Landslide2008: Marvels of Modernism
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Pacific Science Center Courtyard

Seattle, Washington

Designed by Minoru Yamasaki

“The old World’s Fair grounds have become a new kind of city park and on a sunny summer day the Seattle Center puts on a show too good for visitors to miss.”
 - Sunset Magazine (1968)

Minoru Yamasaki designed what is now the Pacific Science Center’s courtyard as the U.S. Science Pavilion for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle, Washington.

Yamasaki incorporated white “wedding cake” courtyard walls, white sculpted arches, and concrete platforms “floating” in serene reflection pools to create an abstractly classical and thoroughly unique space. Yamasaki’s design featured ornate formations of cast concrete and high-tech materials decorated with a Modern Gothic motif. While significant both regionally (as the only remaining outdoor space originally designed for the 1962 World’s Fair) and internationally (as a design by the noted architect of the World Trade Center Towers), the Pacific Science Center lacks the funds for needed maintenance of the space. more...

Courtesy Seattle Center

List of Marvels

Boston City Hall Plaza
Boston, Massachusetts

Estates Drive Reservoir
Oakland, California

Heritage Plaza
Heritage Park
Fort Worth, Texas

Kaiser Roof Garden
Kaiser Center
Oakland, California

Lake Elizabeth
Allegheny Commons
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Manhattan Square Park
Rochester, New York

Mill Creek Canyon
Earthworks

Kent, Washington

Miller Garden
Columbus, Indiana

El Monte
Hato Rey, Puerto Rico

Pacific Science
Center Courtyard

Seattle, Washington

Parkmerced
San Francisco, California

Peavey Plaza
Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, Minnesota


education partners
Garden DesignGeorge Eastman House
Additional Sponsors

American Society of Landscape Architects’ Indiana, Pennsylvania/Delaware, Minnesota, Northern California, Texas, Upstate New York, and Washington Chapters • Astorino • Charles Butt • Design Within Reach • Topher Delaney • Sandy Donnell & Justin Faggioli • Fathom • Tom Fox • Hillman Foundation • Indianapolis Museum of Art • Lorraine Osmundson • Richard T. Murphy • National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Northeast, Southwest, and Western Offices- with funds from the Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation of New York, Dodge Jones Foundation Intervention Fund, and Eastern Massachusetts Preservation Fund • James Richards • Seibert & Rice • Diana & Bruce Shuman • Ann Stack • SWA Group • TBG Partners • Michal and Jeffrey William Tincup • Unilock Inc. • The Woltz Charitable Trust