{"id":17351,"date":"2022-09-12T17:42:28","date_gmt":"2022-09-12T09:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/you-can-weigh-in-on-spaced-out-designs-for-smithsonians-bezos-learning-center\/"},"modified":"2022-09-12T17:42:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T09:42:28","slug":"you-can-weigh-in-on-spaced-out-designs-for-smithsonians-bezos-learning-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/you-can-weigh-in-on-spaced-out-designs-for-smithsonians-bezos-learning-center\/","title":{"rendered":"You can weigh in on spaced-out designs for Smithsonian\u2019s Bezos Learning Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Firm C\u2019s concept for the Bezos Learning Center is meant to evoke a spaceship. (Image via NASM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The design selection process for the Bezos Learning Center planned at the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s National Air and Space Museum may sound a bit like \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d for architects \u2014 but the $130 million prize is well beyond game-show proportions.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how much money Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is giving to have the 50,000-square-foot center built as an addition to the museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It\u2019s part of Bezos\u2019 record-setting $200 million donation for the National Air and Space Museum\u2019s renovation, which was announced last summer.<\/p>\n

The Bezos Learning Center would feature activities that inspire students to pursue innovation and explore careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math \u2014 or STEAM, for short. The Smithsonian stressed that the center wouldn\u2019t just focus on aerospace, but connect to all of the institution\u2019s museums.<\/p>\n

In January, the Smithsonian put out the call for design firms to submit proposals for the center, which would replace a pyramid-shaped restaurant that was built on the museum grounds in 1988 but ceased operation in 2017. Last week, museum planners unveiled five design proposals. The architects behind the proposals are identified only as Firm A, Firm B, Firm C, Firm D and Firm E.<\/p>\n

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Firm A\u2019s concept puts a New Shepard spacecraft at the center of a hexagonal gallery. (Image via NASM) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Firm B\u2019s concept reflects the uplift of a rocket launch. (Image via NASM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Firm D\u2019s concept envisions a gallery inspired by the shape of a spiral galaxy. (Image via NASM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Firm E\u2019s concept has a \u201cCelestial Promenade\u201d flanked by nebula-inspired structures.(Image via NASM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Judging by the illustrations included in the proposals, there\u2019s likely to be a prominent place in the learning center for artifacts associated with Blue Origin, Bezos\u2019 space venture. Most of the concepts show off Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard spaceship, which began taking people on suborbital space trips last year.<\/p>\n

Each concept picks up on a spacey theme: Firm A works in hexagonal shapes that evoke the International Space Station\u2019s Cupola as well as the James Webb Space Telescope\u2019s segmented mirror. Firm B\u2019s concept has a swoopy look that suggests the prow of a ship (or the upward rise of a rocket). Firm C incorporates a UFO-like spaceship pod, while Firm D and Firm E go with astronomical motifs (a spiral galaxy for D, a nebula for E).<\/p>\n

Like \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent,\u201d the Smithsonian\u2019s design competition provides an opportunity for the wider public to weigh in. The institution\u2019s website offers a way for folks to review the anonymous firms\u2019 proposals and provide feedback through Sept. 19. The winner could be selected by the end of the year \u2014 but don\u2019t expect the decision to be made on the basis of write-in votes.<\/p>\n

According to a schedule laid out last year, the design review process for the learning center will continue into next year. Construction is said to be set to begin in 2024, and completion of the center is targeted for 2026 \u2014 which will mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the National Air and Space Museum at its current site.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Firm C\u2019s concept for the Bezos Learning Center is meant to evoke a spaceship. (Image via NASM) The design selection process for the Bezos Learning Center planned at the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s National Air and Space Museum may sound a bit like \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d for architects \u2014 but the $130 million prize is well beyond […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1046,4620,4472,3167],"class_list":["post-17351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-museums","tag-national-air-and-space-museum","tag-smithsonian"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}