10 facts about the space needle
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Space Needle
Observation tower in Seattle, Washington, U.S.
This article is about the tower in Seattle. For other uses, see Space Needle (disambiguation).
The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city, it has been designated a Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, it was built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World's Fair, which drew over 2.3 million visitors.
At 605 ft (184 m) high, the Space Needle was once the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River in the United States. The tower is 138 ft (42 m) wide, weighs 9,550 short tons (8,660 metric tons), and is built to withstand winds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h) and earthquakes of up to 9.0 magnitude, as strong as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake.
Elevators take visitors to an observation deck 520 ft (160 m) above ground in 41 seconds, which offers panoramic views of the downtown Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay, and various
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The Space Needle, By the Numbers
This past September, work began on a multiyear, $100 million renovation of the landmark, led by a team that includes Olson Kundig Architects and Hoffman Construction. The project involves upgrading all physical systems, replacing the wire enclosures surrounding the observation deck with new glass barriers, and adding an all-glass floor to the restaurant. Here’s a look at some of the details that have made this icon of Seattle’s skyline such a historic feat of design and engineering.
400: Number of days from when the land for the Space Needle was purchased until the day it opened to the public.
72: Number of bolts fastened to the Space Needle’s concrete foundation, which reaches a depth of 30 feet.
12: Number of motors that will rotate the all-glass floor of the restaurant, which was the second rotating glass restaurant ever to be built in the United States.
2.5: Thickness, in inches, of the new 11-foot-tall glass barrier surrounding the observation deck, which will offer unobstructed 360-degree views of the city and beyond.
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Today, a landmark in the clouds. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
It's as inextricably linked with its home town as the Eifel tower is linked with Paris. Rising skyward, it's a 1960s vision of the twenty-first century. But the spire's design transcends the era of its birth. It's Seattle's Space Needle. And it almost wasn't built.
The Space Needle was the inspiration of Eddie Carlson, who considered it the pi'ce de r'sistance of the 1962 World's Fair. The Needle began as a doodle, but Carlson soon engaged the help of an architectural team. The team eventually settled on a graceful tripod topped by what can best be described as a flying saucer. The concept was elegant. But reality was about to set in.
King County, home to Seattle and the fair, refused to finance the structure, believing the county would never recover the 4.5 million dollars required for construction. City fathers quickly stepped up wi
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