Bentley and Cesium Open New Technology Hub and Experience Center in Philadelphia
Philadelphia has always been a city that builds. Now, it is home to a new hub where engineers, developers, and innovators are building the next generation of infrastructure technology, together with geospatial and computer graphics.
We’re excited to celebrate the opening of Bentley Systems and Cesium’s new Philadelphia office in the historic Curtis Center in Center City. The new space brings our teams together in the city where both Cesium and Bentley began, creating a technology hub and gathering place for the developer community.
We marked the opening on September 3 with teammates, users, partners, community members, and government leaders, including Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee Majority Chair Jordan A. Harris.
Ribbon cutting at the Philadelphia office opening. Left to right: Florence Zheng, Chief People Officer, Bentley Systems; Nicholas Cumins, Chief Executive Officer, Bentley Systems; Cherelle Parker, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia; Jordan A. Harris, Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee Majority Chair; Patrick Cozzi, Chief Platform Officer, Bentley Systems/Founder, Cesium; Julien Moutte, Chief Technology Officer, Bentley Systems
About 150 people gathered to celebrate the office opening, including Bentley colleagues, government officials, community partners, and users.
Bentley team members explored the space and participated in a variety of activities to celebrate the opening.
Historical reenactors, including Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross, and William Penn, were on hand to engage with guests and celebrate the history of the space and the city.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker addressed the crowd in a high-energy speech at the opening.
From Philadelphia to the world
Bentley Systems was founded in 1984 just down the road at the University City Science Center before establishing its global headquarters in Exton, Pennsylvania. Cesium grew out of research at the University of Pennsylvania and Analytical Graphics, Inc. (now Ansys) in Exton before planting roots in Center City.
In 2024, Cesium joined Bentley with a shared vision for an open, interconnected 3D world. By bringing Cesium’s foundational geospatial technology together with Bentley’s iTwin Platform and decades of infrastructure expertise, we’re continuing to advance technologies that connect engineering and geospatial data.
Opening this joint hub reinforces Center City as an international epicenter for 3D computer graphics and geospatial data. Under one roof, teams can collaborate more closely on technologies that help infrastructure professionals across domains connect engineering designs with the real-world context in which that infrastructure exists, from cityscapes and terrain to subsurface environments and beyond.
As Nicholas Cumins, CEO of Bentley Systems, shared at the opening, bringing the teams together is accelerating the integration of engineering and geospatial data to help users design, build, and operate safer and more resilient infrastructure.
A home for open innovation
Cesium is rooted in in the open-source community, and that community remains central to our future.
The new office is designed as not only a workplace but a connection place, where developers, engineers, researchers, and partners share ideas. It is a space for community events, developer meetups, hackathons, and other opportunities to explore what’s possible with 3D geospatial technology and open standards.
The Philadelphia office gives the open ecosystem a physical home.
Then: the auditorium on the 10th floor as depicted in the early days of the Curtis Center, ca. 1910.
Now: similar view of the renovated office space.
A new chapter for Philadelphia
This office also represents a continued investment in Philadelphia’s technology community.
Philadelphia has a long tradition of bringing together engineering, technology, and ideas that reach far beyond the city. The Curtis Center itself reflects that history. Built as the headquarters of Curtis Publishing in 1910, the building was designed around the technologies of its time and became a center for creating and distributing information at unprecedented scale.
More than a century later, the building is home to another generation of technology focused on helping people understand the world around them.
We hope you'll join us in the new space. We'll announce upcoming events on our blog. And in the meantime, join our team (and the office).