EXPERIENCE MUSIC PROJECT
Seattle, Washington

Photo: Kirsten Kiser

Photo: Kirsten Kiser

The Experience Music Project, located on 5th Avenue adjacent to the Space Needle at Seattle Center, is a 140,000 square foot facility intended to celebrate creativity and innovation as expressed through American popular music and culture. The Experience Music Project provides, in an educational museum and exhibition environment, opportunities for visitors to explore the history and traditions of American popular music, to participate in the music making process, to experience great music and to learn the secrets of its composition and its performance. The Experience Music Project places a special emphasis on music related traditions and music making in the Pacific Northwest and will specifically commemorate Jimi Hendrix, one of American music's most creative, innovative and influential artists.
The exhibits and public programs of the Experience Music Project are envisioned as a three-dimensional floating puzzle, with each piece being critical to the shape and the nature of the whole. Six elements, the Sky Church, the Crossroads, the Sound Lab, the Artist's Journey, the Electric Library, and the Ed. House form the basis of the Experience Music Project's exhibits and public programs. 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. The Crossroads, through a series of exhibition areas, presents the collision of multiple viewpoints and traditions, which is American popular music. The Sound Lab enhances the visitor's experience of music and music making by providing hands-on opportunities to create and illustrate some of the relationships between music, science, and technology. The Artist's Journey provides a compelling history of the life and times of popular music 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 provides a multimedia archive of the Experience Music Project's collection and information resources and provides services that are available both on site and on-line. The Ed. House, which will also function as an educational public outreach program, provides opportunities to learn more about the themes explored in the exhibit areas, to experience and participate in a variety of musical activities, and to further explore and develop creative abilities and music-related skills.
The building itself consists of a cluster of colorful curving elements clad in a variety of materials. The fragmented and undulating forms of the building are inspired in part by the image of a shattered Fender Stratocaster guitar. 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 the inside. In addition to 35,000 square feet of exhibition space, the building houses a restaurant, a bookstore and administrative spaces, with support spaces and storage areas located beneath grade.

The Experience Music Project is an exciting blend of exhibits, technology, media, and hands-on activities that combines the interpretive aspects of a traditional museum, the educational role of a school, the state-of-the-art research facilities of a specialized library, and the audience drawing qualities of performance venues and popular attractions.