Browse Public Art

The Plaza

Jack Mackie

King Street Center

A dramatic outdoor gathering space responds to its geological realities.

Jack Mackie. The Plaza, 1999. Concrete, painted steel, and plantings. King Street Center, Seattle, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com

Sections of the pavement turn red behind the King Street Center—part of The Plaza, a sculptural gathering space designed by Jack Mackie. Inspired the area’s seismic activity and close proximity to the Puget Sound, the irregular shapes of the plaza imagine the aftermath of an earthquake, as if the urban grid has been shaken and realigned.

Though level with the back of the building, The Plaza sits above the streetscape, like a bluff rising from the sea. A curved staircase leads the way up to it, lined by a textured wall and topped with yellow steel railings that curve as if they were beach grasses. Concrete benches and expansive planter boxes give the feeling of an urban glade, creating an oasis above the hum of the busy neighborhood.
Continue Reading ›
Jack Mackie. The Plaza, 1999. Concrete, painted steel, and plantings. King Street Center, Seattle, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com
Jack Mackie. The Plaza, 1999. Concrete, painted steel, and plantings. King Street Center, Seattle, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com
Jack Mackie. The Plaza, 1999. Concrete, painted steel, and plantings. King Street Center, Seattle, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com

About the Location

King Street Center

The streets of Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood are lined with brick and stone buildings that date back to the late 19th century, after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 burned nearly all of the wooden structures settlers had constructed since their arrival in the early 1850s. Featuring architectural details of the era’s Romanesque Revival,…

Read more about the art and artists at King Street Center. More >