Experience Music Project
Seattle, Washington
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The Experience Music Project, designed by Frank O. Gehry & Associates, is an exciting blend of exhibits, technology, media, and hands-on activities that combines the interpretive aspects of a traditional museum, educational role of a school, state-of-the-art research facilities of a specialized library, and audience-drawing qualities of performance venues and popular attractions.
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
Located on 5th Avenue adjacent to the Space Needle at Seattle Center, the 140,000-square-foot facility celebrates the creativity and innovation of American popular music and culture. The EMP presents opportunities to explore its history and traditions, participate in the music making process, experience great music, and learn the secrets of composition and performance. It places a special emphasis on music-related traditions in the Pacific Northwest, and specifically commemorates Jimi Hendrix, one of America's a most creative, innovative, and influential musical artists.
Exhibits and public programs are envisioned as a three-dimensional floating puzzle formed by six elements, with each piece being critical to the shape and the nature of the whole.
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The Sky Church, a concept inspired by Jimi Hendrix, represents the coming together of all types of people united by the power and joy of music and music making, and is physically embodied in the building's central public gathering area. Through a series of exhibition spaces, The Crossroads presents the collision of multiple viewpoints and traditions, which is American popular music.
The Sound Lab offers hands-on opportunities to create and illustrate some of the relationships between music, science, and technology. The Artist's Journey is a compelling history of the life and times of artists, illuminating the human aspect of their artistry and revealing the unexpected events and formative experiences that contributed to their creative development. The Electric Library is a multimedia archive of the EMP collection and information resources, and provides services that are available both on site and on-line.
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The Ed. House functions as an educational public outreach program, offering opportunities to learn more about the themes explored in the exhibit areas, experience and participate in a variety of musical activities, and further explore and develop creative abilities and music-related skills.
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
In addition to 35,000 square feet of exhibition space, the building houses a restaurant, bookstore, and administrative spaces, with support and storage areas located beneath grade.
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The building itself consists of a cluster of colorful curving elements clad in a variety of materials. The fragmented and undulating forms are inspired in part by the image of a shattered Fender Stratocaster.
Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The Seattle Center Monorail, a remnant of the 1962 World's Fair that continues to provide transportation between Seattle Center and downtown Seattle, passes through the building, allowing Monorail riders to glimpse inside.
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