Cleaving the city from the expansive Puget Sound in 1953, the elevated Alaskan Way Viaduct made Seattle’s waterfront an isolated tourist trap shunned by locals. Now that a two-mile tunnel has replaced the elevated highway, a new promenade designed by James Corner Field Operations will reconnect water and city, linking background to foreground. Placed where major downtown streets meet the rejuvenated waterfront, our four Waterfront Seattle Urban Kaleidoscopes playfully resample glimpses of Seattle far and near.
The reflective kiosks will provide a variety of amenities at the ground level while functioning as urban landmarks that make the waterfront visible from afar.
It is said that Seattle can experience four seasons in one day; the Urban Kaleidoscopes are conceived to heighten this temporal fluctuation, registering and multiplying the changing sky, water, and city.
