Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

The Seattle’s Olympic Sclupture Park consists of a 9-acre outdoor sculpture museum and beach. The park was designed by Weiss Manfredi Architects. It is situated at the northern end of the Seattle seawall and the southern end of Myrtle Edwards Park. he park is operated by the Seattle Art Museum, which also operates an expanded main branch at First Avenue and University Street and the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. It is open and free to the public 365 days a year!

The idea of creating a park for large, contemporary sculpture in Seattle grew from a discussion in 1996 between Seattle Art Museum director. A three level underwater slope was built with 50,000 tonnes of riprap. The first level of the slope is large rocks to break up waves. The second is a flat “bench” level to recreate an intertidal zone. The lower level is covered with smaller rocks designed to attract sealife and large kelp.

Wake instalations in this park is like an eventual destination. The best place to start to experience Wake is next to the PACCAR Pavilion and start walking down to the Melinda and Bill Gates Amphitheater. Each piece is structurally composed of two huge sheets of curved weathering steel that are mirror images of each other put together.

At the Shore and newly created beach, plantings support habitat for salmon recovery, enhance public access and generate interest in the Puget Sound’s unique shoreline ecosystem. The naturally developing tidal garden features kelp, algae and other intertidal-zone plants that are revealed and concealed with the changing tides.