Photo by Tim Rice and the City of Seattle.

Media kit with images, captions, and image credits can be found here: MEDIA KIT

Framework Plan for Waterfront Seattle

Beginning with a comprehensive framework plan for Waterfront Seattle that kicked off in 2010, Field Operations (Urban Design Lead and Landscape Architecture) has been leading design for 1.5 miles of waterfront (26 city blocks) in partnership with Jacobs (Project Management and Structural Engineering). The expansive urban design plan considers the history of the site as a working waterfront, the physical conditions of its location along the shores of Elliott Bay, its indigenous history, and its role as part of Seattle’s evolving urban and cultural landscape. With the removal of the elevated Alaskan Way Viaduct and reconstruction of the Elliott Bay Seawall, Field Operations’ framework plan has allowed Seattle to reclaim its waterfront, utilizing infrastructure and a new public realm to create new connections between the city and Elliott Bay, with Overlook Walk being one of the most important elements.

The framework plan works at multiple scales to re-center the city with the waterfront and creates a variety of public amenities and new experiences. The plan sensitively incorporates adjacent neighborhoods, important waterfront nodes, and connections into the city while reinforcing unique waterfront conditions. In collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, ecologists, artists and art consultants, graphic and identity designers, architects, community engagement consultants, and transportation consultants, Field Operations has worked with the City’s many stakeholders and agencies on this vision to create a new “waterfront for all.”

Art on the waterfront was integral to the waterfront’s design. In 2012, an Art Plan was established that led to the following planned installations of permanent public artworks on the waterfront: Stephen Vitiello (Pier 62), MTK Matriarchs with Malynn Foster, Tamela LaClair and Kimberly Deriana (Overlook Walk Salish Plaza), Ann Hamilton (Overlook Walk Screen Wall), Shaun Peterson (Park Promenade), Norie Sato (Union Street Pedestrian Bridge), Oscar Tuazon (Promenade), Randi Purser, Tyson Simmons, and Keith Stevenson (Promenade, Carvers), and Buster Simpson (Promenade).

Overlook Walk

Located in the footprint of the former Alaskan Way Viaduct between Pike Place Market and the Seattle Aquarium, Overlook Walk creates a new elevated public park and connection between the waterfront and Seattle’s urban core. It forms a pedestrian connection that did not exist before, bridging the nearly 100 vertical foot gap between Pike Place Market and the waterfront.  With expansive views of Elliott Bay, play areas, new public plazas, and lushly planted gardens, Overlook Walk is a new iconic landmark for Seattle.

Descending from Pike Place Market, Overlook Walk features 360-degree views of downtown Seattle, Lumen Field, T-Mobile Park, Elliott Bay, the Olympic Mountains on the western horizon, and Mount Rainier to the south. Visitors and residents can now enjoy ample seating options to rest and enjoy the views, and a new concessionaire space is anticipated to open by late 2025. The new landform envelops the new Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion, to create a rooftop garden with amazing views and vistas all around. The dramatic Salish Steps descend to provide a sheltered amphitheater looking out across to Pier 62 and Elliott Bay, anticipating performances and events to further activate the waterfront.

The project was led by the City of Seattle’s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects, with Field Operations leading design. Primary collaborators include Jacobs Engineering (Project Management and Structural Engineering) the Miller Hull Partnership (Architecture for the Café Pavilion), MKA (Civil and Structural Engineering), Land Morphology (Local Planting Consultant), Dark Light (Lighting Design), Studio Matthews (Signage and Wayfinding), Ann Hamilton & MTK Matriarchs (Art), and a number of additional subconsultants.

Seattle Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion

In 2018, the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects and other City departments partnered with the Seattle Aquarium to connect the Overlook Walk project into the rooftop of a new aquarium expansion building, the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion, designed by LMN Architects (Prime, Architecture). Field Operations collaborated with LMN Architects and three contractors to create a cohesive and integrated project with Overlook Walk, designing a publicly accessible rooftop park. The planting on the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion roof was designed in collaboration with Valerie Segrest (Tribal Storytelling & Planting Consultant) to create a native planting palette that speaks to traditional food forests in the Puget Sound area. Other members of the Seattle Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion design team include PAE (Lighting Design) and Studio Matthews (Signage and Wayfinding).

Waterfront Park

The construction of the waterfront has taken place over many years, starting with the opening of the Elliott Bay Seawall Project in 2017, which included the Pioneer Square Habitat Beach with a salmon migration corridor and other marine habitat improvements, Pier 62 in 2020, portions of the Promenade and Elliott Way streets in 2021, Union Street Pedestrian Bridge in 2022, and Railroad Way and the Marion Street Pedestrian Bridge in 2023. Following the opening of Overlook Walk and the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion in 2024, the Park Promenade, Pier 58, and improvements to key east-west connections from Waterfront Park into downtown Seattle—including the historic district of Pioneer Square, Pike and Pine Streets in the heart of downtown, and Bell Street in Belltown—will be the final phases of the waterfront to open to the public with an anticipated overall completion in spring 2025.

Quotes
“This transformation of Seattle's entire central waterfront cannot be underestimated in terms of its scale, scope, and ambition. It is a truly extraordinary, world-class achievement, and Overlook Walk is the key lynchpin and icon of the whole project,” said James Corner, Founding Partner of Field Operations. “It effectively connects Pike Place Market to the Waterfront, while also providing amazing, elevated views out across Elliott Bay. It creates a dramatic new urban walk through an extraordinary variety of experiences, culminating in the rooftop garden on the Aquarium and the Salish Steps looking west across the Bay to the sunset. It has been a great honor and privilege for us to work with the City of Seattle and all the partners along the waterfront since we began this journey together in 2010.”

“Waterfront Park, particularly Overlook Walk, will be a dynamic landmark that honors our past, highlights Seattle’s spirit of innovation, and welcomes everyone to experience the city’s natural beauty and vibrant culture. This once-in-a-generation transformation represents a powerful reconnection of space and people, as visitors, residents, workers, and families will enjoy seamless connections between downtown, Pike Place Market, and the entire Waterfront Park—the entryway to our region,” said Mayor of Seattle Bruce Harrell. “Thanks to the ‘Space Needle Thinking’ of many visionaries over the years, this redevelopment will be a truly transformative change for Seattleites and visitors alike.”

“The transformation of Seattle’s Waterfront was envisioned with a talented leadership team at Field Operations, in partnership with the City and many civic leaders over the years, with the primary goal of reconnecting our beautiful city back to the sea, and through Overlook Walk we have accomplished just that,” said Angela Brady, Director of the City’s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects. “The completion of Overlook Walk is the result of deep partnerships and our shared vision of a greener, more accessible, and connected cityscape and community. I am so proud of our incredibly talented team for successfully delivering such a uniquely challenging project and am very appreciative of our close partnerships with Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium, and Friends of Waterfront Park to help bring us this much closer to opening this iconic new space for our city.”

About Field Operations

Field Operations is an urban design and landscape architecture practice based in New York City, with a focus on the design, resiliency, and equity of public space in cities. Field Operations is renowned for strong contemporary design across a variety of project types and scales, from large urban districts, master plans and complex planning sites, to small well-crafted, detailed design projects. Important and widely recognized projects include the design of New York’s High Line, Brooklyn’s Domino Park, Freshkills Park in Staten Island, Chicago’s Navy Pier, San Francisco’s Presidio Tunnel Tops, and the Seattle Waterfront. For more information visit www.fieldoperations.net.

About the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects

The City of Seattle’s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects is leading the rebuilding of Seattle’s central waterfront, a once-in-a-generation transformation that is reshaping Seattle’s public spaces and strengthening the city’s identity. Twenty acres of new parks and public spaces, and significant multi-modal transportation improvements, will reconnect downtown to the waterfront and create a more accessible, green and active waterfront with a variety of spaces for people to recreate, relax and learn about the important and unique history of the Seattle area. This decades-long investment and effort will be complete and fully open to the public in 2025. For more information visit waterfrontseattle.org.

Media Contacts

Brooke Dexter (Field Operations), bdexter@fieldoperations.net, (212) 433-1450 x145 Iris Picat (Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects), ipicat@enviroissues.com, (505) 600-1227