Pier 62 and Floating Dock
Historically Pier 62 was where concerts and events had been held, but the pier required infrastructure improvements to create a more welcoming space.
The rebuilt pier was designed to be a flexible park with views of Elliott Bay, the Olympics and the Seattle skyline. A floating dock provides direct access to the water and includes art by artist Stephen Vitiello. New grating along the seawall increases light to the nearshore salmon habitat below. The rebuilt pier also includes new handrails and embedded LED lighting.
About the Project
Pier 62 Rebuild
In June 2020, the City of Seattle completed the major construction elements of the rebuilt Pier 62. Replaced with 175 steel piles and poured with 214 new concrete deck panels, new Pier 62 provides nearly 40,000 square feet of park space.
Pier 63 Removal
Another part of this project was the removal of the aging Pier 63, next to Pier 62. In the fall of 2022, the City removed Pier 63 to improve the nearshore habitat for salmon and other marine life. The work required removing nearly 50,000 square feet of decking and 894 timber piles that were casting a shadow over the marine habitat below.
Award Winning
Pier 62 received the American Council of Engineering Companies Washington Chapter 2020 Engineering Excellence award!
Project Gallery
Building Pier 62 and Removing Pier 63
Art - Land Buoy Bells
Land Buoy Bells creates sounds and rhythms that harmonize with the ongoing life on the waterfront, including voices, natural, environmental and industrial sounds.
Stephen Vitiello was commissioned to build Land Buoy Bells, a site-specific, environmentally driven sound installation on the floating dock at Pier 62. The work began development in 2013, when aspects of Waterfront Seattle were still in planning stages. The project went through location and concept changes but a constant was the idea to create a work that is performed by the environment, allowing for random patterns and rhythms to occur based on any given moment, producing an ongoing, ever-changing composition.
Land Buoy Bells uses industrial materials – steel tank ends - and transforms them into a set of 5 instruments. The bell-like objects are struck at various moments as energy is stored up in an engineered device driven by the rise and fall of the waters that encompass the floating dock.
Stephen Vitiello would like to acknowledge the project team of Fabrication Specialties, Ltd. and Stuart Kendall, Engineer. He also extends thank yous to Mutuus Studios (Kristen and Saul Becker) and Eric Fredericksen.