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A robust public art program was established to highlight the range and diversity of local artists. At street level, retail and public artworks activate the building’s perimeter, while the main lobby shares space with a public, art-filled market space with shops and restaurants that are open to the community. A custom wood chandelier blankets the ceiling of the main lobby, artist created perforated panels add light patterns to the dynamic space.
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The convention center’s program is distributed across six levels of event spaces, including two exhibit halls stacked one above and one below-grade. Visual connectivity between event floors and individual areas of the building helps orient attendees as they navigate the various levels through dramatic vertical spaces.
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The vertical convention center organization produces a seamless and engaging atmosphere for different event types. From one large show to multiple smaller simultaneous shows, the variety of meeting and public spaces feel connected and integrated, offering diverse environments – formal and informal, quiet and animated, planned and spontaneous.
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A glass-enclosed atrium stair called the Hillclimb connects every floor and doubles as an amphitheater gathering space with views of Pike Place Market and Puget Sound. From the exterior, the zigzagging stairway becomes a defining formal feature of the building, taking a visual cue from the region’s mountain ranges and steep hills.
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Large expanses of glazed walls around the building’s perimeter contribute to an abundance of natural light inside. This increased transparency promotes a synergistic connection between the building and the city. The action inside the venue gets showcased to the city, while the energy and activities happening on the city streets and nearby buildings become part of how visitors experience the events inside.
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The building has been designed to offer a mix of space types that are flexible and adaptable. The approach to the finish materials in many spaces aligns with a neutral but textural palette, making it easy for organizers to layer an event into the facility. Event designers can create the exact venue they require or simply use the spaces as designed.
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Project Name: Seattle Convention Center Summit Building
Project Statement: Standing as a beacon for the city of Seattle, this building offers a new model for convention centers—one that integrates with and connects neighborhoods. Situated in the heart of Seattle’s downtown urban core, the Summit building connects with the city on multiple levels. The building’s emphasis on transparency and verticality helps re-connect several of Seattle’s downtown districts and surrounding neighborhoods, while also linking the city to the natural landscape beyond. While typical convention centers sprawl horizontally, the building flips this model, resulting in a vertical stack design and compact footprint that give a nod to the topographic variety in Seattle.
The building interior offers a dynamic experience as the mix of spaces shifts from large expanses with city views to more contained interior moments featuring highly crafted details. The building hosts a number of areas where users can experience the vibrant urban context from an interior environment. Extensive exterior glazing functions as a 2-way viewport where the building and the city become deeply intertwined. The urban experience becomes the backdrop for events happening inside the building and the events inside the building become part of the urban experience.
The building has many unique interior spaces - the top floor Ballroom showcases the use of wood. The use of locally salvaged wormwood in the ceiling, with its rough texture and imperfections created by burrowing mollusks, gives the Ballroom a dramatic ceiling sculpted with rustic materials. Repurposed from the log blooms used by the timber industry and unique to the Salish Sea, the wormwood boards layer regional authenticity and history to the space. By repurposing old wood, the ceiling is a reminder of the importance of conserving resources and reducing waste while also re-inventing this wood to create a signature ceiling. The Ballroom carpet design features a large-scale multicolor composition inspired by the colors and textures of a Pacific Northwest forest floor. The Ballroom’s programmable theatrical lights facilitate a wide range of color and special effects to create unique events.
The use of additional wood types throughout the building offers a direct connection to the history of the lumber and forest industries in the Pacific Northwest. By using a variety of wood species and details, the team created unique visual interests. Wood products identify meeting room entries, regional species clad the cascading social steps in the Hillclimb stair, and LVL products create highly textural ceilings and cladding on walls throughout. The expression of wood is unique to each space and visitors enjoy the variety of species as they discover native woods throughout the center. The wooden combs above the Hillclimb seating create a tapestry of light and shadows that shimmer with the changing light quality from day to night. Programmable lighting systems heighten these natural wooden textures and effects.
Washington State’s official flower, the pink Rhododendron, anchors the foundation of accent colors throughout the building. Photographic images of the blossoms are printed onto 150 moveable cushions on the Hillclimb social stairs. Upholstered lounge furnishings throughout the building match the bright pink color of the blossoms, while the deep violet colors of the Ballroom floor recall darker tones of flora that grow in Pacific Northwest landscapes.
A robust public art program highlights the range and diversity of local artists in the Pacific Northwest and incorporates the perspectives of the various communities that contribute to Seattle's distinct culture. These public artworks are integrated into the building exterior and public spaces welcoming visitors at the main entrances and activating interior lobbies. The project commissioned over 20 artists, many debuting their first permanent public artwork. Their completed pieces offer a rich body of work that represents the contemporary attitudes of Northwest craft and art.
The Summit building provides visitors with a variety of aesthetic experiences. These experiences reflect the regional culture of upholding our resources, celebrating our people, and sharing our stories. This place brings people together from the diverse local communities and visitors from around the world, while also paying homage to the region’s cultural and ecological heritage.
Seattle Convention Center Summit Building
Category
INpublic
Description
Project Name: Seattle Convention Center Summit Building
Project Statement: Standing as a beacon for the city of Seattle, this building offers a new model for convention centers—one that integrates with and connects neighborhoods. Situated in the heart of Seattle’s downtown urban core, the Summit building connects with the city on multiple levels. The building’s emphasis on transparency and verticality helps re-connect several of Seattle’s downtown districts and surrounding neighborhoods, while also linking the city to the natural landscape beyond. While typical convention centers sprawl horizontally, the building flips this model, resulting in a vertical stack design and compact footprint that give a nod to the topographic variety in Seattle.
The building interior offers a dynamic experience as the mix of spaces shifts from large expanses with city views to more contained interior moments featuring highly crafted details. The building hosts a number of areas where users can experience the vibrant urban context from an interior environment. Extensive exterior glazing functions as a 2-way viewport where the building and the city become deeply intertwined. The urban experience becomes the backdrop for events happening inside the building and the events inside the building become part of the urban experience.
The building has many unique interior spaces - the top floor Ballroom showcases the use of wood. The use of locally salvaged wormwood in the ceiling, with its rough texture and imperfections created by burrowing mollusks, gives the Ballroom a dramatic ceiling sculpted with rustic materials. Repurposed from the log blooms used by the timber industry and unique to the Salish Sea, the wormwood boards layer regional authenticity and history to the space. By repurposing old wood, the ceiling is a reminder of the importance of conserving resources and reducing waste while also re-inventing this wood to create a signature ceiling. The Ballroom carpet design features a large-scale multicolor composition inspired by the colors and textures of a Pacific Northwest forest floor. The Ballroom’s programmable theatrical lights facilitate a wide range of color and special effects to create unique events.
The use of additional wood types throughout the building offers a direct connection to the history of the lumber and forest industries in the Pacific Northwest. By using a variety of wood species and details, the team created unique visual interests. Wood products identify meeting room entries, regional species clad the cascading social steps in the Hillclimb stair, and LVL products create highly textural ceilings and cladding on walls throughout. The expression of wood is unique to each space and visitors enjoy the variety of species as they discover native woods throughout the center. The wooden combs above the Hillclimb seating create a tapestry of light and shadows that shimmer with the changing light quality from day to night. Programmable lighting systems heighten these natural wooden textures and effects.
Washington State’s official flower, the pink Rhododendron, anchors the foundation of accent colors throughout the building. Photographic images of the blossoms are printed onto 150 moveable cushions on the Hillclimb social stairs. Upholstered lounge furnishings throughout the building match the bright pink color of the blossoms, while the deep violet colors of the Ballroom floor recall darker tones of flora that grow in Pacific Northwest landscapes.
A robust public art program highlights the range and diversity of local artists in the Pacific Northwest and incorporates the perspectives of the various communities that contribute to Seattle's distinct culture. These public artworks are integrated into the building exterior and public spaces welcoming visitors at the main entrances and activating interior lobbies. The project commissioned over 20 artists, many debuting their first permanent public artwork. Their completed pieces offer a rich body of work that represents the contemporary attitudes of Northwest craft and art.
The Summit building provides visitors with a variety of aesthetic experiences. These experiences reflect the regional culture of upholding our resources, celebrating our people, and sharing our stories. This place brings people together from the diverse local communities and visitors from around the world, while also paying homage to the region’s cultural and ecological heritage.