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The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is the largest building (3.1 million square feet) in Washington, DC, and is owned by the U.S. General Services Administration. As the first and only federal building dedicated to both government and private use, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center has been mandated by Congress to bring together the country’s best public and private resources to create a national forum for the advancement of trade.
In addition, the building houses a premier conference and event center, executive office space, dining opportunities and coordinates entertainment and programming. The Federal Triangle, this area, was known in the 1890s as “the plague spot of Washington” for its brothels and saloons that flourished alongside offices of the city’s four daily newspapers and its leading banks, theaters and hotels.
Today, the former "plague spot" showcases a "crown jewel" – the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. With its skylight soaring upward, its Trade Center reaching out to the world, and its landscaped plazas and entrances on all sides welcoming visitors, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is the nation’s newest "architectural triumph" and most majestic landmark.
The domed Rotunda on Pennsylvania Avenue is the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center’s signature feature and "front door" to the world inside. Through the 14th Street entrance, the eight-story foyer gives way to the building’s most dramatic interior feature, a cone-shaped, horizontal glass skylight that soars from 35 to 125 feet over the 170-foot-diameter Atrium. The skylight comprises an acre of glass. As it widens from 30 to 110 feet, the Atrium serves as the pedestrian "spine" of the building, leading out to the Woodrow Wilson Plaza and the Federal Triangle Metro station. |
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