URBAN ARCHITECTURE: The Seattle Skyline
Published On: September 1, 2015 Posted by: Jeremy Peterson
I recently had the opportunity to travel to Seattle for a conference. Whenever I travel to these conferences, I like to get out and take a look around town. This usually includes catching a ride on the local, sometimes gritty, public mass transit system to really get a flavor for what is happening.
For this trip I hopped on the Sound Transit light rail train at the SeaTac Airport and rode into downtown Seattle for a stay at the Sheraton across from the Washington State Convention Center.
The city had an interesting vibe. It was a combination of old and new sometimes in incongruous juxtaposition.
The largest tower in the city, Columbia Tower, was surrounded by vintage buildings from the late 1800’s and early twentieth century.
Yet, the architecture throughout was interesting and even the more recent constructions had a memorable presence to them. For example, here is the polygonified Seattle Central Library.
The view from the lookout floor of the Columbia Tower really offers some perspective of the city. The Seattle Space Needle sits alone on the north side of town.
Here the Washington State Convention Center sits on top of a major road. I guess that is one way to maximize use of space.
There was a small marina close to Downtown where some friends had rented a sail boat.
Heading west down Pike Street took me to the local market and water front. The air was filled with the smells of fish, smoke, alcohol, and occasionally urine.
Fortunately, things were much more agreeable in Puget Sound. Here you can see the beautiful skyline that sits at the water’s edge. Seattle was a great city to visit.
