Whether you’re admiring the skyline from a city park or the deck of a ferry boat chugging across Elliott Bay, Seattle’s unique architecture always makes a dramatic impression. The city has an especially notable collection of modern designs from the 21st century.
courtesy Sergii Figurnyi/shutterstock
Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)
Celebrated architect Frank Gehry designed this fanciful building in the heart of Seattle Center’s cultural campus in 2000. The exterior is clad in undulating sheets of steel and aluminum in a kaleidoscope of bold colors, including “purple haze,” a tribute to Seattle-born rocker Jimi Hendrix and the city’s deep rock and roll roots.
325 Fifth Ave N; mopop.org
courtesy Rachael Jones
Burke Museum
The state’s oldest public museum moved into its current home, a stunning LEED Gold structure designed by Seattle’s Olson Kundig Architects, in 2019. The linear three-story glass-and-steel building opens to the greenery of the University of Washington campus and has interior windows that allow visitors to view not only many of the museum’s 16 million objects but also its curators and researchers at work.
4303 Memorial Way NE; burkemuseum.org
courtesy Sergii Figurnyi/shutterstock
Seattle Central Library
Opened in 2004, this angular edifice looks breathtaking both outside and in. The famed Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas designed the city’s main library to be filled with light and to be a joy to spend time in. The ingenious “Books Spiral” organizes the library’s literary holdings on a span of shelves that curves continuously across the building’s upper four stories.
1000 Fourth Ave; spl.org
courtesy Rachael Jones
National Nordic Museum
This impressive showcase of Scandinavian culture and history moved into a striking new contemporary space in Ballard in 2018. Designed by the Seattle-based architectural firm Mithun, the angular LEED Gold building contains Nordic-inspired elements like high gallery walls that evoke both the steep cliffs of a fjord and the hull of a ship that might have carried migrants across the ocean to North America.
2655 NW Market St; nordicmuseum.org
courtesy Rachael Jones
Seattle Convention Center Summit Building
This magnificent LEED Platinum meeting space opened in early 2023, just 1½ blocks from the Convention Center’s similarly alluring Arch building. Dazzling features include the Hillclimb staircase, the 3,900 suspended planks of reclaimed wood, and an incomparable collection of artwork with many pieces created by artists with connections to the Puget Sound region.
900 Pine St; seattleconventioncenter.com
courtesy Alex Cimbal/shutterstock
Seattle Spheres
These three intersecting glass-dome conservatories opened on Amazon’s South Lake Union campus in 2018. Together, these spheres hold a diverse collection of more than 40,000 plants—many of them installed on a four-story living wall—as well as a restaurant and retail stores.
2111 Seventh Ave; seattlespheres.com
Trip Tip
For a fascinating look at the city’s striking buildings, book one of the excellent walking tours offered by the Seattle Architecture Foundation.
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