The Space Needle is getting doubly cool.
Visitors to the iconic Seattle tower can now ride to the top in a double-decker, floor-to-ceiling glass elevator — the first of its kind in North America — in the latest design twist during the building’s multi-year modernization project.
Opening today, the Skyliner elevators allow visitors to see the mechanics of the elevator, the internal double helix core stairway of the Needle, and an expanded view of Seattle and beyond.
The design was inspired by early sketches of the Space Needle, which opened as the centerpiece of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. The gold elevator capsules still appear the same from the outside. Changes inside include new cables, counterweights, steel hoistways and cutting-edge machines, according to a Needle news release Friday.
“Construction like this at the Space Needle is like assembling a rocket in the sky,” said Karen Olson, chief operating officer at the Space Needle, in a statement. “We are doing work on the Space Needle that has never been done before, at 500 feet in the air. It takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication by our construction partners to make this dream a reality.”
Glass — and lots of it — is a major signature of the improvements being made to the Needle as part of the 2018 Century Project. As part of 176 tons of glass being added, there is now a revolving glass floor that is one of a kind in the world, and one-ton tilted glass panels on the outdoor observation deck, which GeekWire first got a look at seven years ago.
The two other elevators on the building are scheduled to be modernized and open by 2028 as part of the privately funded $100 million effort.
Longtime elevator manufacturer Otis is managing the modernization project. Otis built the original Space Needle elevators, as well as those at the Eiffel Tower. And, at the other end of Seattle in Pioneer Square, it built eight manually operated cutting-edge elevators for that building when it opened in 1914.
Seattle-based architecture firm Olson Kundig designed the new cabs, LMI Aerospace engineered them, and Turner Construction is serving as the general contractor.
Check out a video of the TODAY show’s visit to the Needle and view of the elevators:
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