Locator map. Image credit: LMN Architects.

Unconventional Convention Center: Located in the city’s narrow downtown, the Seattle Convention Center Summit building breaks the mold of large, sprawling, mostly horizontal convention centers. The 1.5-million-square-foot project has turned this model on its side, creating North America’s first vertical convention center. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

Site plan. Image credit: LMN Architects.

The Building and the City: The Summit building occupies four city blocks in the heart of Seattle's urban core and is situated at the nexus of seven of the city’s most densely populated and rapidly developing neighborhoods. Framing four of the city's most prominent street corridors, the building is an ambitious addition to the Seattle Convention Center that embodies Seattle's history and culture with a distinctive and welcoming presence in the urban streetscape. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

View from 9th Avenue and Olive Way. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

View from Pine Street and 9th Avenue. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

Art and Community: A robust public art program was established to highlight the range and diversity of local artists. At street level, retail and public artworks activate the building’s perimeter, while the main lobby shares space with a public, art-filled market space with shops and restaurants that are open to the community. The chandelier designed by the architects in collaboration with artist Cathy McClure creates an intricate wooden patchwork of panels composed of lights, textures, and shadows. The design and patterns of the panels were inspired by microscopic cell structures found in the local trees. Light is projected through the custom-made perforated panels to mimic the immersive experience of a Pacific Northwest forest. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The approach to the finish materials in many spaces aligns with a neutral but textural palette, making it easy for organizers to layer an event into the facility. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

Vertical Convention Center: The convention center’s program is distributed across six levels of event spaces, including two exhibit halls stacked one above and one below-grade. Visual connectivity between event floors and individual areas of the building helps orient attendees as they navigate the various levels through dramatic vertical spaces. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The Hillclimb: A glass-enclosed atrium stair called the Hillclimb connects every floor and doubles as an amphitheater gathering space with views of Pike Place Market and Puget Sound. From the exterior, the zigzagging stairway becomes a defining formal feature of the building, taking a visual cue from the region’s mountain ranges and steep hills. Washington State’s official flower, the pink Rhododendron, anchors the foundation of accent colors throughout the building. Photographic images of the blossoms are printed onto 150 moveable cushions on the Hillclimb. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The action inside the venue gets showcased to the city, while the energy and activities happening on the city streets and nearby buildings become part of how visitors experience the events inside. Image credit: Tim Griffith and Adam Hunter/LMN Architects.

The building has been designed to offer a mix of space types that are flexible and adaptable. The approach to the finish materials in many spaces aligns with a neutral but textural palette, making it easy for organizers to layer an event into the facility. Event designers can create the exact venue they require or simply use the spaces as designed. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

Extensive exterior glazing makes strong connections between inside and outside, where the enclosure functions as a 2-way frame, showcasing the interior events and exterior perspective. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

Large expanses of glazed walls around the building’s perimeter contribute to an abundance of natural light inside. This increased transparency promotes a synergistic connection between the building and the city. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The vertical convention center organization produces a seamless and engaging atmosphere for different event types. From one single large show to multiple smaller simultaneous shows, the variety of meeting and public spaces feel connected and integrated, offering diverse environments – formal and informal, quiet and animated, planned and spontaneous. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The six levels are connected vertically through two large atria. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The building and the city are deeply intertwined. The urban experience becomes the backdrop for events happening inside the building and the events inside the building become part of the urban experience. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The Summit building creates a dynamic experience juxtaposing shifts from expansive city views with more contained interior moments featuring highly crafted details. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The wooden combs above the Ballroom prefunction space and the Hillclimb seating create a tapestry of light and shadows that shimmer with the changing daylight and the programmable lighting systems at night. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

The use of locally salvaged wormwood in the ceiling of the Ballroom creates a dramatic immersive experience. Repurposed from the log blooms used by the timber industry and unique to the Salish Sea, the wormwood boards layer regional authenticity and history to the space. The carpet design features a large-scale multicolor composition inspired by the textures of a Pacific Northwest forest floor. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

In the six months since the Summit Building’s debut, events and conferences held in the building have seen some 93,000 attendees and yielded nearly $150 million in economic impact. Image credit: Adam Hunter/LMN Architects.

The demand for increased density and tall, more efficient buildings is making a mark on urban centers around the world. With its striking architecture and multiple levels, the Seattle Convention Center Summit building offers a sense of excitement and innovation that enlivens Seattle’s skyline. Image credit: Tim Griffith.

View from Pine Street and Boren Avenue. Image credit: Tim Griffith.