The plaza expansion endeavor will occupy eight acres and feature two new steel and glass buildings adorning a centrally located water fountain. An education center with exhibition space will take up one of the structures, while rehearsal and additional office space for Washington Opera and Kennedy Center performers and employees will be housed in the other building. Plans for the project, which are still in the earliest development stages, call for a total of 400,000 sf of structural space. "These particulars are very preliminary, and a lot of this might change," Frances C. Gretes of Rafael Viñoly Architects PC tells GlobeSt.com.

With Washington, DC being a great walking town, creating a more pedestrian friendly environment is a large part of the concept behind the plaza project. Kennedy Center officials are also eager to tie in the performing arts arena with the city's memorial center. And the DC Department of Transportation has gotten involved to handle plans for an alteration to the Potomac Freeway that will help facilitate traffic to and from the site. "[The project] will enhance the aesthetic quality of the Center and its Foggy Bottom neighborhood, as well as improve access to the Center and its connection to the city," CarrAmerica Urban president Robert O. Carr says in a prepared statement. A construction start date for the plaza has not been hammered down as of yet, but the expected date of completion has been set for 2013.