Space Needle — A Decade of Every Medium
2014–2026 · mixed

Space Needle — A Decade of Every Medium

Client: Space Needle LLCRole: Gigapixel capture, timelapse, VR/immersive production, and AI production pipelines across seven engagementsVerified
Gigapixel360 & ImmersiveGenerative AI
Gigapixel capture
360° / immersive capture
VR / interactive experience
Timelapse
Generative AI production

  1. The problem

    One landmark client, a decade of shifting media — each new engagement needed whatever medium had just become possible.

  2. The approach

    Stay with the client through every format change rather than selling one technique.

  3. What was built

    Seven engagements: Zoomable City gigapixel kiosk (2014), long-term timelapse (2016), VR Block Party, VR Bar (2017), VR bungee (2018), Loupe Lounge (2023), AI production (2025–26).

  4. The outcome

    A continuous Space Needle relationship from 2014 to the present, now running through Bespoken AI Solutions.

Seven engagements with the same client over more than a decade, each using whatever medium was current at the time:

Aerial view of downtown Seattle from the Space Needle, Mount Rainier on the horizon
The Seattle skyline from the capture vantage point — the same view the gigapixel rig stitched into Zoomable City.

2016 — The Fifty Year Cam. Working with Seitz of Switzerland, Panogs mounted a Livecam D2 360° timelapse system atop the Space Needle, capturing detailed panoramas of the Seattle skyline every ten minutes — piped into an interactive touchscreen kiosk. The goal, per Panogs’ own project notes: keep the camera running for 50 years, documenting the growth of the Pacific Northwest’s largest city.

Title card reading Panogs & Seitz, Roundshot Livecam D2, mounted on the Space Needle's antenna structure
The camera itself — a Roundshot Livecam D2, Panogs' partnership with Seitz of Switzerland, mounted on the Needle's upper structure.
A visitor using the interactive touchscreen kiosk to browse the Fifty Year Cam's archive by specific date
The interactive kiosk in use — visitors scrub through the archive by date, not just watch a live feed.

c. 2016–17 — Seattle Center VR Block Party. The first VR marketing video for the Seattle Center Block Party — technically demanding work that included driving a custom rover through the Chihuly Garden of Glass museum, remote-controlling a GoPro Omni across a 600-foot zipline span, and rigging a 30-foot timelapse system off the Space Needle’s lower roof.

Dusk view over the Chihuly Garden of Glass and Seattle Center during the Block Party festival, shot from the Space Needle's rooftop timelapse rig
From the 30-foot timelapse rig on the Space Needle's lower roof, looking down over Chihuly Garden of Glass during the Block Party.

2017 — The VR Bar. Launched in October 2017 “in partnership with Panogs and Graffix,” per the Space Needle’s own press release — a VR bar experience built into the landmark itself.

Guests wearing Oculus VR headsets at a table inside the Space Needle, with the Seattle skyline visible through the windows
Guests trying the VR Bar inside the Space Needle, Oculus headsets on, the real skyline behind them.

2018 — Stratos. A 6DoF virtual bungee-jump experience installed in the Space Needle gift shop, combining Unity 3D modeling with volumetric capture and Arduino-driven haptics (simulated gusts of air on descent) for an added sense of realism.

Two riggers harnessed on an exposed beam high above Seattle, preparing the Stratos bungee capture
Rigging the Stratos capture, harnessed to a beam roughly 500 feet above the city.

2023 — The Loupe Lounge. A signed August 2023 Statement of Work between Panogs and Space Needle LLC for the Loupe Lounge experience.

The Loupe Lounge's gold-domed interior, guests seated around a table with a glass hourglass-shaped drink apparatus
Inside the Loupe Lounge, under its gold dome.

2025–26 — AI production pipelines. Space Needle LLC is a current client of Bespoken AI Solutions, Gavin’s generative-AI production studio.

AI-generated concept render of two guests inside the Space Needle observation deck, James Webb Space Telescope imagery composited onto the windows
A James Webb Telescope winter activation concept, generated for the Space Needle through Bespoken AI Solutions. Concept render, not a photograph of a built installation.

Read together, it’s a decade-plus relationship that tracks the same arc as the rest of the portfolio: gigapixel and VR when those were the frontier, generative AI now that it is. Same client, same trust, different tools each time.

Video
Space Needle — Zoomable City capture

Same client, a decade of every medium — gigapixel, timelapse, VR, and now AI production.

Space Needle — A Decade of Every MediumSpace Needle — A Decade of Every MediumSpace Needle — A Decade of Every Medium
Outcome
Continuous Space Needle relationship, 2014–present, seven distinct engagements
Scale
Decade-plus client relationship spanning seven distinct engagements
Skills
gigapixeltimelapsevr-stereoscopicinteractive-installationgenerative-ai-pipelinesai-asset-production
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