Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center

Exterior Architect: Ennead Architects
Design Team: Ennead Architects
- Design Partner: Richard Olcott FAIA
- Management Partner: Kevin McClurkan AIA
- Project Manager: Felicia Berger AIA
- Senior Designer: Billy Erhard AIA
- Project Architect: John Jordan AIA
- Project Architect, Curtainwall: Kathleen Kulpa AIA
- Academic Planning and Concept Design: Alex O’Briant AIA
- Team: Darla Elsbernd, Christina Fazio, Xiaoheng Hazel Hu, Marianne
- Lau, Hyunjoo Lee, Mariel Mora Llorens, Shelley Yang

Interior Design Architect: Rockwell Group

Architect of Record: SmithGroup

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Ennead is proud to celebrate the dedication of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, the University’s new academic home in Washington, D.C. The design, achieved through a collaboration between Ennead Architects, Rockwell Group, and SmithGroup, establishes a new paradigm for higher education facilities. The 435,000 sq-ft Hopkins Bloomberg Center will educate and train future civic leaders and serve as a bustling hub of interdisciplinary collaboration and convenings. The space is equipped with flexible, scalable spaces for learning, gathering, and public programming, adaptable classrooms to meet the needs of emerging teaching methods, a state-of-the-art theater, and an enhanced streetscape to welcome in the community.

The new facility is a revitalization of the former Newseum building. Ennead sustainably repurposed the existing building, without expanding the envelope, transforming the iconic museum into a high-rise university quad.

“As architects, it is a rare opportunity to revisit an earlier design and reimagine it for an entirely new purpose. Ennead was delighted to work with Johns Hopkins University to transform this important site, on perhaps the most famous street in America, into the embodiment of the university's mission in Washington, D.C, and create an innovative home for learning that welcomes the wider community. Conceptually and structurally, it was a significant transformation designed to establish a progressive new identity for JHU, by opening up the building to reveal the vibrancy within and revitalizing the streetscape on Pennsylvania Avenue. We believe in the great possibilities inherent within existing buildings to have new lives, which is also the most sustainable approach.”

Richard Olcott FAIA FAAR, Design Partner, Ennead Architects

“It has been an honor to work with Johns Hopkins University to bring their Washington, D.C., campus to life. The Hopkins Bloomberg Center is a holistic example of everything our studio is interested in—creating an urban environment within the larger structure, gathering spaces within larger spaces, and a sense of place that is defined in part by adaptability and use. How people move, interact, and meet is at the core of every inch of the building".
David Rockwell, Founder and President, Rockwell Group

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Photography: Alan Karchmer

Website: https://alankarchmer.com/

Photography: OTTO