Everything about The Space Needle totally explained
The
Space Needle is a
tower in
Seattle, Washington, and is a major landmark of the
Pacific Northwest region of the
United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the
Seattle Center, it was built for the
1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over 2.3 million visitors in all for the World Fair. The Space Needle is 605 feet (184 m) high and 138 feet (42 m) wide at its widest point and weighs 9,550
tons. When it was completed it was the tallest structure west of the
Mississippi River. It is built to withstand
winds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h) and
earthquakes up to 9.5 magnitude (which would protect the structure against an earthquake as powerful as the
1700 Cascadia earthquake). The tower has 25
lightning rods on its roof to prevent
lightning damage.
The Space Needle features an observation deck at 520 feet (160 m), the
SkyCity restaurant at 500 feet (152 m), and a gift shop.
Architecture
The architecture of the Space Needle is the result of a compromise between designs. The two leading ideas for the World Fair involved businessman
Edward Carlson's sketch of a giant
balloon tethered to the ground (see the gently sloping base) and architect
John Graham's concept of a
flying saucer (see the halo that houses the restaurant and observation deck). Although Edward Carlson and John Graham most often get the credit, it was really
Victor Steinbrueck who designed the Space Needle. The Space Needle was built to withstand severe earthquakes by doubling the building code of 1962. But an earthquake registering 6.8 on the
Richter Scale jolted the Needle enough in 1965 for water to slosh out of the toilets in the restrooms. The Space Needle can escape serious structural damage during earthquakes of magnitudes below 9. Also made to withstand
Category 5 hurricane-force winds, the Space Needle sways only 1 inch per 10 mph (16 mm per 10 km/h) of wind speed. In 1993, the elevators were replaced with new computerized versions. The new elevators descend at a rate of 10 mph.
On
December 31, 1999 (
New Year's Eve), a powerful beam of light was unveiled for the first time. Called the Legacy Light or Skybeam, it features lamps that total 85 million
candle power shining skyward from the top of the Space Needle to honor national holidays and special occasions in Seattle. The concept of this beam was derived from the official 1962 World's Fair poster, which depicted such a light source although none was incorporated into the original design. It is somewhat controversial because of the
light pollution it creates for astronomers. Originally planned to be turned on 75 nights per year, it has generally been used fewer than a dozen times per year. It did remain lit for twelve days in a row from
September 11,
2001 to
September 22,
2001 in response to the
September 11, 2001 attacks.
The same 1962 World's Fair original poster showed a grand spiral entryway leading to the
elevator, but this, too, was omitted from the final building plans. The stairway was recently realized with a new two-story Pavilion Level enclosed in glass. Some feel that this level's design resembles that of a
nautilus. There are 832 steps in all from the basement to the restaurants on the observation deck.
At approximately 605 feet (184 m), the Space Needle was the tallest building west of the
Mississippi River at the time it was built by
Howard S. Wright Construction Co., but is now dwarfed by other structures along the Seattle skyline, among them the
Columbia Center, at 967 feet (302 m).
History
Edward E. Carlson, chairman of the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle, originally had an idea for erecting a tower with a restaurant at the top as part of the World's Fair celebration. Carlson was then president of a hotel company and not previously known for art or design, but he was inspired by a recent visit to the
Stuttgart Tower of
Germany.
John Graham, a noted architect who had won praise for designing (
Northgate Mall in Seattle) soon became involved in the planning and design. Graham's first move was to make the restaurant featured in the plans revolve, in the same manner as a tower he'd previously designed for the Ala Moana shopping center in Honolulu.
Even then, the proposed Space Needle had no land on which to be built. Since it wasn't financed by the city, land had to be purchased that was within the fairgrounds. It was thought that there would be no land available to build a tower and the search for one was nearly dead when in 1961, a 120 foot by 120 foot (37-by-37 m) plot that contained switching equipment for the fire and police alarm systems was discovered and sold to the investors for $75,000. At this point, only one year remained before the World's Fair would begin.
It was privately built and financed by the "Pentagram Corporation" which consisted of
Bagley Wright, contractor
Howard S. Wright, architect
John Graham,
Ned Skinner, and
Norton Clapp. In 1977 Bagley, Skinner and Clapp sold their interest to Howard Wright who now controls it under the name of Space Needle Corporation.
The earthquake stability of the Space Needle was ensured when a hole was dug 30 feet (10 m) deep and 120 feet (40 m) across. An army of cement trucks (467 in all) took one full day to fill it up. In fact, the foundation alone weighs almost 6,000 tons and there are 250 tons of reinforcing steel in the base. With this concrete base weighing the same as the above-ground structure, the Needle's center of gravity is just 5 feet (1.5 m) above ground level. The entire structure is bolted to the foundation with 72 bolts, each bolt being 30 feet (10 m) long.
With time an issue, the construction team worked around the clock. The top dome housing the top five levels (including the restaurants and observation deck) was perfectly balanced so that the restaurant could rotate with the help of one tiny electric motor, originally 1 hp (0.8 kW) but later replaced with a 1.5 hp (1.1 kW) motor. With fresh paint of such names as Orbital Olive for the body, Astronaut White for the legs, Re-entry Red for the saucer, and Galaxy Gold for the roof, the Space Needle was finished in less than one year. It was completed in April 1962 at a cost of $4.5 million; the last elevator car was installed the day before the Fair opened on
April 21. During the course of the Fair nearly 20,000 people a day rode the elevators to the Observation Deck. The 20,000 mark however was never reached, missing by fewer than 50 people one day. At the time of construction, it was the tallest building in the West, taking the title from the
Smith Tower across town that had held that title since 1914.
In 1974, author
Stephen Cosgrove's children's book
Wheedle on the Needle postulated a furry creature called a
Wheedle who lived on top of the Space Needle and caused its light to flash. Its closing quatrain is:
There's a Wheedle on the Needle/I know just what you're thinking/But if you look up late at night/You'll see his red nose blinking. The Wheedle had since become a fixture of Seattle, becoming for a time the mascot of the
Seattle Supersonics.
In 1982, the SkyLine level was added at a height of 100 ft (33 m). While this level had been depicted in the original plans for the Space Needle, it wasn't built until this time. Today, the SkyLine Banquet Facility can accommodate groups of 20–360 people.
Renovations were completed in 2000 that cost nearly five times the original price ($21 million). Renovations between 1999 and 2000 included the SkyCity restaurant, SpaceBase retail store, Skybeam installation, Observation Deck overhaul, lighting additions, and of course, new coats of paint all over.
On
May 19,
2007, the Space Needle welcomed its 45 millionth visitor. The guest, Greg Novoa of
San Francisco, received a free trip for two to
Paris which included a VIP dinner at the
Eiffel Tower.
Every year on
New Year's Eve, the Space Needle celebrates with a fireworks show at midnight that's synchronized to music. The 2007/2008 show stopped, restarted, then stopped again with the rest of the pyrotechnics needing to be detonated by hand. The pyrotechnics crew blamed the problem on a corrupted file in the customized software they use to control the timed detonations.
Jumpers
Three people have committed
suicide by leaping from the Space Needle's observation platform. Each of these events occurred in the 1970s. Two of them jumped in 1974, before a "safety grid" was installed around the platform. The third suicide took place four years later, in 1978. Others have occasionally made it through the safety grid, but negotiators have coaxed them to safety.
Twice as many jumpers have used parachutes to break their fall as part of a sport known as
BASE jumping. Six parachutists have leaped from the tower since its opening, but this activity is illegal without prior consent. Four jumpers were part of various promotions, and the other two were arrested.
Cultural references
Film
Television
The Space Needle features prominently in the opening credits, and occasionally during the program, of the TV sitcom Frasier. It was also prominently featured in the television shows Dark Angel, Grey's Anatomy, The Simpsons (in the episodes Skinless in Seattle and "Bart Sells His Soul"), and in the TV show iCarly. It is also shown being destroyed by a cataclysmic earthquake in the first scene of the NBC television miniseries 10.5. It is shown as being made of concrete in 10.5, however it's actually made of steel.
The Jetsons prime time television cartoon show which also appeared in 1962 was set in a city where all the circular buildings were built on towers like the Space Needle.
On April 1, 1989, Seattle area TV program Almost Live! set up a phony broadcast room and dressed actors as TV anchors to pull an April Fool's joke with a mock newscast that reported that the Space Needle had collapsed in a windstorm. The prank featured footage of downed parts of the needle and hysterical eyewitness accounts (also by actors). Local hospitals prepared for the inevitable onslaught of injured patients. One man, whose daughter worked at the Space Needle, in a panic, drove from Spokane to see if his child was safe. The end of the skit gave the prank away, but many still believed the broadcast. TV station KING 5, the producer and broadcaster of Almost Live!, later apologized.
In Spongebob Squarepants, there's a building called the Sea Needle, a parody of the Space Needle.
In the History Channel special, Life After People, they show the Space Needle falling due to corrosion
In 1997, the television show Frasier, which is set in Seattle, filmed an episode at the base of the Space Needle. The episode aired on November 11, 1997.
Literature
In the novel Invisible Monsters by Washington-born author Chuck Palahniuk, the characters visit the top of the Space Needle, and write secrets on pieces of paper, which they throw off of the deck.
Video Games
The Space Needle appears in the video game Killer 7 where the main antagonist Kun Lan catches a bullet and is "carried" to it.
In the video game, the Space Needle makes a brief appearance in one of the cutscenes. Also, a character gives the player a mission to kill a lawyer, and threatens to throw the player from the Space Needle if he/she repeats anything he/she has been told.
The Space Needle can be destroyed in the video game World in Conflict during the Soviet invasion of Seattle.
The Space Needle can be captured for a substantial benefit in the Seattle Mission of
The Space Needle can also be spotted when on "tour" in the recently released "Rockband" video game. At one point in the tour, you're allowed to travel to Seattle, which in part is represented by the needle.
In Battle for Bikini Bottom, one of the levels requires you to bungee jump off the 'Sea Needle' to destroy tikis after robots have knocked out nearly the whole floor.
In Gran Turismo 4, the Space Needle is seen in the distance briefly during one of the turns in Seattle Circuit Reverse.
Music
During the World's Fair, a carillon was installed in the Space Needle, and played several times a day. The carillon recreated the tones of a total of 538 bells, and was built by the Schulmerich Company under the name "Carillon Americana." The operator's console was located in the base of the Space Needle, completely enclosed in glass to allow observation of the musician playing the instrument. It was also capable of being played from a roll, just as a player piano would be. The stentors of the carillon were located in the bottom part of the disc, and were audible over the entire fairgrounds, and beyond.
This information is on the cover of a Long Playing vinyl 12 disc called "Bells On Hi-Fi" catalog number AR-8000, produced by Americana Records, of Sellersville, PA. There are 12 pieces recorded on the "Carillon Americana" before it was installed in the Space Needle. They are performed by carilloneur John Klien.
Australian rock band The Church included a song called "Space Needle" on their 2006 album Uninvited, Like the Clouds.
Sport
The Major League Soccer team Seattle Sounders FC - due to start play in 2009 - uses an image of the Space Needle as part of the team's logo.
Gallery
Image:Space Needle.jpeg|Aerial image of the Space Needle.
Image:SpaceNeedle1.JPG|The Space Needle as seen from Elliott Bay.
Image:SpaceNeedleTopAtNight.jpg|The bottom of the Space Needle at night.
Image:Space-needle-cc-2.0.jpg|Space Needle from Downtown Seattle.
Image:SpaceNeedle GiftShop.PNG|The gift shop in the Space Needle.
Image:Seattle from kerry park.jpg|Space Needle from Kerry Park, Queen Anne Hill, Seattle.
Image:SpaceNeedle2.JPG|View of the Space Needle from the Seattle Center.
Image:Seattlecenterspaceneedle.jpg|View from the base of the needle.
Image:SpaceNeedleBottom.jpg|Another view from the base of the Space Needle
Further Information
Get more info on 'Space Needle'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://space_needle.totallyexplained.com">Space Needle Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
