In June 2020, Johns Hopkins University completed its $372.5 million acquisition of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., which had closed the year before. A $275 million renovation of that building resulted in the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, a higher education facility that brings together many of the university’s divisions within a building redesigned as a vertical campus for transparency and sustainability.
The 435,000-ft facility opened last August at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue at the heart of the nation’s capital. It is anchored by Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies, its Carey Business School, its Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Peabody Institute, and the newly launched School of Government and Policy. The Center’s mission, stated Johns Hopkins, is to “connect the worlds of research and policy, educate future leaders and innovators, convene a range of viewpoints to foster discovery and dialogue, and bring a fresh infusion of artistic expression.”
More than 3,000 students, faculty, researchers, and staff come through this 10-story building daily. The Center allocates 300,000 sf of its interior space to learning, with 38 high-tech classrooms of varying capacities. On the east side of the building’s seven-story-tall interior atrium, a 20x27-ft “floating” glass classroom hangs from a pair of bridge girders. On the west side of the atrium rises a 70-ft treehouse-like stacked assemblage of classrooms and open lounges.
The atrium is anchored by a sloped seating area called The Beach, a nod to the grassy space at Johns Hopkins’ Homewood campus in Baltimore.
Ennead gets another shot at an old project
Inside the Center as well are the Irene and Richard Frary Library on its second floor, an event space called The Link on its fourth floor, a 3,350-sf multimedia suite, a fitness and wellness center, a lounge with 435 seats, and a 375-seat theater with a 640-sf stage and 7,000 sf of backstage support. Space has been earmarked for a future restaurant and café.
The building’s exterior is encased in an enlarged glass façade and a 50-ft curtainwall that faces Pennsylvania Avenue; pink marble cladding, and 16,888 sf of roof terraces. “As architects, it is a rare opportunity to revisit an earlier design and reimagine it for an entirely new purpose,” said Richard Olcott, FAIA FAAR, Design Partner at Ennead Architects, this Center’s exterior architect, and the original architect of the Newseum.
This project’s building team also included SmithGroup (AOR, lighting design, fire protection, life safety engineering), Rockwell Group (interior architect), Clark Construction (GC), Wiles Mensch (CE), LERA Consulting Structural Engineers (SE), WSP (MEP engineer, fire protection, life safety engineer), Oehme, van Sweden (landscape architect), Babich Acoustics (acoustics), and BrightTree Studios (A/V). MGAC provided project and cost management support.
A reduced carbon footprint
Concerning the atrium, Rockwell Group identifies two key insertions: the “Room Stair” that wraps around the building’s glass rooms and lounges; and the “Room Bridge” that houses classrooms and lounge spaces, and bridges both sides of the building.
The building team eliminated 77.8 tons of carbon dioxide from the construction process by using CarbonCure concrete. The team also recycled or diverted from landfills 96.6 percent of the project’s construction waste that, according to SmithGroup, included demolishing 50,000 sf of interior floorplates to make way for 90,000-sf floorplates, and removing the Newseum’s marble exterior panels.
Related Stories
| Oct 12, 2014
AIA 2030 commitment: Five years on, are we any closer to net-zero?
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the American Institute of Architects’ effort to have architecture firms voluntarily pledge net-zero energy design for all their buildings by 2030.
| Oct 10, 2014
A new memorial by Zaha Hadid in Cambodia departs from the expected
The project sees a departure from Hadid’s well-known use of concrete, fiberglass, and resin. Instead, the primary material will be timber, curved and symmetrical like the Angkor Wat and other Cambodian landmarks.
| Oct 9, 2014
Regulations, demand will accelerate revenue from zero energy buildings, according to study
A new study by Navigant Research projects that public- and private-sector efforts to lower the carbon footprint of new and renovated commercial and residential structures will boost the annual revenue generated by commercial and residential zero energy buildings over the next 20 years by 122.5%, to $1.4 trillion.
| Oct 9, 2014
Beyond the bench: Meet the modern laboratory facility
Like office workers escaping from the perceived confines of cubicles, today’s scientists have been freed from the trappings of the typical lab bench, writes Perkins+Will's Bill Harris.
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
| Sep 22, 2014
4 keys to effective post-occupancy evaluations
Perkins+Will's Janice Barnes covers the four steps that designers should take to create POEs that provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.
| Sep 22, 2014
Sound selections: 12 great choices for ceilings and acoustical walls
From metal mesh panels to concealed-suspension ceilings, here's our roundup of the latest acoustical ceiling and wall products.
| Sep 17, 2014
New hub on campus: Where learning is headed and what it means for the college campus
It seems that the most recent buildings to pop up on college campuses are trying to do more than just support academics. They are acting as hubs for all sorts of on-campus activities, writes Gensler's David Broz.
| Sep 9, 2014
Using Facebook to transform workplace design
As part of our ongoing studies of how building design influences human behavior in today’s social media-driven world, HOK’s workplace strategists had an idea: Leverage the power of social media to collect data about how people feel about their workplaces and the type of spaces they need to succeed.
| Sep 7, 2014
Ranked: Top state government sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
PCL Construction, Stantec, and AECOM head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest state government design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
