Seattle’s Renovated Space Needle Debuts Dramatic 360-Degree "Spacelift" and the World’s First Revolving Glass Floor

The Space Needle, one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks, is unveiling a dramatically different visitor experience employing a modern twist on the ingenuity and innovation of the original 1962 World’s Fair build. Renovation of the 605-foot-tall structure features technology and products simply not available at the time of construction. Walls, barriers – even floors – have been removed and replaced with structural glass revealing a visceral experience the visionary designers of the Space Needle could only dream of. The new, multi-level tower features the world’s first, and only, revolving glass floor delivering wide-open views as guests float above Seattle.

The completely reimagined Space Needle experience dramatically expands views of Mount Rainier, Elliott Bay, the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges and features several “firsts,” thanks to a $100 million private investment. The upper and lower levels are now unified by a cantilever grand staircase, the Oculus Stairs, creating a new destination that embodies the spirit of possibility Seattle is known for. With 196% more glass than before, including the use of ten different varieties, designers have created an immersive adventure opening up the aweinspiring beauty of the Puget Sound region.

Historical Images

“This reinvestment ensures the long-term viability of the Space Needle,” said Ron Sevart, CEO, Space Needle. “We have a commitment to our team members, our guests, and to the community to preserve the Space Needle as a civic and cultural icon for future generations.”


Perhaps the most dramatic “first” is The Loupe, the world’s first and only revolving glass floor. Visitors to The Loupe can walk, stand, or sit on the glass floor suspended 500 feet above the city, taking in never-before-seen downward views of the Space Needle’s unique architecture  and elevators. A 360-degree view of the Seattle Center Campus and surrounding cityscape is enhanced as the floor slowly rotates once every 45 minutes.

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REVOLVING GLASS FLOOR – FACT SHEET

• The Space Needle installed The Loupe—the world’s first and only glass revolving floor.
• Weighing 37 tons, the floor has a total of 10 layers of glass. There are six layers of glass in the rotating portion, including a “scuff” layer that can be easily replaced if damage occurs without compromising the floor’s integrity. The other four layers are part of the soffit glass, or the floor’s most outer layers.
• The outer side of the underlying soffit glass includes a frit pattern; similar to a design wrap on a bus, this frit pattern gives visitors clear downward views from the inside of the structure and opaque views from the outside or ground level looking up.
• A total of 12 – ¼ horsepower (hp) motors are used to rotate the glass floor which sits on top of 48 rollers, allowing the glass floor to smoothly guide as it revolves.
• The new motors allow The Loupe’s speed to be modified as needed. The floor can make a full rotation in 20 minutes. The slowest speed is 90 minutes. The glass floor will rotate at a speed of one full rotation every 45 minutes when the floor is unveiled to guests.
• Historically, the Space Needle’s floor used a 1.5 hp motor and made a full rotation in 47 minutes.
• The Loupe can be partially covered with a high tech carbon fiber panels. Stronger than steel, these sturdy sleek panels were manufactured by a military contractor in central Michigan. This gives the Space Needle the option to cover the glass turntable as needed.

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Before and After

THE STRENGTH OF GLASS AT THE SPACE NEEDLE
The glass used for the Space Needle’s new revolving glass floor, glass barriers, and glass benches was designed like reinforced concrete. Each section was custom-designed with multiple redundant layers of structural glass fused together with a high-strength interlayer giving the glass composite a strength capacity up to five times the design loads used for code requirements.
On these sturdy glass structures, there is no single structural layer of glass; the systems at the Space Needle have a special high-strength ionoplast interlayer, and a minimum of three structural layers of glass each. With these redundant layers, the glass floor, glass barriers, and glass benches would still be structurally sound and safe even if one or more layers of glass were compromised.
The glass has been extensively tested and is designed to be very safe. All glass is tested for structural integrity under wind loads, live loads, and human impact. For example, typical impact loads for barriers are 400 foot-pound (a foot-pound is a unit of measurement of a one pound-force through a linear displacement of one foot). The barrier glass at the Space Needle has been designed and tested to be five times the strength of standard barriers to accommodate an impact load of more than 2000 foot-pound. Even though the glass barriers on the open-air deck have no framing, the 11 feet high and 7 feet wide glass panels are designed like the windscreen of a jumbo jet, so they can take all design loads even if the glass were damaged.
The glass floor is the strongest structural glass added to the renovated Space Needle. Between the revolving glass floor and its underlying soffit, there are a total of 10 layers of glass. The glass floor was designed for the highest of code requirements for floors. For floors, code required loads and testing are typically 60 pounds/square foot and 300-pound point loads. The glass floor at the Space Needle was designed for more than 100 pounds/square foot and 600-pound point loads all throughout the floor’s surface. The glass floor is sturdier and safer than the previous revolving floor at the Space Needle and much stronger than standard office and retail floors in Seattle. This would mean that you could invite the entire Seattle Seahawks’ defense – and all of the offensives they would face in the course of a season – to take a group photo on the glass floor without breaking a sweat. The very top layer of that glass floor is a scuff plate designed to be an aesthetic layer to protect the main stack of structural glass from scuff marks from shoes, heels, etc. The scuff plates are designed to be replaced periodically for visual clarity, but have no load-bearing responsibilities.
RENOVATING AN ICONIC STRUCTURE
The new Atmos Wine Bar at the 500-foot level will complement the stunning views offering regional wine selections and the opportunity to relax and take in one-of-a-kind Seattle sunsets. Along with the installation of The Loupe revolving glass floor, architects have replaced partial glass walls with new high-tech panels that expand views and ensure that the Space Needle truly delivers the best panorama of Seattle.
A little higher up, at the 520-foot level, guests will be awestruck as they step off Space Needle elevators to be greeted by wide-open, completely unobstructed views. The indoor observation has expanded views with gracious glass doors and floor to-ceiling seamless glass panels delivering unobstructed views of the Pacific Northwest’s beauty. The new Atmos Café provides light bites and refreshment while the accessible glass doors beckon guests to the re-vamped outer observation deck where giant, 11 by 7 feet glass panels offer a completely open – and thrilling – view.

Renovation gallery

The outer observation deck has been dramatically updated. The open-air glass panels of the outer observation deck dip out at a slight 14-degree angle and replace previous “wire” caging and partial walls. With no walls and no seams – or “mullions” – between each glass panel, and nothing but open sky above, uninhibited views are guaranteed. Positioned along alternating glass panels along the outer observation deck, the addition of 24 Skyrisers – innovative, inclined glass benches – allows guests to sit up, slide back, and experience an intense feeling of floating above the city and offering the ultimate Seattle “selfie” moment.
A new grand staircase now connects the upper and lower levels via an open circular stairway that is suspended and cantilevered out from the Space Needle’s core, showing no visuallyapparent supporting structure. At the base of the curved new stairway is a glass-floored oculus that reveals the Space Needle’s superstructure as well as the elevators and counterweights ascending and descending. While the Space Needle appears materially unchanged from the outside, the guest experience is no doubt forever changed.
“The Space Needle was built to help define the skyline of Seattle, but has become so much more,” said Karen Olson, CMO, Space Needle. “The Space Needle became the visual icon of the city and a symbol for the spirit of Seattle. The original designers of the Space Needle dreamed big, and we continued their vision with this renovation. With glass walls, glass barriers, glass benches, and even glass floors, visitors can feel like they’re floating over the city. The Space Needle has always featured some of the best views of the Pacific Northwest. Now it offers some of the most thrilling.”
Seattle-based architectural firm Olson Kundig, along with design and engineering partners Front, Fives Lund, Arup and Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), and construction partners Seneca  Group, Hoffman Construction Company, Herzog Glass and Breedt Production Tooling & Design have delivered the grand vision of the Space Needle’s founders – unobstructed, expanded views – by leveraging cutting-edge, modern-day technology. What the tower’s designers envisioned 56 years ago was marvelous, but their dreams were constrained by the limits of the building materials and 1960s technology.

New Experiences Gallery

About the Space Needle
The Space Needle is the celebrated icon of Seattle, second only to the Eiffel Tower in Paris as the most easily-identified global skyline feature. Built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, it continues to symbolize the leading-edge innovation and technology that the city is known for and serves as a beacon into the future.

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Article courtesy of Space Needle