Salvaged Witness, KeyArena Meets Nowness

Abstract

KeyArena is a witness of history and underused masterpiece. It roots deeply within the history of Seattle, but its obsoleteness fails to sustain its desire to be actively used. KeyArena is a local landmark but fails to keep up with the pace of nowness. Its humble form, stunning structure and center for civic activity need to be salvaged. This unconventional preservation project is an homage to diverse layers of time. Existing and newly inserted conditions confront and interact with each other, offering an ensemble and coexistence of fragments that will not be depicted by a single image, or allow any part to overtake the others. New, old, horizontal, vertical, wide, narrow, light, dark, over, under, open, enclosed... All these oppositions establish the range of complexity in architecture that define the new dimension of salvaged KeyArena, which transforms the witness to the heart of nowness.