Old and New

Paul Allen, (co-founder of Microsoft) and his Vulcan Real Estate co. has completely redeveloped the entire South Lake Union neighborhood of over 60 acres.  He contends there is a cohesiveness to the design and lots of public art.   There are many boxy glass buildings and zillions of young people working there for Amazon and more.  It is totally transformed.   Today we walked to his new 270,000 s.f. Institute for Brain Research which includes his Pivot Art + Culture gallery (opened Dec 5) to see the art exhibit “The Figure in Progress: DeKooning to Kapoor 1955-2015” - very blue chip stuff for Seattle.   Science and art can coexist in the same space....this was going to be free and open to a large public.   It cost us $5 each and the show closes this week with no further one scheduled.  Hmmmmm.    

But I do love what he did with this ultra modern glass box in saving parts  of the Ford and Pacific McKay buildings, including the 1920s Terra Cotta facades that were located on the site previously and have been disassembled, restored, and reinstalled.  I remember it as a car dealer for Ford and Lincolns.   It was a shock to go by one day and see this unveiled. Anyway it was a lovely sunny day for a walk and a photo of the building and some extra close ups. 

PS. in case you are missing a crane...you can barely see one behind on the top left side of the building :-)