![\"pacific](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/pacific-science-center-arches-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto:\u00a0Seattle Municipal Archives\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Since it was built\u00a0for the 1962 World’s Fair, the Pacific Science Center has been an iconic piece of Seattle’s architectural landscape. Today it’s home to\u00a0dinosaurs<\/a>, Laser Floyd<\/a> and educational IMAX\u00a0films<\/a>, but when it was first constructed, it was best known for being a futuristic marvel. It\u00a0was so famous that it even appeared in the\u00a0movie “It Happened at the World’s Fair<\/a>,”\u00a0featuring the one and only Elvis Presley.<\/p>\n The Pacific Science Center was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, an architect born to Japanese immigrant parents in Seattle in 1912. Yamasaki graduated from the University of Washington in 1934 and then moved to New York City for graduate study in architecture at New York University. He later settled in Detroit, where his early employers helped him save his parents and relatives from\u00a0internment<\/a> during World War II.<\/p>\n Photo:\u00a0Seattle Municipal Archives\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Even in the 1960s, Seattle was a science and technology hub. It\u00a0had Boeing, the University of Washington, a massive and increasingly high-tech military presence, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the Columbia River dams. The organizers of the 1962 World’s Fair wanted a science-minded architectural structure to match, so they commissioned one from forward-thinking Yamasaki.<\/p>\n Photo:\u00a0Seattle Municipal Archives\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Photo: IMLS DCC\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Yamasaki, who was fed up with the bland, modernist buildings popular at the time, was perfect for the job. He set out to build a distinct secular temple with gothic “space age” arches, serene pools and white shimmering stone and concrete. The space was designed to evoke a sacred reverence for science.<\/p>\n The architect’s work was greatly inspired by a visit to Japan. In a 1963\u00a0Time magazine<\/a>\u00a0interview he\u00a0described the “joy of surprise” in finding a peaceful courtyard after walking through a narrow alley, or in stumbling upon a garden of “raked white gravel, dazzling in the sunlight” after tiptoeing through a hushed Buddhist temple.<\/p>\n Photo: Roger W\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Photo: Adam Barhan\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n According to\u00a0HistoryLink<\/a>, Yamasaki feared heights \u2014 that explains his preference for “narrow windows spaced between numerous columns to admit light without subjecting tenants and office workers to vertiginous views.”<\/p>\n The Pacific Science Center was a big hit when it opened in 1962, drawing over 10 million visitors. Yamasaki would go on to design the World Trade Center in New York City, but passed away from cancer before the towers fell on 9\/11.<\/p>\n Photo: Al Pavangkanan\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nPacific Science Center under construction, 1961<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nPacific Science Center model, 2002<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nPacific Science Center arches, 1962<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nPacific Science Center arches at night, 1962<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nPacific Science Center fountain, 1962<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPacific Science Center arches from below, 2014<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nPacific Science Center fountain, 2012<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPacific Science Center arches, 2006<\/h2>\n