Renovated Space Needle Reopens in Seattle
Seattle’s quirky, iconic Space Needle began as a hotel promoter’s doodle. One architect—John Graham Jr.—designed the top, another—Victor Steinbrueck—the base. It was built in a breakneck 13 months. But since the 605-foot-tall Needle’s opening for the 1962 World’s Fair, over 60 million visitors have soaked in its views. Dismissed as “gimmicktecture” by architectural intelligentsia at the time, the now-vintage “Space Age” shape, ranked Seattle’s skyline at number two for instant global recognizability—behind only Paris and the Eiffel Tower, according to one recent survey.
In 2013, the Needle’s owners began exploring a rebrand. Pushed by a consultant to get “an architectural perspective,” they hired the Seattle-based firm Olson Kundig. Soon, partner Alan Maskin and project architect Blair Payson began spit-balling bigger moves than new finishes, logos, and slogans. Five years and $100 million later, the first and largest phase of “The Century Project,” a dramatic, top-to-bottom architectural reboot, is complete.