#Space needle code#
#Space needle professional#

Monorail: The Seattle Monorail is a fun and easy option for getting to the Space Needle. The Space Needle is located in Seattle Center, at 400 Broad Street, Seattle, WA 98109.

#Space needle professional#

Video cameras for personal use are fine, but professional use needs to be approved by the PR department. There is a designated 'Stroller Parking Area' where you can leave your stroller during your visit to the Observation Deck.Ĭameras: Cameras are encouraged and tripods are allowed, as long as you are considerate of other guests. Just inform the cashier and they will arrange for you to be expedited to the accessible elevator.īringing babies: Infant car seats are allowed on the elevator, but strollers are not. Hours:For current hours of operation, please refer to the attraction's website.Īccessibility: The Space Needle is wheelchair-accessible. Plan Your Visit to Seattle Space Needle: Things to Know Before You Go There are 25 lightning rods on the Space Needle building (including the needle itself) to help it withstand lightning strikes.

Built to last, the Space Needle can endure winds up to 200mph and earthquakes up to a strength of 9.1 on the Richter scale.

When the Space Needle was built, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and featured the country’s second revolving restaurant.

The diameter of the halo (the 'flying saucer') is 130 feet. high, 138 feet wide, and weighs 9,550 tons.

Built in just 400 days for the 1962 World’s Fair, the Space Needle was a compromise between two visionary designs: a giant balloon tied to the ground and a flying saucer.

Unlike many other similar structures, such as the CN Tower in Toronto, the Space Needle is not used for broadcasting purposes.

Wright Construction Co., but is now dwarfed by other structures along the Seattle skyline, among them the Columbia Center, at 967 feet (295 m). 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. The main stairwell (generally emergency access) has 848 steps in all from the basement to the top of the observation deck. This stairway was added as part of the Pavilion and Spacebase addition/remodel in June, 2000. 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. It did remain lit for eleven days in a row from September 11, 2001, to September 22, 2001, in response to the Septemattacks. Originally planned to be turned on 75 nights per year, it has generally been used fewer than a dozen times per year. It is somewhat controversial because of the light pollution it creates. 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. Called the Legacy Light or Skybeam, it is powered by lamps that total 85 million candela shining skyward from the top of the Space Needle to honor national holidays and special occasions in Seattle. On Decem(New Year's Eve), a powerful beam of light was unveiled for the first time. The new elevators descend at a rate of 10 miles per hour (4.5 m/s). In 1993, the elevators were replaced with new computerized versions. It rotates 360 degrees in exactly forty-seven minutes. These were closed in 2000 to make way for Sk圜ity, a larger restaurant that features Pacific Northwest cuisine. 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.įor decades, the 'hovering disk' of the Space Needle was home to two restaurants 500 feet (150 m) above the ground: the Space Needle Restaurant, which was originally named Eye of the Needle, and Emerald Suite. The Space Needle can escape serious structural damage during earthquakes of magnitudes below 9. An earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter Scale jolted the Needle enough in 2001 for water to slosh out of the toilets in the restrooms.

#Space needle code#

The Space Needle was built to withstand wind speeds of 200 mph, double the requirements in the building code of 1962.

Victor Steinbrueck introduced the hourglass profile of the tower. 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). The architecture of the Space Needle is the result of a compromise between designs of two men, Edward E.