Arlington High-Rise Redefines Amenities With Cozy, Moody Design

Edit at Streetsense, the interior design arm of placemaking firm Streetsense, took on the challenge of creating an amenity package that stands out from the crowd for a new high-rise in Arlington, Virginia’s Courthouse area.

Located on the dense transit-oriented Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor, The Commodore—from developer Greystar, architect Cooper Carry and builder John Moriarty & Associates—comprises 423 units, ranging from studios to three-bedroom units.

The interior amenity spaces were designed to provide a lived-in coziness and a sense of hospitality, evoking the warmth and character of single-family homes. The designers imagined the kind of lives residents would see themselves having decades down the line, not a yearlong stop in life. The spaces were scaled to feel like a sequence of smaller rooms rather than large open-flowing amenities, increasing the number of discrete areas.

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Jason Varney

Jason Varney

Jason Varney

Jason Varney

Jason Varney

“The amenities at The Commodore have set a new standard for the area, helping to drive the highest rents in the busy Arlington, Virginia, submarket and providing a new benchmark for upcoming developments,” says Brian Miller, principal at Edit at Streetsense. “With less square footage than other buildings of a comparable unit count, the emphasis was on truly desirable standout spaces, from the moody kitchen to the street-facing mailroom to the arts-driven playroom.”

According to Edit at Streetsense, the amenity spaces are serene and welcoming as well as dark and moody instead of light and bright. A Nancy Meyers-esque kitchen provides a dramatic backdrop for entertaining with a 16-foot-long island; the mailroom offers a library-like appeal and wraparound wallcovering frieze; the fitness center has patterned wall coverings and a broad welcoming table; and the children residing in the high-rise have a studio playroom of their own with the same sophistication as the rest of the building.