The U.S. Geological Survey National Center is a major federal headquarters campus located in the greater Washington, D.C. area.  The development of the USGS National Center is closely associated with the early history of the planned community of Reston, in western Fairfax County. The U.S. Geological Survey became one of the first projects built within the Reston Center for Industry and Government, specifically for the use of corporate, industrial, and government entities as part of the 1962 Reston master plan that integrated residential, industrial, and commercial uses with cultural, civic, and social needs. As such, the USGS National Center is representative of the early planning and development of this important late twentieth-century “New Town” community. Completed in 1974, the USGS National Center was constructed during a period when the General Services Administration implemented initiatives to improve the design standards of federal buildings, and the complex is a significant example of a late-Modernist, federal suburban campus. The USGS National Center is also significant for its landscape plan. Environmental conservation was integral to Robert E. Simon’s vision for Reston, and site planning and design for the USGS National Center was guided by the retention of green space and the natural topography.
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