Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A tower above the city.
An introduction to downtown Seattle and the city around Columbia Center, from the waterfront to the stadiums of SoDo.
On this page
Read the city from the top
From the 73rd floor, downtown Seattle spreads out towards Elliott Bay, the port’s container terminals and the stadiums to the south, with Bellevue across the water to the east.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. From the top, notice how downtown, the waterfront and the surrounding neighbourhoods fit together.
Glass, granite and steel
Columbia Center rises in three concave facades of smoked glass, with Carnelian granite at its base. Viscoelastic dampers and triangular bracing help it stand up to earthquakes and high winds.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was made, repaired and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who fitted a pane of glass or bolted a beam, or the conditions in which they worked.
A Columbia Center chapter
Columbia Center shows a distinctive side of Seattle: a tower whose height was set by the airspace around it, and which still stands above every other building in the state.
Look at the meeting of the two: the city’s ambition in the 1980s, and the skyline that has grown up around it since.
Make room for context
Pair this city reading with the tower’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places, commissions their restoration or represents their makers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
