International Fountain, located in the middle of the campus, operates all year round. Built for the 1962 World's Fair, the fountain was built as a modernist water sculpture and renovated extensively in 1995. With over 20 spouts, the fountain goes through programmed cycles of shooting water patterns, accompanied by recorded world music. The music is changed twice a month; it is chosen to coordinate with the water patterns and events programming at the center.
Space Needle, an official city landmark, featuring an observation deck and revolving restaurant
John T. Williams totem pole - A 34 feet high totem pole honoring John T. Williams
Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center is one of the largest rental venues on the grounds and the first City of Seattle building to achieve LEED certification. The large, flexible space can accommodate a wide range of commercial, charity and community events.
Kobe Bell, an official city landmark
Mercer Arena, formerly a sports, concert, and opera venue before sitting dormant for several years. It is currently being redeveloped as the future home of Seattle Opera.
The outdoor Mural Amphitheatre, featuring a mosaic mural by Paul Horiuchi: the Horiuchi Mural, also created for the World's Fair, is an official city landmark.
The Northwest Rooms, once a small conference center, now houses SIFF Film Center, The VERA Project and the headquarters of KEXP 90.3 FM.
Pacific Science Center, home of the IMAX Theater, and Seattle Laser Dome
Seattle Center Pavilion, adjacent to KeyArena; it hosts a wide variety of trade shows, meetings and community events.
A piece of the Berlin Wall can be seen at the Seattle Center Armory Food Atrium.
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, home of Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, whose ballet school is adjacent. This is the third performance space on this site, the second being the Opera House built at the time of the World's Fair.
SIFF Cinema, the year-round home of the Seattle International Film Festival, features world cinema all year, as well as during the regular Festival Season in May and June.
Seattle Center hosts many cultural, music and arts festivals. Major attractions include:
Bumbershoot
Seattle Center Festál, a year-long series of 24 world cultural events, the largest of which is Northwest Folklife
PrideFest
Bite of Seattle
Winterfest
PrideFest
Seattle PrideFest is the Official Seattle Gay Pride Festival held annually at Seattle Center over Pride Weekend. The festival takes place on the last Sunday in June between 11am and 7pm. This event used to take place in neighboring Capitol Hill's Volunteer Park but eventually outgrew its residential location. It was decided to move the annual parade to downtown and festival to the Seattle Center to better accommodate the growing attendance.
Future plans
There is a long history of consecutive plans for physical revision of Seattle Center. Ever since Seattle City Council approved the Seattle Center Century 21 Master Plan in August 2008, it has effectively directed physical change on the 74-acre campus. This future-looking, 20-year plan sets forth 10 planning and design principles to effectively guide redevelopment. Completed first phase projects were realized through an innovative mix of public and private funding. They include: Seattle Center Skatepark, Broad Street Green, Seattle Center Armory, Theater Commons, Chihuly Garden and Glass and Artists at Play. Halfway through its 20-year duration, the Master Plan is primed to respond to some significant external changes, alongside exciting new opportunities on the grounds, to continue physical transformation at Seattle Center so that this unique urban campus can continue to accommodate the needs and desires of the broader community for many generations to come.
