News from Swift
Memorial Stadium Renovation
In the heart of Seattle Center, the Seattle Memorial Stadium renovation has started. A focus of decades of discussion, the stadium has hosted World’s Fair events, pro and semi-pro sports teams, Seattle students and amazing music events. The One Roof Foundation’s innovative leadership brings the vision that “everyone benefits, and no one profits” to the integration of the stadium into the Seattle Center campus. With a 2027 opening, this cultural heart of the city has a renewed future.
The walls are coming down – a testament to a vision, team, commitment and hard work.
Climate Pledge Arena Statues
In the heart of the city, Climate Pledge Arena has honored two Seattle legends – Lenny Wilkins and Sue Bird! Both are heroes, breaking ground in their time.
Working with the Populous Architects-led team, Swift collaborated with Lenny Wilken Foundation, Seattle Storm, and the Seattle Kraken to support the location, design, fabrication, and installation of the statues and bases. The Climate Pledge Arena site is designed to embrace this legacy and these two new additions, bringing layers of memory and meaning by reminding us of what these two individuals have contributed to our city and community. Reminding us of the extraordinary.
https://storm.wnba.com/news/sue-statue
https://www.lennywilkensfoundation.org/lwfevents/statue-unveiling-lenny-wilkens-honored-at-climate-pledge-arena
DuPen Fountain Renovation
The DuPen Fountain is back!
This summer, the Seattle Center’s Fountain of Creation by Everett DuPen re-opened after a renovation. The bronze sculptures and stones stand on a plaza splash pad in an intimate garden oasis. In a hot August afternoon, the DuPen family and community members gathered to dedicate a place to play and for quiet contemplation. The sculpture, stones, and water compel interaction with children and adults dancing with the water.
The legacy of the 1962 World’s Fair is back – an example of stewardship reimaged to bring joy into daily life.
Read more about the fountain here and see the Everett DuPen video.
Federal Way Link Extension – Opening Day is Coming on December 6
Sound Transit’s 1 Line extension to South King County will open on December 6, 2025. This momentous day bookends the years-long effort to design and build a 7.8 mile long transit corridor of aerial and at-grade light rail and three new station areas. The effort has included mass restoration work, re-stitching and revegetating 73 acres of Puget Sound Lowland Forest, ensuring vegetated buffer for adjacent neighbors, and paying close attention to station area neighborhoods and their urban realm. Swift Company’s scope has been the design and documentation of corridor restoration, and the site design of three new station areas – community hubs that will stitch together transit-oriented development with generous public open spaces designed to provide new places for people and bolster the urban forest. Read more about the opening here.
Yesler Towers Topping Out!
Yesler Towers overlooks the Puget Sound basin from its location at Yesler Way and S Washington St. On August 8th, the team celebrated the topping out of the second tower on level 26! Swift Company designed the site with a sequence of walks and public terraces winding around the building core like an orange peel – from the streetscape, around the south tower, to level 3 of the north tower – framing spectacular regional views of the surrounding neighborhood and mountains and Sound beyond. Check out the Yesler Towers Apartments Instagram for more photos of the event!
Oregon State University – Cascades New Student Success Center Native Landscaping
Student and faculty at OSU-Cascades planted more than 4,000 native plants on the site of the new Student Success Center building. Swift Company collaborated with OSU faculty Matt Shinderman to develop a planting strategy that represents the region’s high desert ecosystem and supports the campus’s larger sustainability and educational vision. This addresses our goal of integrating life experience and knowledge as part of academic life. Read more about the program success here.
WASLA Design Award
The Sound Transit Northgate Station wins a WASLA 2023 Award of Merit for the design of a 2 acre multimodal district where pedestrians, cyclists, and bus commuters converge, circulate, and interact. Finding beauty in the daily commute and the intimate experience of transiting through a community as part of daily life takes on new meaning at the points where we move from one mode of transport to the next. These hinge points make or break the joy of a seamless transition that supports continued use. The Sound Transit North Link Northgate Station is one of those points, where joy and pleasure are a fundamental part of the design criteria in support of building a community committed to and comfortable with mass transit. The jury acknowledged this core criteria: “it is a delight to see a transportation project that promotes joy and pleasure for its users and transforms otherwise foreboding infrastructure into an artistic expression.”
Climate Pledge Arena wins Sports Facility of the Year Award!
Climate Pledge Arena has been awarded Sports Facility of the Year at this year’s Sports Business Awards in NYC! Congratulations to Oak View Group, CAA ICON, and Populous Architects for leading the way, the Seattle Center team, and all of the collaboration we shared with our design teammates. As a Revitalization of an existing arena within the heart of Seattle’s civic center, the Climate Pledge Arena project positioned itself as uniquely responsive to the neighborhood, community, and climate. Read more here.