It spans 12 acres in the heart of the city, just a stone’s throw from The Seattle Center where the iconic Space Needle towers. Welcome to the new home of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is opening this week to much fanfare. About 1,000 dignitaries, media professionals and community leaders will arrive for a grand opening ceremony at the campus later today.
On Saturday, members of the public will be invited inside for the first time, with a spokeswoman for the foundation saying they are expecting 500 people per hour to stream through the buildings. (Unfortunately, all 3,000 reservations for the public have been spoken for at this time).
The new campus, which includes a 900,000 square foot first phase, will house the global operations of the foundation which has doled out some $24 billion to global health, education and other issues since 1994. The facility is designed to inspire and create “optimism and hope” and serve as a “hub for innovation.”
[Update: Video: Bill Gates wrote the checks, and Melinda drove the vision for new foundation campus]
We haven’t seen this much buzz about a new addition to the Seattle landscape since the opening of the Seattle Public Library’s Central branch in 2004. Here’s a look at the new campus, with photos courtesy of architecture firm NBBJ. What do you think?
