Space Needle
The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city and the Pacific Northwest, it has also been designated as a Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, it was built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World's Fair, which drew over 2.3 million visitors. Nearly 20,000 people a day used its elevators during the event.
Once the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, it is high, wide, and weighs. It is built to withstand winds of up to and earthquakes of up to 9.0 magnitude, as strong as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. It also has 25 lightning rods.
The Space Needle has an observation deck at, which features views of the downtown Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay, and surrounding islands in Puget Sound.
Visitors can reach the top of the Space Needle by elevators that travel at. The trip takes 41 seconds. On windy days, the elevators slow to. On April 19, 1999, the city's Landmarks Preservation Board designated it a historic landmark.
In September 2017, the tower's SkyCity restaurant was closed as part of a $100 million renovation. The renovation included the installation of a new rotation motor and see-through glass floors in the restaurant space, as well as the replacement of the observation deck's wire enclosure with glass panels. The space reopened in August 2018 as the Loupe, an indoor observation deck.
Architecture
The architecture of the Space Needle is the result of a compromise between the designs of two men, Edward E. Carlson and John Graham, Jr. The two leading ideas for the World Fair involved businessman Edward E. Carlson's sketch of a giant balloon tethered to the ground and architect John Graham's concept of a flying saucer. Victor Steinbrueck introduced the hourglass profile of the tower. The Space Needle was built to withstand wind speeds of, double the requirements in the building code of 1962. The 6.8 Nisqually earthquake jolted the Needle enough in 2001 for water to slosh out of the toilets in the restrooms. The Space Needle will not sustain serious structural damage during earthquakes of magnitudes below 9.1. Also made to withstand Category 5 hurricane-force winds, the Space Needle sways only per of wind speed.For decades, the hovering disk of the Space Needle was home to 2 restaurants above the ground: the Space Needle Restaurant, which was originally named Eye of the Needle, and Emerald Suite. These were closed in 2000 to make way for SkyCity, a larger restaurant that features Pacific Northwest cuisine. It rotates 360 degrees in exactly forty-seven minutes. In 1993, the elevators were replaced with new computerized versions. The new elevators descend at a rate of.
On December 31, 1999, a powerful beam of light was unveiled for the first time. Called the Legacy Light or Skybeam, it is powered by lamps that total 85 million candela shining skyward from the top of the Space Needle to honor national holidays and special occasions in Seattle. The concept of this beam was derived from the official 1962 World's Fair poster, which depicted such a light source although none was incorporated into the original design. It is somewhat controversial because of the light pollution it creates. Originally planned to be turned on 75 nights per year, it has generally been used fewer than a dozen times per year. It did remain lit for eleven days in a row from September 11, 2001, to September 22, 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
A 1962 Seattle World's Fair poster showed a grand spiral entryway leading to the elevator that was ultimately omitted from final building plans. The stairway was eventually added as part of the Pavilion and Spacebase remodel in June 2000. The main stairwell has 848 steps from the basement to the top of the observation deck.
At approximately, the Space Needle was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River at the time it was built by Howard S. Wright Construction Co., but is now dwarfed by other structures along the Seattle skyline, among them the Columbia Center, at. Unlike many other similar structures, such as the CN Tower in Toronto, the Space Needle is not used for broadcasting purposes.
History
Construction
Edward F. Carlson, chairman of the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle, had an idea for erecting a tower with a restaurant at the World's Fair. Carlson was president of a hotel company and was not recognized in art or design, but he was inspired by a recent visit to the Stuttgart Tower of Germany. Local architect John Graham soon became involved as a result of his success in designing Northgate Mall. Graham's first move was to alter the restaurant's original design to a revolving restaurant, similar to his previous design of the La Ronde tower restaurant at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Hawaii.The proposed Space Needle had no pre-selected site. Since it was not financed by the city, land had to be purchased within the fairgrounds. The investors had been unable to find suitable land and the search for a site was nearly dead when, in 1961, they discovered a lot,, containing switching equipment for the fire and police alarm systems. The land sold for $75,000. At this point, only one year remained before the World's Fair would begin. The Needle was privately financed and built by the Pentagram Corporation, consisting of Bagley Wright, contractor Howard S. Wright, architect John Graham, Ned Skinner, and Norton Clapp. In 1977 Bagley, Skinner and Clapp sold their interest to Howard Wright who now controls it under the name of Space Needle Corporation.
The earthquake stability of the Space Needle was ensured when a hole was dug deep and across, and 467 concrete trucks took one full day to fill it. The foundation weighs , the same as the above-ground structure. The structure is bolted to the foundation with 72 bolts, each one long.
With time an issue, the construction team worked around the clock. The domed top, housing the top five levels, was perfectly balanced so that the restaurant could rotate with the help of one tiny electric motor, originally, later replaced with a motor. With paint colors named Orbital Olive for the body, Astronaut White for the legs, Re-entry Red for the saucer, and Galaxy Gold for the roof, the Space Needle was finished in less than one year. It was completed in April 1962 at a cost of $4.5 million. The last elevator car was installed the day before the Fair opened on April 21. During the course of the Fair nearly 20,000 people a day rode the elevators to the Observation Deck. Upon completion, the Space Needle was the tallest building in the western United States, replacing the Smith Tower in downtown Seattle as the tallest building west of the Mississippi since 1914.
The revolving restaurant was operated by Western International Hotels, of which Carlson was President, under a 20-year contract from April 1, 1962 to April 1, 1982.
Carillon
An imitation carillon was installed in the Space Needle, and played several times a day during the World's Fair. The instrument, built by the Schulmerich Bells Company of Hatfield, Pennsylvania under the name "Carillon Americana," recreated the sounds of 538 bells and was the largest in the world, until eclipsed by a 732 bell instrument at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The operator's console was located in the base of the Space Needle, completely enclosed in glass to allow observation of the musician playing the instrument. It was also capable of being played from a roll, like a player piano. The forty-four stentors of the carillon were located underneath the Needle's disc at the level, and were audible over the entire fairgrounds and up to away. The carillon was disassembled after the fair's close.The Carillon Americana was featured on a 12-track LP record called "Bells On High-Fi". These studio recordings were performed by noted carilloneur John Klein.
After the Fair
A radio broadcast studio was built on the observation level of the Space Needle in 1963. It was used for morning broadcasts by Radio KING and its sister TV station KING-TV from July 1963 to May 1966, and KIRO Radio from 1966 to 1974. Disc jockey Bobby Wooten of country music station KAYO-AM lived in an apartment built adjacent to the Space Needle's broadcast studio for six months in 1974, which required a permit variance from the city government.In 1974, author Stephen Cosgrove's children's book Wheedle on the Needle imagined a furry creature called the Wheedle who lived on top of the Space Needle and caused its light to flash. Its closing quatrain is: There's a Wheedle on the Needle / I know just what you're thinking / But if you look up late at night / You'll see his red nose blinking. The Wheedle has since become a fixture of Seattle. It became the mascot of the Seattle SuperSonics National Basketball Association franchise, who played in nearby KeyArena. The SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City on July 3, 2008.
In 1982, the SkyLine level was added at the height of. While this level had been part of the original plans for the Space Needle, it was not built until this time. Today, the SkyLine Banquet Facility can accommodate groups of 20–360 people.
Renovations were completed in 2000 at a cost approximately the same in inflated dollars as the original construction price. Renovations between 1999 and 2000 included the SkyCity restaurant, SpaceBase retail store, Skybeam installation, Observation Deck overhaul, lighting additions and repainting.
Every year on New Year's Eve, the Space Needle celebrates with a fireworks show at midnight that is synchronized to music. Alberto Navarro, a fireworks artist from Bellevue, is the lead architect of the show, which is viewed by thousands from the Seattle Center grounds. In 2000, public celebrations were canceled because of perceived terror threats against the structure after investigations into the foiled millennium bombing plots, but the fireworks show was still performed. The 2020 fireworks display was canceled because of high winds, with a laser light show being used at midnight instead.
In 2002, a real estate consultant in Bellevue proposed the construction of five smaller replicas of the Space Needle around the city to promote tourism, though the proposal has not yet materialized.
On May 19, 2007, the Space Needle welcomed its 45 millionth visitor, who received a free trip for two to Paris.
In May 2008, the Space Needle received its first professional cleaning since the opening of the 1962 World's Fair. The monument was pressure washed by Kärcher with water at a pressure of and a temperature of. No detergents were used in consideration of the Seattle Center and the Museum of Pop Culture.
As part of the celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Needle was painted "Galaxy Gold" in April 2012, the same color used when the needle was originally constructed for the 1962 World's Fair. This temporary makeover, intended to last through the summer, is not the Needle's first: it had the University of Washington Huskies football team logo painted after the team won the 1992 Rose Bowl, appeared as a giant "Wheel of Fortune" in 1995, was painted crimson after Washington State won the Apple Cup, and has been seen in Seattle SuperSonics colors.
A renovation of the top of the Space Needle began in the summer of 2017, to add an all-glass floor to the restaurant, and replace the observation platform windows with floor-to-ceiling glass panels to more closely match the 1962 original concept sketches, as well as upgrades and updates to the internal systems. Called the Century Project, the work was scheduled to finish by June 2018, at a cost of $100 million in private funds. The designer is Olson Kundig Architects and the general contractor is Hoffman Construction Company. The rotating restaurant's motor will be replaced, the elevator capacity will be increased by adding elevators, or double-stacking them, and the energy efficiency of the building will be improved with the aim of achieving LEED Silver Certification. The temporary scaffold's, platform under the top structure was assembled on the ground, and then lifted by cables from the ground to the underside of the structure, controlled by 12 operators standing on the platform as it was raised. The platform was made by Safway Services, a company specializing in unique construction scaffolding.
Jumping incidents
Six parachutists have leaped from the tower since its opening, in a sport known as BASE jumping. This activity is only legal with prior authorization. Four of them were part of an authorized promotion in 1996, and the other two were arrested.Paul D. Baker was the first person to jump from the Space Needle in a successful suicide attempt on March 4, 1974. Mary Lucille Wolf also jumped from the tower that year, on May 25. Following the two 1974 suicides, netting beneath and improved fencing around the observation deck were installed. In spite of the barrier additions, however, another suicide by Dixie Reeder occurred on July 5, 1978.
In popular culture
As a symbol of the Pacific Northwest, the Space Needle has made numerous appearances in films, TV shows and other works of fiction. Examples of films include It Happened at the World's Fair, where it was used as a filming location, and Sleepless in Seattle. In the 1974 film The Parallax View, the inside and outside platforms of the observation deck are the setting for a political assassination and a brief chase takes place on the roof above it. In the 1999 film ', it served as a base of operations for the villain Doctor Evil with the word Starbucks written across its saucer after his henchman Number 2 shifted the organization's resources toward the coffee company. It is also featured prominently in Chronicle, and is a key element in the film's climax.The Space Needle has been used in several practical jokes, especially those on April Fools' Day. In 1989, KING-TV's Almost Live! reported that the Space Needle had collapsed, causing panicked people to call emergency services and forcing the station to apologize afterwards; the incident was compared to the 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, which caused nationwide panic. In 2015, public radio station KPLU 88.5 FM reported in the news story "Proposed Development To 'Assimilate' Seattle's Landmark Space Needle?" that a permit application ' had been submitted "to construct a 666 unit cube to assimilate" the landmark.
In the TV series Frasier, an outline of the tower's iconic design appears in the title screen. The base of the tower is visible from a high-rise condo in the show, although the view is fictitious as there are no high-rise condos in the area depicted, of that height.
Lone establishing shots of the Space Needle are often featured in the medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, which is set in Seattle.
Other TV appearances include The History Channel's Life After People, in which the tower collapses after 200 years because of corrosion. The tower was also destroyed in the TV miniseries 10.5 when a 7.9 earthquake hits Seattle. The miniseries mistakenly portrays the Needle as crumbling concrete, though the structure is actually made of iron and designed to withstand up to a 9.0 earthquake. The needle is also featured in some episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy, such as the episode "Storms" where Bill Nye uses the lightning rod on top of it as an example of conducting lightning strikes. Max Guevara, the main character from the series Dark Angel which is set in a post-apocalyptic Seattle, is often seen on the roof of the derelict Space Needle.
A 57-piece Lego model of the tower was released in 2010 as part of the Lego Architecture collection.
The Space Needle was also incorporated into the logos of the city's two professional basketball teams, the SuperSonics of the NBA from 1975 to 2001, and the Storm of the WNBA. The tower is stylized from an anchor in the secondary logo of the Seattle Kraken, an NHL expansion team that will begin play in 2021.
In the 2014 action-adventure game Infamous Second Son, the Space Needle is a location the player can visit in the game, and the tower was used prominently in promotional material.