Pioneer Square is welcoming a new tenant with big ideas for its new home. The Center for Architecture & Design—the result of a partnership between AIA Seattle, the Seattle Architecture Foundation, Design in Public and the AIA Washington Council—is scheduled to move into the historic National Building by the end of this year.

Designed by Belltown firm Suyama Peterson Deguchi, the 4,500-square-foot industrial, storefront space will be open to the public, in addition to providing upgraded offices for the four founding partners. Gallery spaces, conference rooms as well as a resource library will all make the Center a destination for local, national and international exhibitions and programming available to anyone interested in exploring how design shapes and inspires communities.

“Our goal was to create a space that would expose the public to the significance of good design through display and interaction,” Suyama principal architect Ric Peterson says.

Through the Center’s rotating exhibitions and operation as a uniquely functional work place, Peterson hopes to enhance the synergistic power of Seattle’s design community. Pioneer Square, 1010 Western Ave.; 206.667.9184; cfadseattle.org