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Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center

Washington, D.C.

Education

The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center is a state-of-the art facility for new research, education, and public engagement, built to strengthen the university’s presence in Washington, D.C. and provide a lasting foundation for its academic legacy. The Center’s design was a collaboration between Rockwell Group (Interior Architect), Ennead Architects (Exterior Architect) and SmithGroup (Architect of Record) and breaks down the barriers between academic disciplines to create true common ground for communication and collaboration among Hopkins students, faculty, and the community.

Client
Johns Hopkins University
Project Category
Education
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Multi-story view of Bloomberg Center.

The team reimagined the building's interior, formerly the free press-dedicated “Newseum,” by creating a ten-story learning environment to support a myriad of academic purposes and public gatherings. Adaptable classrooms, multiple lounge areas, and convening spaces rise in various configurations from within and around an open, dynamic atrium, emphasizing a flexible atmosphere to support the needs of multiple graduate schools, academic programs, and future uses.

Step seating at Bloomberg Center.
Instead of traditional stacked floor levels, the interior has been divided into interconnected, multilevel spaces.
Johns Hopkins University stair seating area.
Double-story lounge area.

Encouraging Spontaneous Connections

Within the soaring atrium, a central staircase winds through a series of suspended glass classrooms and open lounges, encouraging interaction among students and faculty as they move through the space.

Aerial view of step seating at Bloomberg Center.
At the atrium’s base, "The Beach" is an informal, stepped gathering area named after the beloved greenspace at Hopkins' Homewood campus in Baltimore, where students have long congregated to relax and socialize.

On the east side of the atrium, a large floating glass classroom hangs from a pair of steel bridge girders, supporting a lounge for sound-proof studying and meetings above.

johns hopkins 555 room bridge bloomberg dc rockwell group architecture design education
Students walk across multi-story main area.
Balancing suspension and compression, the "Room Bridge" houses classrooms and versatile lounge spaces.

We took a detail-oriented approach to the building’s library, café, 38 state-of-the-art classrooms, numerous study lounges, conference center, meeting rooms, faculty lounges, and landscaped roof terraces, while uniting them with a warm and varied material palette. Layered, often intimate spaces help balance the buoyant vibrancy of the atrium with peaceful, comforting environments.

Distant view of communal work area at Bloomberg Center.
With the building situated along Pennsylvania Avenue, the team added open study and gathering spaces, including the Irene and Richard Frary Library and a café run by Question Coffee.

Transparent connections and large landscaped terraces provide students with panoramic views, and foster a more direct connection to the national and global discourse on Capitol Hill, and in Washington D.C.

Terrace at Bloomberg center.

“How people move, interact, and meet is at the core of every inch of the building.”

- David Rockwell
Lounge space at Bloomberg Center.
Back side view of John Hopkins auditorium.
Large open conference room in use.

  • “David Rockwell and Rockwell Group have converted the center’s atrium into a handsome, sunlit, wide-open complex of terraced classrooms and breakout spaces.”

    The New York Times New York Times logo.

  • “With its combination of uses at one address the Bloomberg Center takes interdisciplinary education to a new level.”

    Architect's Newspaper Architect's Newspaper logo.