Downtown Seattle The Contemporary Skyline Book by Author Marques Vickers

The second edition of “Downtown Seattle: The Contemporary Skyline” is an architectural survey of the contemporary Seattle skyline. Documenting the city’s explosive growth, over 300+ images capture the elevated dynamism of the cities expansion beyond the traditional core. Photographed between 2016-2019, the edition profiles over 125 commercial development projects from a variety of perspective angles.

The heightening of the downtown Seattle skyline mirrors the prosperity and expansion of the high technology and bio-med business center. The contemporary projects incorporate compositions of steel, glass, and concrete creating innovate building skins while incorporating an aesthetic combination of style and pragmatism. Historically, the Seattle regional economy has been diversified with Boeing as its most visible institution. Tech growth has accelerated the demands for office space, parking, residential housing and transportation solutions. Aggressive development has resulted in soaring rents, congestion and extreme gridlock.

The city of Seattle appears to be playing infrastructure catch-up. It has been commentated that the city was never intended to expand into its present escalation. Such observations become academic and antiquated when one views the fruition of its present vertical skyline. Numerous additional developments remain in various stages of planning and completion during this boom period. These structures have become the new permanence, a form of neo-Urbania. Retreat and constraint are no longer options or alternatives.

Future visions for a vibrant downtown core stream forward. With each subsequent constructed monolith, Seattle solidifies its claim as a building showcase of twenty-first century style, credibility, and stature.

Growth becomes an insatiable surge. For the high technology industry to maintain its frenetic pace, progress is essential. Perhaps one day, Seattle and such a volatile industry will arrive at a crossroad where sustaining such expansion becomes problematic and unsustainable. For now, there appears no hesitation towards elevated downtown expansion.