DISCOVERY - Seattle Center

S E A T T L E C E N T E R F o U N D at i o n
Once a Native American gathering place
and pioneer prairie, and more recently home to
the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, Seattle Center today
©Seattle Center
Many of the discoveries you will find today were made possible
with the help of Seattle Center Foundation. Established in 1977
to encourage support and raise awareness for Seattle Center, the
Foundation is the community portal for financial donations,
volunteer service and corporate support.
The 74-acre campus in the core of the city offers over 40 acres
of open space. The more than 30 organizations that reside
here present a diverse assortment of arts, cultural, family
and sports activities. They make their homes at Marion Oliver
McCaw Hall, the Playhouse, Bagley Wright and Charlotte
Martin theatres, in Center House, KeyArena and many of the
other structures you’ll find along the way.
As you take the campus tour, observe all of the moving and
static parts that shape the spaces and spirit of Seattle Center.
Listen for the music pouring out of the International Fountain,
By continuing the 1962 World’s Fair emphasis on involvement,
innovation and imagination, the Foundation has helped Seattle’s
premier urban park celebrate its iconic past and create several
new cultural centers including the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall and
Fisher Pavilion.
Seattle Center Foundation’s efforts have helped bring to life
landmark art such as the Olympic Iliad, Moon Gates and the
Fountain of Seseragi.
thrives as an active, urban park offering areas for
play, picnics, festivals, outdoor concerts and movies.
Points of
Discovery
A Self-Guided Tour
Central to the mission of Seattle Center is its public programming.
With the support of Seattle Center Foundation, programs such as
Festál cultural festivals, Teen Tix, Whirligig, Winterfest and Movies
at the Mural stay free and affordable, ensuring that Seattle Center
remains accessible to everyone in the community and continues
to host over 12 million visits annually.
Your involvement makes a difference! Join Seattle Center
Foundation in supporting Seattle Center, consider making a
donation today at any level comfortable for you.
For more information about Seattle Center, Seattle Center
Foundation and the upcoming 50th Anniversary Celebration of
the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, go to www.seattlecenter.org.
an excellent place for summer splashing, or join in a
weekend cultural festival at Fisher Pavilion or Center House.
Outstanding free and affordable public programming
creatively presented by Seattle Center Productions continues
the whole year-round.
We hope you’ll enjoy the gardens, art pieces, water features
and green spaces that mark your path through Seattle Center.
Explore this active urban park, and discover what draws
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©Auston James
you in.
Points of
N o rt h
Discovery
A Self-Guided Tour
Theater
Commons
15. Grass Blades
4. Kobe Bell
C enter
8. Fountain of Creation (Everett Dupen, 1962, renovated Nakano-Dennis, 1992) A large fountain
and pool features bronze sculptures representing life forms in the sea, air and
on land.
9. International Fountain (Kazuyuki Matsushita, Hideki Shimizu 1962, renovated Nakano-Dennis, 1995)
At the heart of Seattle Center and a mainstay from the World’s Fair, the fountain
features 283 water shooters and propels 9,000 gallons of re-circulated water up to
120 feet. The fountain is equipped with computerized water control, lighting and
music programs, attracting thousands of dry – and wet – admirers each year.
10.Neototems (Gloria Bornstein, 1995) Two bronze sculptures represent the sounding backs
of whales and reference the Duwamish legend of an underground stream that ran
under this land and allowed the whales to pass between Elliot Bay and Lake Union.
11.Cherry Trees (1995) Planted to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the end of
World War II and the 20th Anniversary of the Cherry Blossom Festival. Surrounding
the trees, the 9/11 Memorial Garden, planted with compost from mourners
who brought flowers to Seattle Center after 9/11 in what became known as the
Million-Flower Vigil.
12.Cedar of Lebanon Tree (Transplanted 1963) This unusually formed, seven-headed tree
was donated by the American Institute of Urban Planners.
15.Grass Blades (John Flemming and r/b/f architecture with Susan Zoccola, 2002) Suggestive of tall
grasses, the 30-foot high layered steel reeds gently sway in the breeze.
16.Experience Music Project /Science Fiction Museum (Frank O. Gehry, 2000)
A tribute to the music of Seattle rock legend Jimi Hendrix, EMP’s architecture was
presumably inspired by cut-up and melted electric guitars.
17.Seattle Center Monorail (Alweg: Cologne, Germany, 1962) Built for the 1962 Seattle
World’s Fair, was the first full-scale commercial monorail system.
18.Space Needle (John Graham & Co., 1962) Centerpiece of the World’s Fair and a 1960s icon,
the 3,700 ton tower is attached to a 30-foot-deep foundation with 32-foot-long
bolts. At 605 feet tall, the Needle is topped by a restaurant that makes one
complete revolution every 47 minutes.
Broad Street Green Former site of the World’s Fair Ford Motor Company Pavilion
and the popular exhibit An Adventure in Outer Space. The pavilion was demolished
in 1991 to create a sculpture garden.
19.Moses (Tony Smith, 1975) First major art piece acquired under the City of Seattle’s One
Percent for Art program.
20.Black Lightning (Ronald Bladen, 1981) Painted steel resembling a lightning bolt,
24 feet high and 60 feet long.
21.Moon Gates (Doris Chase, 1999) A four-piece bronze sculpture that invites movement
through and around its components.
22.Olympic Iliad (Alexander Liberman, 1984) Composed of forty-one cylinders brought from
Connecticut on eight flat-bed trucks.
23.Peace Garden Intended as a place of meditation, the path’s cobblestones once
surrounded the International Fountain and contains these features:
• Peace Pole (1996) One of hundreds located around the world by the Goi Peace
Foundation of Tokyo.
• Aki Kurose Rock (2002) Honoring a Japanese American educator and peace activist.
• Middle East Peace Sculpture (Installed 2003) Children of Seattle’s Arab and Jewish
communities, supervised by Iraqi artist Sabah Al-Dhaher, created this Italian marble
and basalt work inscribed with “peace” in Arabic and Hebrew.
24.The Seattle Mural (Paul Horiuchi, 1962) Inspired by layers of paper on a bulletin board
© Vlad Bessonov
13.Poetry Garden (Site Workshop/John Hoge, 2007) Home to 27 poems engraved on
red-granite boulders connected by crushed gold marble pathways.
14.Berlin Wall (1961) A three-ton portion of the wall that once divided Berlin,
Germany, donated by German businessman Achim Becker in 1990. While in Center
House, be sure to look for displays spotlighting Seattle Center’s past and future.
S o ut h & E ast
©Benjamin Benschneider
1. August Wilson Way Portal (Mindy Lehman Cameron, 2008) A 12-foot monument that
honors celebrated playwright August Wilson, features inscriptions from his Pulitzer
Prize-winning works and marks the west edge of August Wilson Way.
2. Fountain of Seseragi (Gerald Tsutakawa, 2000) Seseragi means “murmuring waters,”
represented by two streams that gently cascade to merge and circulate, signifying
two becoming one.
3. Daimyo Oak Tree (1932) Overshadowing the Kobe Bell, this is the oldest tree
on campus.
4. Kobe Bell A favorite spot for quiet contemplation, this “Friendship Bell” was a gift
to Seattle from the City of Kobe, Japan, for the 1962 World’s Fair.
5. Encircled Stream (Ned Kahn, 1995) A favorite for young visitors, who may first learn
the word “whirlpool” while viewing this water feature.
6. Fountain of the Northwest (James Fitzgerald, 1962) Soothing to ears and eyes, this
20-foot cast bronze sculpture in the Playhouse courtyard appears to be naturally
eroded by the falling water.
7. Kreielsheimer Promenade (GGN/LMN, 2003) Underfoot, a long, shallow water feature
for splashing and overhead, Dreaming in Color by Leni Schwendinger, illuminated at
night by multi-color lighting.
14. Berlin Wall
Inside photos ©Seattle Center unless otherwise noted.
26. Pacific Science Center Arches
in the International District, 160 shades of glass tile comprise the once largest work
of art in the Pacific Northwest.
25.Neototems II & Children’s Garden (Gloria Bornstein, 2002) An interactive
sea-sculpture garden that surrounds a baby whale tail that drips water as if taking
a fresh dive.
26.Pacific Science Center Arches (Minoru Yamasaki, 1962) A hallmark of the World’s Fair,
the arches were inspired by Venetian Gothic architecture.