The new innovation centre cost $US10m, with the primary funding coming from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. MOHAI attracts 250,000 visitors a year, and the new centre will broaden the reach
Jeff Bezos felt passionate about sharing the story of the history of innovation. Seattle is his hometown and being involved with this centre was a way of reaching out to the broader community
Where has funding come from? Overall, the Bezos Center has cost US$10m (£6m, €7.3m). The primary funding came from Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos and the rest has come from general funding raised by the museum. Like all US museums, we’re self-funded.
When did Jeff Bezos become involved? We began talking to him in the fall of 2011. He became familiar with our programme and we shared our ideas and expanded the mission of the museum. He felt passionate about sharing
the story of the history of innovation with a broader audience. Seattle is his hometown and being involved with this centre was one way of reaching out to the broader community. Among our goals was to reach young people. It’s a great community, but we
AM 2 2014 ©Cybertrek 2014
can’t take it for granted that they all have access to information. We wanted to share the innovation tradition with them.
How involved was Jeff Bezos in the project? Bezos inspired the development of the center and encouraged us throughout the project. MOHAI is honoured to be associated with him and the other great innovators included in the Bezos Center.
Who were the exhibition designers? We worked with local architectural fi rm, Olson Kundig Architects, who have a reputation for being wonderful experimental exhibit designers. Another Seattle fi rm, Pacifi c Studio, was responsible for the primary design fabrication and San Francisco company, Stimulant, did the interactive media.
What was your brief to them? Create something beautiful and engaging, present the rich history of Seattle and inspire innovation.
Can you describe some of the content? The centre is a combination of exhibits, oral history, programmes and interactives, asking what does it mean to be innovative and how do we stay innovative. The Patent Tree details patents over
the past 100 years for all types of objects from umbrellas to medical equipment. There are fi rst person oral accounts from innovators themselves about what inspired them: you can hear people like Howard Schultz, who started Starbucks, and Jeff Bezos talk about what it takes for a company to stay at the cutting edge, or hear them talk about their personal lives or the next big idea.
Read Attractions Management online
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