Azure App Service
Hosts the Gateway platform with managed scaling and patching.
Case study, Trust for the National Mall
The National Mall Gateway.
How Centered Networks built the digital civic education platform for the Trust for the National Mall on Microsoft Azure, in time for America’s 250th anniversary.
The organization
America’s front yard, on its 250th anniversary.
The Trust for the National Mall is a nonpartisan nonprofit that restores, enriches, and preserves the monuments and public spaces of Washington, DC’s National Mall: what they call “America’s front yard.” In a typical year, 36 million people visit the Mall. In 2026, to commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary, that number is expected to swell to 50 million.
The challenge
Civic education at national scale, within reach of every classroom.
Civics understanding among school-age children is declining, and not every student can travel to Washington, DC. The Trust wanted to build a digital platform that would make the Mall’s history and civic lessons accessible to anyone with an internet connection: students, teachers, families, and visitors worldwide.
The platform needed to serve audiences from kindergarteners to AP US History students to international visitors, scale to handle massive traffic spikes around events like the Fourth of July, and complement in-person experiences with an always-on digital layer.
“Not every student can come to Washington. A digital platform puts the National Mall experience within reach for anyone with an internet connection.”
The solution
An Azure-native platform, governed generative AI, accessibility-first design.
The Trust for the National Mall reached out to Centered Networks to build the National Mall Gateway on Microsoft Azure: a production-grade public platform engineered for scale, security, and reliability.
Azure architecture
Azure Virtual Machines & Terraform
Infrastructure as code. If a server goes down, the environment can be restored in another location near-instantaneously.
Azure Front Door
Global performance and reliable routing for visitors anywhere on the planet.
Azure DDoS Protection & WAF
Defends against distributed denial of service attacks and keeps the experience safe and available during traffic surges.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Flags risky use, identifies vulnerabilities, and enforces data loss protection policies across the platform.
Azure Monitor
Tracks availability, performance, and analytics, surfacing user patterns and bottlenecks so constrained resources can be scaled quickly.
Generative AI built in Microsoft Foundry
Centered Networks developed a custom generative AI model within Microsoft Foundry to draft educational resources for the Gateway. The model was fed an immense catalog of information about the National Mall sourced directly from the National Park Service, deliberately scoped to exclude unreliable sources and reduce the risk of misinformation. Every piece of AI-drafted content was reviewed by the Trust before publication.
This is what governed AI looks like in practice for a mission-driven organization: trusted source material, a model bounded to those sources, human review before anything reaches a student, and a clear audit trail.
“We must use AI responsibly, especially in the education sector.”
Platform features
- 360-degree virtual tours of monuments and memorials: visitors can change perspectives, zoom in and out, and open informative pop-ups.
- Lesson plans and educational resources filterable by grade level and subject matter, saving teachers hours of preparation.
- Custom itineraries: visitors stack destinations, bookmark landmarks, and see walking distances, restroom locations, food options, and wheelchair access.
- Timelines and “Mall Moments”: historical events tied to specific locations on the Mall.
- Accessibility-first design: semantic structure for screen reader support, cross-device compatibility, and design for constrained classroom networks.
The results
What the Gateway makes possible.
For teachers, students, and the Trust’s mission.
For educators
Dr. Melaney Sanchez, a teacher librarian at Mt. Harmony Elementary in Owings, Maryland, used the Gateway to plan six days of field trips customized for 600 kids from kindergarten through fifth grade. After completing a Gateway lesson on Franklin D. Roosevelt and a virtual tour of his memorial, nearly every child in her class raised their hand to share something they knew about the former president during an on-site ranger-led tour. After Gateway-supported field trips to the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, students checked out every history and fiction book focused on those time periods.
“I spend a ton of time preparing myself and students for the trip. This platform is crucial, giving me a clear foundation and place to start so the experience is more successful.”
For students
The Gateway is designed so the technology disappears and the content takes over. One afternoon, a young girl stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with her eyes closed. When her teacher checked on her, she shared what she was thinking. She had taken a virtual tour of the memorial through the Gateway before her field trip and learned about the “I Have a Dream” speech. Standing there in person, she said:
“MLK shared his dreams here, so I can, too.”
For the Trust
The Gateway provides an always-on digital layer to historic sites: context and enrichment that complements interpretation signs and National Park Service staff. Azure’s scalability means the nonprofit can handle the expected 50 million visitors in 2026 without disruption, and the AI-drafted educational content gives the team a way to grow the library of lessons without growing the team.
For civic education
The platform makes the National Mall accessible to anyone on the planet, regardless of geography or resources: a direct response to the educational equity gap the Trust set out to address.
“Technology can help make civic education an ongoing, everyday experience. That supports not just civic knowledge but civic belonging. We’re helping people see themselves as a part of a shared national story.”
In their words
From the team that built it, and the team that uses it.
“As an enterprise foundation, Azure has all the scalability, security, governance, and cutting-edge technologies to build this platform.”
“Virtual tours open these historic locations up to a global audience so anybody on the planet can come to the National Mall.”
“Creating an easy-to-use digital layer over the National Mall helps people connect with the individuals involved at the inception of this 250-year-old experiment, with the sites in the Mall, and with each other.”
“This immersive, low-barrier platform reimagines what civic learning looks like in the nation’s front yard. It creates an equitable experience, both digital and on-site.”
“From an operations standpoint, Azure keeps the experience available, responsive, and reliable, which matters a lot for assistive technology users and classrooms on constrained networks.”
“If we can get kids excited about real-world things, about people and places and history, it’s amazing where they’ll go. My students all came back from the Mall just begging for more.”
Capabilities demonstrated
What this engagement proves we can do for your organization.
Azure cloud architecture
A scalable, secure, production-grade platform on Microsoft Azure for a nationally significant organization, engineered for 50 million visitors.
Microsoft Foundry AI
A custom generative AI model that drafts educational content from vetted National Park Service sources, with human review before publication.
Infrastructure as code
Terraform with Azure Virtual Machines for near-instant disaster recovery and a fully auditable environment.
Security posture
Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewall, and Azure Front Door for a high-profile public-facing platform.
Accessibility-first development
Screen reader support through semantic structure, cross-device compatibility, and design for the constrained networks classrooms actually run on.
Mission-driven technology
Technology built in service of civic education, with the governance, accountability, and care mission-driven organizations require.
Your turn
If we can build for 50 million visitors, we can build what you need.
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