The Smithsonian Institution yesterday announced the selection of Perkins&Will to design a $130 million STEAM education center named after Amazon founder and occasional space traveler Jeff Bezos at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Perkins&Will’s winning concept for the 50,000-square-foot facility, which lead designer Ralph Johnson said draws creative inspiration from the spiral galaxy and its “infinite possibilities,” was selected from a shortlist of five proposals publicly released last September. The proposals for the Bezos Learning Center, all eyebrow-raising to various degrees, attracted a fair amount of attention when unveiled; the fact that each competing firm remained anonymous during the public feedback period added intrigue to the coveted commission. A total of 23 design teams responded to a Request for Qualifications in early 2022, including eventual finalist Perkins&Will (previously only identified as “Firm D”).
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