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520's Brutalism

Let's not let 520 join the Kingdome in concrete rubble heaven. It's a big brutal structure that has become a permanent fixture in the landscape of the Arboretum wetlands.

Kingdome History Month Returns!

Yes, it has been 11 months since the last post at The Dome of Kings, but we now find ourselves in the only month that matters: March, when we celebrate the birth and mourn the death of the King County Municipal Stadium.

Happy Kingdome History Month! 31 days of remembering the good times, shaking our heads at the folly, and cursing Paul Allen.

At this moment in time, it is appropriate that we pause to remember our region's first multi-purpose sports facility. The new owners of the Seattle SuperSonics are asking the state and the county to build them the most expensive NBA arena ever. Once upon a time, when the Sonics were champs, they didn't mind entertaining the crowds in the same facility that also hosted the Sounders, Mariners, and Seahawks. The wanton destruction of the Kingdome and the planned obsolescence of the Seattle Center Coliseum remodel show us how far we have sunk from the sensible early days of Seattle sports.

For the next month, join us as we turn back the clock to a time when Seattle sucked less, even if the teams sucked more; when Grave Digger, Jack Patera, Led Zeppelin, and Billy Graham all used the same parking lot; and when a guy named Jack Christiansen made us believe in the beauty of thin shell concrete.

Kingdome History Month: We Won't Forget

The month of March has drawn to a close. But here at The Dome of Kings, every month is Kingdome History Month. We will continue to bring you articles and essays from sporting, civic, and architectural perspectives, with the hope of keeping the memory of the Kingdome alive on into the future.

Kingdome History Month: Heroes and Villains

The Dome of Kings editorial staff salutes the great Seattle sportsmen who gave the city something to cheer about. Thank you for all you did.

And no thanks to the forces that worked to bring down the Dome that brought joy to so many:

Billionaire Paul Allen is seen above destroying a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture of a guitar in June 2000, three months after he destroyed the Kingdome.

Kingdome History Month: Happy 30th Birthday

"We were talking in the clubhouse," Jim Lefebvre, Oakland coach and former Mariner manager, is saying. "Of all the ballparks and all the years, we've never seen such energy as there's been in this place." -- Seattle Times, September 25, 1995.

Kingdome History Month: Who did it?

Jack Christiansen, the chief structural engineer of the Kingdome, is a crowned member in the court of the Dome of Kings. The architects, however, definitely are not. What was up with the AC units on the exterior of the building? C'mon. Six years ago this month, as the city prepared to say goodbye to its beloved multi-purpose stadium, the architects deflected responsibility. The architects of record, NBBJ, pointed fingers at LMN, whose principals were the lead designers at NBBJ in the early 70's before breaking off to start their own firm. LMN shied away from taking credit. In more recent years, LMN has brought Seattle plenty of wanna-be-world-class neo-conservative architecture, most notably the Convention Center arch over Pike St. and, AND! -- Seahawks Stadium. For shame.

The image above from the DoK archives is a rendering of the newly completed Kingdome in 1976, signed by the design team, including the partners of LMN, and at the bottom, engineer Jack Christiansen.

Kingdome History Month: Rebuild, pt. 2

It is time that the city and the state take the Kingdome Rebuild option seriously. The current structure, Qwest Field, is not viable in the long term. How many more major events (monster truck and motocross rallies, boat shows, religious conventions, rock concerts, NBA playoffs, etc., etc.) will pass Seattle by before we wake up to the fact that a single-use facility designed in the 1990s is no longer suitable? It now stands as a relic of late-20th century wasteful design. The clock is ticking.

Some people, because of a nostalgic attachment to Qwest Field, have come up with many creative ways to defend an open-air stadium in a rainy city for an autumn/winter sport. A giant venue that sits empty except for about ten days a year. But these proponents of the Do-Nothing option let sentimentalism cloud their judgement. The question we must ask ourselves as a community is, would we build the same structure in 2006 that we built in 2000? The answer is a firm "no."

It is time to open up the city to more impressive views of a domed facility, give SODO back to the people, and get rid of the "Big Ugly" (as Qwest Field is colloquially known). For both aesthetic and financial reasons, the sooner Qwest Field is torn down, the better. We have a golden opportunity in Seattle to reassess our values and needs as a growing city. Enough stalling! Rebuild the Kingdome on its original foundations, and return the graceful white swales to the skyline once again.

Kingdome History Month: Shame

Six years ago today, billionaire Paul Allen's destructive dream came true.

Shame on you, Mr. Allen, for leveling a functional and historic structure.

Shame on you, people of Seattle, for cheering as a mass of rebar and concrete -- once fused together in an engineering marvel -- came tumbling down.

Shame on us, the editors of The Dome of Kings, for not doing more to prevent this tragedy.

Shame.

Kingdome History Month: March Madness

With NCAA basketball on everyone's mind, The Dome of Kings would like to remind readers that the ever-versatile Kingdome was the host facility for the Final Four on three occasions: 1984, 1989, and 1995.

Kingdome History Month: Rebuild!

This week, during a seemingly routine architecture critique of a design for a branch library in Wallingford, the effort to rebuild the Kingdome was inconspicuously launched. A panel of UW professors and practicing architects enthusiatically reviewed the design, the entire design, and thus committed their support for rebuilding the Dome. Dok thanks these powerful community leaders and hopes others will follow their lead.

AWV: "Congestion is our friend"

The viaduct thing is really heating up. Here are the facts: Nickels doesn't have the money to build a tunnel. He's short $1billion. And they've cut it back so much that it's now a tunnel from Jackson to Pike, rising up out of the ground with 8 roaring lanes below beautiful Victor Steinbreuck Park. The rebuild option would be 50% bigger and with opaque side walls obscuring the view.

Now-looky--here, I don't think the tunnel is a bad idea, but seeing how they've already cut it back and they still don't have the money, it's got "Big Dig" disaster written all over it. Remember how Seattle excels in screwing up billion dollar projects. Ahem, Monorail.

I heard an interesting thing on the radio recently. An urban planner from Vancouver was being interviewed on NPR about the miracle of that city's achievement. He was asked why Vancouver doesn't have a freeway running through it, to which he responded, "congestion is our friend." Vancouver made a conscious decision to NOT build freeways because, and they've known this since the 1960's, increasing car capacity INCREASES CONGESTION because it facilitates SPRAWL. Instead of concentrating their congestion along freeways they have distributed traffic more evenly across their street grid.

Seattle has a great opportunity to do this as Alaskan Way, 1st, 2nd, Elliot, and Dexter have plenty of unused capacity. As well, an Alaskan Way Boulevard would still provide the SAME access into and out of downtown, and a through trip would take just a few minutes more.

Vancouver is the best city on the West Coast. We have much to learn from them. Let's build a boulevard for $200 million and move on to building mass transit.

Aisle or Window on NWA?

Northwest Airlines is now charging $15 for aisle and exit row seats. If you're 6'7" it's probably worth the money, but if you're under 6'6" and you're flying into Seattle, and you pay good money to NOT have a window seat - you're sick in the head - cuz man, what a view.