Archinect - News

Perkins&Will will design the new Bezos Learning Center for the National Air and Space Museum

2023-06-06T15:03:00-04:00

Perkins&Will has just been announced as the lead designers of the new Bezos Learning Center at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The firm’s winning design was selected over a shortlist that included five anonymous proposals submitted by leading global architectural firms.

The center is supposed to be enacted in the space once occupied by Gyo Obata’s now-demolished glass pyramid structure from 1988. Once completed, the new addition will entail approximately 50,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, a rooftop terrace, a public observatory, and dining options. Its spiraling form is meant to evoke the shape of the galaxy. Total costs for the project are expected to be around $130 million.

“The spiral galaxy — our source of creative inspiration — is all about infinite possibilities,” the project's lead designer, Ralph Johnson, says of its conceptual approach and vision. “We are grateful for the opportunity to work with the Smithsonian Institut...

Five anonymous proposals for the Bezos Learning Center: Can you spot the starchitects?

2022-09-09T11:18:00-04:00

Five design proposals have been unveiled for the Bezos Learning Center at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The $130 million Smithsonian scheme, funded by a $200 million donation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, will serve as an education center on the topics of air and space exploration.

The center will be built on the site of a recently-demolished glass pyramid pavilion designed by the late architect Gyo Obata, which opened in 1988. In its place, the Bezos Learning Center will measure approximately 50,000 square feet, holding restaurants, exhibition spaces, a rooftop terrace, and a public observatory.

The five proposals have been made publicly available for comment on the National Air and Space Museum website until September 19th. While the architectural team behind each scheme remains anonymous, the scale and profile of the commission has no doubt attracted some of the largest names in the industry.

A timeline for the selection of winners, and a program for co...

Jeff Bezos is having a bridge dismantled in Rotterdam to make way for his superyacht

2022-02-04T10:41:00-05:00

A century-old steel bridge in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam will be partially dismantled this summer to allow a superyacht being built for Jeff Bezos to sail through.

The controversial project will make way for Bezos’ new $485 million Oceanco-designed sailing yacht, which is about half the length of the Titanic. Bezos has agreed to pay for the bridge’s removal. The 144-year-old structure narrowly survived heavy allied bombing of the city during War II and a later attempt by the city to demolish it that was eventually stopped by local citizens. The bridge was restored in 2007.

Rotterdam’s mayor’s office has said it welcomes the economic benefits of the project, although some residents have other plans.

“From an economic perspective and maintaining employment, the municipality considers this a very important project,” Rotterdam municipal project leader Marcel Walravens told AFP. “In addition, Rotterdam has also been declared the maritime capital of Europe. Shipbuilding and activity within that sector are therefore an important pillar of the municipality.”

Blue Origin plans to build a 'mixed-use' space station by the end of the decade

2021-11-01T18:13:00-04:00

Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is teaming up with other firms to build a space station in Earth orbit. The group announced its plans on Monday, revealing the latest concept for a privately built orbital outpost that could replace or complement the International Space Station.

Called Orbital Reef, the proposed space station is described as a “mixed-use business park” in space. The project’s announcement comes months after Blue Origin completed its first human space flight, which included Bezos along with three others. Partners in the project include Sierra Space, Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Arizona State University.

As per Blue Origin’s announcement, Orbital Reef “will provide the essential infrastructure needed to scale economic activity and open new markets in space.” The company intends for the station to serve a range of customers from space agencies to media and travel companies. They also claim that the station will start operating in the second half of this decade.

Previously on Archinect: Jeff Bezos wants to go to space because "it's important"

Jeff Bezos buys LA's most expensive property for record $165 million

2020-02-13T14:11:00-05:00

Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest person, has purchased a Beverly Hills mansion known as the Warner Estate from media mogul David Geffen for $165 million, a source familiar with the deal said on Wednesday.

The hefty price tag of the new abode for Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sánchez is believed to be the highest amount ever paid for a home in the Los Angeles area — even beating the recent record-setting transaction of Bel Air's Chartwell mansion which sold for a meager $150 million.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Bezos also purchased three New York apartments earlier this year at an estimated value of $80 million.

In 2018, the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner also bought this historic 27,000-square-foot D.C. mansion and, according to Washingtonian, hired Barnes Vanze Architects to renovate the "25 bathrooms, 11 bedrooms, five living rooms/lounges, five staircases, three kitchens, two libraries/studies, two workout rooms, two elevators—and a huge ballroom."

Bezos won't be cash-strapped for too long after acquiring these 9.4 acres of prime Beverly Hills real estate. As The Verge calculated, his $131.9 billion net worth makes this purchase the equivalent of spending $75...

Huge mixed-use development headed to Amazon HQ2-adjacent site in Virginia

2019-10-11T13:45:00-04:00

JBG Smith, the biggest developer in the D.C. area and landlord of Amazon’s future Northern Virginia headquarters, Tuesday announced that it would redevelop about 2.6 million square feet of space at five multifamily buildings and an office building in Crystal City. The buildings are all within half a mile of the Amazon headquarters site and near Reagan National Airport, representing part of a broader development push in the area now called “National Landing.”

In total, JBG Smith plans to redevelop around 6.9 million square feet at National Landing with a third of that area devoted to office space and the rest developed as residential spaces that could generate between 4,000 and 5,000 dwelling units, as well as ground floor retail, reports Curbed DC.

According to Curbed, National Landing—which includes the cities of Arlington, where Amazon's new, ZGF Architects-designed HQ2 will be located, and Alexandria—has been named the most competitive real-estate market in the U.S.

Jeff Bezos wants to go to space because "it's important"

2019-07-19T16:08:00-04:00

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world with a current net worth of $125 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. And he’s investing much of his Amazon fortune in the development of space technologies through his aerospace company Blue Origin. Why? “Because I think it’s important,” Bezos tells Norah O’Donnell of CBS Evening News in an interview which aired Tuesday.

In a CBS Evening News special, Amazon's Jeff Bezos shares with Norah O'Donnell the importance of his space initiatives and his aerospace company Blue Origin. In a passionate voice, Bezos exclaims, "We humans have to go to space if we are going to continue to have a thriving civilization."

He goes on to discuss the world's current state and the danger it's under. From overpopulation, climate change, pollution, and big industry, Bezos proclaims, "We are in the process of destroying this planet. And we have sent robotic probes to every planet in the solar system — this is the good one. So, we have to preserve this planet."

Bezos isn't the first person to dream about living in space. His goals for using Blue Origin as a catalyst to make his space city possible has undergone much criticism. Perhaps his aspirations are in the right place, but his plans for this "possible future" have created quite the response from the general public. Critics like Fred Scharmen have shared their reactio...

Amazon to re-program human workforce

2019-07-11T16:42:00-04:00

Amazon has increasingly turned to robots and automation technology to fetch products from the shelves of its warehouses to ship to customers. Now the company says it needs to help its workers adapt to the rapid change. The e-commerce giant said on Thursday that it planned to spend $700 million to retrain a third of its workers in the United States, an acknowledgment that advances in technology are remaking the role of workers in nearly every industry.

Amazon is planning to spend $700 million over the next five years retraining 100,000 human workers to help smooth a transition toward greater automation in its operations.

“When automation comes in, it changes the nature of work but there are still pieces of work that will be done by people,” Ardine Williams, Amazon’s vice president of people operations, told The New York Times. She added, “You have the opportunity to up-skill that population so they can, for example, work with the robots.”

The retraining effort, according to The New York Times, will include software engineering classes, part of the company's plan to fill a growing need for data mapping specialists, data scientists, security engineers, and logistics coordinators.

Is Jeff Bezos' dream for a city in space just a sales pitch? Fred Scharmen breaks it down

2019-05-13T21:00:00-04:00

Now, in 2019, Jeff Bezos wants his private space company to take over the public imagination about life in space. Bezos is the head of a retail empire, and he knows how to sell an image, but what he’s offering today is a watered-down version of nostalgia for yesterday’s future. Bezos’s proposal is a version of O’Neill’s project that somehow manages to look and feel less futuristic than its predecessor.

The possibility of humans living in space is nothing new. Authors, scientists, and designers have all dreamed and formulated how this could be possible. Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, recently pitched his idea for space habitation and how his private space company Blue Origin would make this possible. After looking at rendered images of Bezos' idea some have noticed the stark similarities between them and former Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill's work presented in 1975. These similarities are intentional due to Bezos being a former student of O'Neill's. Architectural academic, designer and researcher Fred Scharmen shared with CityLab his thoughts on the new project and its relation to O'Neill's idea.

Rendering of Gerard O'Neill's space colony made by Rick Guidice for NASA in the 1970s. Image © NASA Ames Research Center

Rendered image of Jeff Bezos" Blue Origin space city was inspired by former professor Gerard O'Neill. Image © Blue Origin

"With so many similarities evident be...

Amazon's HQ2 may be 2 HQs after all

2018-11-06T13:31:00-05:00

After conducting a yearlong search for a second home, Amazon has switched gears and is now finalizing plans to have a total of 50,000 employees in two locations, according to people familiar with the decision-making process. The company is nearing a deal to move to the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens [...]. Amazon is also close to a deal to move to the Crystal City area of Arlington, Va., a Washington suburb, one of the people said.

It looks like Jeff Bezos may have finally found that second home for his online empire—or make that second and third. After narrowing down the list of cities that could be potential new hosts of Amazon's HQ2 in January, the company has been tight-lipped about its final decision. Until yesterday.

These 20 cities successfully flirted their way into Amazon's inner circle, but 18 may be swiped left soon.

The NYT reports that Amazon is in final talks with not just one but two cities to share the pie that had been dangled as irresistibly lucrative carrot in front of local politicians for months now: Long Island City, New York and Crystal City/Arlington, Virginia.

Take a look at the drawings for Jeff Bezos's new D.C. mansion

2018-04-27T13:44:00-04:00

Jeff Bezos has been quietly jetting into Washington over the past few years, becoming quite the hobnobber around town [...]. Soon, Washingtonians may see even more of him. In 2016, the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner paid $23 million in cash for the former Textile Museum in Kalorama (yes, his neighbors are the Obamas and Kushner-Trumps). At 27,000 square feet, the mansion was already the biggest home in Washington before he began a $12 million renovation and expansion last year.

"Overseen by the Barnes Vanze architecture firm, the reno project covers 191 doors (many either custom mahogany or bronze), 25 bathrooms, 11 bedrooms, five living rooms/lounges, five staircases, three kitchens, two libraries/studies, two workout rooms, two elevators—and a huge ballroom," Washingtonian reports.

The renovation is expected to be finished by December.

What are the odds: Who will host Amazon's second North American Headquarters

2018-01-23T15:32:00-05:00

Amazon recently released their "shortlist" of 20 cities, whose proposals to host the company's second North American Headquarters have successfully moved forward in the bidding war. Amazon will now spend the next few months diving deeper into each individual offer, no doubt utilizing the spirit of the competition in order to maximize the incentives, subsidies, and other giveaways thrown their way by luring municipalities.

Moving into round two, many are starting to wage bets based off of clues within the shortlist. Richard Florida, an influential urban studies theorist at the University of Toronto, has already put his money on New York, where the company tapped two potential locations (New York City and Newark), and D.C, where they have picked three (D.C, Northern Virginia, and Montgomery County). That said, the popular Irish bookmaker Paddy Power places Atlanta, Georgia at the top of the list, with 2-to-1 odds of winning the bid.

The retail giant has publicly stated that it is l...

Amazon has reportedly 238 HQ2 proposals to pick from

2017-10-25T13:52:00-04:00

Amazon.com Inc has received 238 proposals from cities and regions across North America vying to host the company’s second headquarters, it said on Monday. The number of applicants underscores the interest in the contest, which Seattle-based Amazon announced last month. The world’s largest online retailer said it would invest more than $5 billion and create up to 50,000 jobs for “Amazon HQ2”. The deadline for submitting proposals was Thursday.

While most cities, counties, and states eager to host Amazon's new 'HQ2' rolled out the expected tax-incentive red carpet, Reuters reports that the Atlanta suburb of Stonecrest pulled out a trick from the ol' autocracy box and offered land to create a new city called, you guessed it, Amazon, while granting CEO Jeff Bezos mayorship for life.

For more about Amazon's HQ2 courtship on Archinect click here.

Christopher Hawthorne: Apple and Amazon's architectural visions "owe nothing to the American city"

2017-09-14T17:58:00-04:00

It has also been remarkable to watch Amazon pursue a dramatically different strategy. Its plans for a second headquarters suggest that in terms of architecture and campus planning it wants to be everything Apple is not. It wants to lean into the city — and thorny questions about gentrification and housing prices, to the extent that they will be a natural byproduct of this process — rather than away from it.

"Though he took a very different path to get there," Hawthorne writes in his LAT opinion piece analyzing Apple & Amazon's lofty headquarters ambitions with a focus on urban integration (or the complete lack thereof), "Bezos ultimately reached the same conclusion Jobs did: that the wealthiest and most powerful tech companies owe nothing to the American city."