An early design concept for the proposed Chihuly Center had a "cascade of glass" as a central design element.
Unless you live in Seattle, you’ve probably missed the escalating battle for what to do with a shuttered amusement park at the foot of the Seattle Space Needle since the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet last wrote about the proposed Chihuly Center in April 2010. The Wright family, owners of the tourist destination originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair, wanted to partner with the area’s other towering local figure, Dale Chihuly, in a bid to increase traffic to the Seattle Center area of the city. They proposed leasing space at the base of the Space Needle occupied by the now-defunct Fun Forest Amusement Park to build a $15 million, 44,000-square-foot exhibition center for Chihuly’s work. Then, in June 2010, came a serious alternate bid by the local radio station KEXP, which proposed to use the same space for a new home for their well-loved independent radio station that included a performance stage for local musicians and public green space, and garnered the support of big-name musicians such as Dave Matthews and members of Pearl Jam. Even though a review of all proposals by Seattle officials and a citizen’s committee convened to study the issue both favored the Chihuly Center because it would cost Seattle taxpayers nothing and had the potential to draw the largest number of visitors and generate the most tourist-dollars, Seattle mayor Mike McGinn announced this morning that he favors a compromise of a 12,500-square-foot indoor Chihuly exhibition area, with a 26,000-square-foot art garden, and an additional 6,800 feet of retail and lobby space, that shares an expanded site plan with a 27,900-square-foot facility at an adjacent site to be taken over by KEXP as well as a new children’s playground, financed through $2 million paid by the Wright family. Continue reading
