{"id":940025,"date":"2026-05-05T20:16:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/940025\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T20:16:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:16:39","slug":"olson-kundig-installs-double-decker-elevators-at-the-space-needle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/940025\/","title":{"rendered":"Olson Kundig installs double-decker elevators at the Space Needle"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of the ongoing renovations to the Space Needle in Seattle<\/a>, American architecture studio Olson Kundig<\/a> and engineering firm Otis Elevators have installed all-glass, double-decker elevators on the tower’s exposed core.<\/p>\n

The elevator project is a continuation of the years-long Century Project modernisation project at the Space Needle, headed by design lead Olson Kundig<\/a>. It follows the studio’s addition of a revolving glass floor in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"SeattleOlson Kundig and Otis Elevators have completed a double-decker elevator on the Space Needle<\/p>\n

Working with Otis Elevators<\/a> and spacecraft engineers Sonaca North America<\/a>, Olson Kundig replaced each of the Space Needle’s three single-cab elevators with double-cab machines that were informed by original 1960s renderings.<\/p>\n

“This is the most visceral and tactile piece of architecture that either of us will likely get to design,” said Olson Kundig principals Alan Maskin and Blair Payson.<\/p>\n

\"SeattleThe design was informed by original drawings by Space Needle architect John Graham & Company<\/p>\n

The new elevators are made up of two stacked cabs. They are each bookended with curved, golden-metal caps and are wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass, which, according to Olson Kundig, “maintains curved, insulated, distortion-free clarity”.<\/p>\n

The studio looked at 1960s drawings of the Space Needle by original architect John Graham & Company and found the “forgotten” detail of the double-decker elevators.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Space<\/p>\n

Olson Kundig completes major renovation of Seattle’s Space Needle\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The design was also informed by the team’s research into elevator history, where they found the double-decker design debuted in the Eiffel Tower during the 1889 World\u2019s Fair, which was capable of carrying 40 seated passengers at 400 feet per minute.<\/p>\n

The Space Needle elevators are capable of carrying 46 passengers at 800 feet per minute.<\/p>\n

\"SeattleIt is North America’s first all-glass double-decker elevator, according to the team<\/p>\n

According to the Space Needle team, it is the “only tower in the world to feature double-deck, all-glass, outdoor elevators”.<\/p>\n

The machines that power the elevators are typically used in supertall skyscrapers<\/a>, as the Space Needle’s exposed core \u2013 open to elements such as high winds and rain \u2013 proposed engineering complications.<\/p>\n

\"SeattleThe team will replace all three elevators on the Space Needle with the new cab design<\/p>\n

According to Olson Kundig, the project began in earnest in 2019 when it first started collaborating with Otis Elevators, Sonaca North America, and Green Facades to develop the elevators.<\/p>\n

The team installed one of the three new cabs late last year.<\/p>\n

The other two are due to be opened in 2027 and 2028 on the Needle’s west-facing and south-facing sides, respectively. They will replace single, more encapsulated cabins that transported visitors up and down the tower.<\/p>\n

Olson Kundig is known for its mechanical architecture. The studio has previously completed a moveable studio on rail tracks<\/a> and a house with cantilevered walkways<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Younes Bounhar | Doublespace Photography<\/a> courtesy of Olson Kundig\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As part of the ongoing renovations to the Space Needle in Seattle, American architecture studio Olson Kundig and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,262633,77,105327,18493,126129,126130,16,15,659,141094],"class_list":{"0":"post-940025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-elevators","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-olson-kundig-architects","14":"tag-seattle","15":"tag-sectionall","16":"tag-sectionarchitecture","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-usa","20":"tag-washington-state"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116523813575458411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}