The ‘sinking ship’

Seattle, early 1960sThis looks like a premonition of the work of Zaha Hadid , but is actually the practical outcome of the geometry of its site, which is a triangle, on a steep slope. By sloping its decks in the opposite direction to the hill, it efficiently makes it possible for the surrounding streets to double as access ramps. It stands impertinently in front of Seattle’s most famous historic landmark, the Smith Tower of 1914 , and it controversially replaced the once-magnificent Hotel Seattle , but it is beautiful in its own right. This city, by the way, has several fine car parks, but the sinking ship is the most striking