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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Complex embraces mission

Gates Foundation’s new offices feature ‘arms’ that reach out

Donna Gordon Blankinship Associated Press

SEATTLE – In designing the futuristic headquarters of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the lead architect says, the wife of the Microsoft co-founder wanted it to be a bold reflection of the organization’s mission to improve the lives of the poor around the world and inspire visitors to give back to their communities.

The foundation is planning to welcome passers-by to step into an interactive museum featuring the Gateses’ vision and the organizations and projects the foundation supports. The center will be similar to the efforts of other nonprofits to feature their work, such as Mercy Corps’ Hunger Action Center in Portland and Heifer International’s Global Village in Little Rock, Ark.

“There’s a real effort here to say: ‘We have a bold vision. There’s courage and there’s determination behind it,’ ” said Steve McConnell, managing partner of NBBJ, referring to both the Gates campus and the Gates Foundation.

“We thought deeply about lines of influence,” McConnell said, emphasizing that the “we” in the creative process included Melinda Gates. “There are many ways in which the world is connected.”

Most of the new eight-acre campus will be closed to drop-in visitors. The world’s largest foundation expects to have about 1,000 employees by the time it moves from five buildings near downtown to the site featuring a parklike courtyard with a waterfall as well as two glass-clad, boomerang-shaped buildings.

The Gates project is more than halfway finished on what the architect calls the last underdeveloped lot in central Seattle. The site is across the street from Seattle Center, home to the iconic Space Needle as well as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project.

The foundation plans to move into its new headquarters in April 2011. The maximum capacity of the two buildings will be 1,500 and the foundation plans to build a third wing eventually.

McConnell said the campus will showcase the foundation’s local roots while figuratively reaching out with the “arms” of the buildings to places in the world where it is trying to eradicate diseases and help small farmers improve their lives.

The theme for the building is local roots, global inspirations – reflecting on the Gates family’s deep Seattle roots and the foundation’s global mission.

Its horizontal orientation and glass facade will make the new building stand out among most Seattle architecture, although it does fit with one recent addition to the city: the Rem Koolhass-designed Seattle Public Library.

When the foundation convinced its hometown to allow it to build new headquarters on what used to be a giant parking lot across the street from the site of the 1962 World’s Fair, part of the agreement was that the foundation would transform the site into a public space that would engage the community.

The foundation is not ready to share all the plans for its visitors center, but spokeswoman Lisa Howe Verhovek did offer some hints.

It will feature live performances in a small theater. The museum will be hands-on; visitors will be invited to explore on computers, play games and look at resource materials. It won’t be very child-friendly; the displays will be mostly geared toward middle and high school students and adults.

People walking by will have a different experience from the outside of the building and may even be able to interact with window displays with their cell phones, Verhovek said. The walls of the center will move to accommodate the spaces needed for changing exhibits.

“The work of the foundation is really dynamic, and that’s the kind of space we’re trying to create,” Verhovek said.

The museum designers – Seattle’s Olson Kundig Architects – and foundation staff traveled to other philanthropy museums to get ideas.

“We spent a lot of time talking to them about what worked and what didn’t,” Verhovek said. “All of them have been so generous.”

Melinda Gates wanted the visitors center to have a narrow focus on the issues, but Verhovek said the foundation’s co-chair was forced to compromise because people want to learn about the family and the foundation and how it works.

The visitors center is scheduled to open a few months after the foundation moves into its new home, but the grand opening will be in 2011.

“We anticipate it will be a real tourist draw,” Verhovek said.