Olympic Sculpture Park

Team

Architect

Weiss/Manfredi; Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture

Contractor

Sellen Construction Company

Stats

PROJECT TYPE

Park/Public Space

COMPLETION

2007

PROJECT SIZE

8.5 acres

MKA ROLE

Structural and Civil Engineer

Seattle, WA
Olympic Sculpture Park

Designed as a continuous plane crossing over existing railroad tracks and roadway infrastructure, this elevated outdoor park for the Seattle Art Museum connects the urban core to a revitalized waterfront and public beach. The park, combining landscape, art, and architecture, transformed two brownfield sites and a parking lot into the landmark space seen today. It incorporates a Z-shaped pedestrian route traversing a 40-ft drop from the city to the water; a one-story, 7,000-ft² transparent pavilion building at the site’s high point with below-grade parking; and two pedestrian bridges. The park’s centerpiece—the 2,200-ft-long Z-shaped walkway surrounded by public art—connects the main pavilion upland to the waterfront while remaining accessible to all visitors thanks to a gentle, five-degree slope. Instead of traditional concrete retaining walls, MKA’s design incorporates cost-effective Mechanically Stabilized Earth retaining walls to shape the park’s significant soil quantities naturally.