAC piping.〔 The panels on the middle floors required the least amount of fabrication, according to architect Herbert Beckhard (an associate in Breuer's firm who helped design the building), as they did not need to bear as much load nor contain much piping.〔 The windows do not meet at the corner of the concrete frame. Pipes from the I-395 tunnel (which runs below the building) run up through the building's walls and vent at the corners of the window frames, dispersing automobile exhaust fumes high in the air.〔 Each concrete unit is three feet (0.9 metres) thick and weighs almost 13 tons (11.8 metric tonnes).〔"Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, Washington, DC: Building Overview," August 4, 2009.〕 The firm which supplied the window frames had no previous experience producing architectural concrete, but instead had supplied precast forms for bridges and parking garages.〔 The structure's interior floors were also made precast concrete.〔 However, the floors were almost made of more than-traditional materials. Late in the design process, GSA accountants estimated that the cost of precast concrete for the flooring would be exceptionally high, and GSA threatened to change the architectural plans.〔 But after extensive discussions between GSA and Breuer, GSA relented. The plans were let to bid as designed, and the floors were fabricated for significantly less than estimated.〔 The base of the building was designed to look much different from the upper nine floors. The building's first floor is recessed, with load-bearing concrete ''pilotis'' (piers) supporting the upper floors at intervals around the building.〔〔 The V-shaped columns taper to a narrow base that creates a more open, "lighter" appearance at ground level and whose angularity contrasts with the building's curving facade.〔〔Goldberger, "Marcel Breuer, 79, Dies," ''New York Times,'' July 2, 1981.〕 The walls of the recessed first floor are not bare concrete but rather sheathed in granite.〔〔 No abrasive blasting or acid etching of the visible exterior concrete was used to smooth the appearance of the structure, as Breuer and Beckhard believed concrete casting techniques had advanced sufficiently to no longer require it.〔 An Oscar Stonorov bust of Catherine Bauer Wurster, an influential public housing advocate in the 1930s, adorns the building's Main (South) lobby.〔〔"Bust of Late Catherine Bauer Wurster Placed in HUD Building," ''Journal of Housing,'' 1968.〕 The project was expected to cost $32 million, although only $29 million was appropriated by Congress for construction.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robert C. 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