Space Needle
The Space Needle is located in Seattle and is one of the biggest attractions of the city. The city is sometimes called by locals "the city under the needle."
The Space Needle is a futuristic tower, one hundred eighty-four meters high and forty-two meters wide at its widest point. The tower weighs nine thousand five hundred and fifty tons.
The tower is located within the exhibition complex Seattle Center, which was built specifically to celebrate the World Fair in 1962. Then the tower was entered by twenty thousand people a day.
The Space Needle was built so that it can withstand a hurricane with wind speeds up to 320 km/h, and also an earthquake of nine on the Richter scale.
On the one hundred and fifty ninth meter is located a viewing deck, from which can be seen the whole city - the view is breathtaking. At the same height is a luxury restaurant, where you can enjoy american cuisine, and a gift shop for souvenirs.
The restaurant revolves, giving visitors great opportunity to explore the city from above on all sides. The structure, on which is located the restaurant, which was originally named "The eye of the needle". It is rotated by a motor with a power of only one horsepower.
The history of the Space Needle tower began in 1959 when Edward Carlson, president of Western International Hotels, was inspired by the Stuttgart tower in Germany and sketched a sketch for the World Exposition in Seattle on a napkin while sitting in a cafe.
He chose a futuristic vision of a high tower, because the theme of World Expo was the twenty-first century and the allusion to space was adequate. Carlson’s sketch was impressive, but difficult to implement.
The biggest obstacle was the design of the building. The initial sketch of Carlson had to undergo several transformations in order to reach the modern form of the Space Needle.
There was an idea for a design that resembled a huge bubble, but it was rejected due to inability to build a stable structure of such height.
A dozen architects working on the vision of the tower, came up to an optimal solution that kept the original idea of Carlson, but it could commensurate with the architects and builders. One year and a half to the World Exposition in Seattle was Remaining, a final decision on the future of the tower had to be taken.
Once the foundations were dug deep into the ground, they poured concrete, for which were used 467 truckloads of cement. The pouring of concrete into the foundations took all day.
The Space Needle was finally completed in late 1961 and was officially opened on the first day of the World's Fair, April 21, 1962.
One day before the World Expo elevators came to the Space Needle, which were installed with lightning speed. They were replaced in 1993 by the new, computerized elevators.
The cost of construction of the Space Needle amounted to 4.5 million dollars. The Space Needle is a place that tourists do not miss when in Seattle.
In 2000 the Space Needle underwent renovation, which cost twenty million dollars. On the roof of the Space Needle were placed twenty-four lightning rods, for lightning protection.
Originally, the Space Needle was named Cosmic Box, but it was changed according to the appearance of the building.
