Design

Seattle Is Putting a 10-Ton Ice Cube Outside to Melt

Stop by to watch it disappear, or maybe chip some flakes off for your gin and tonic.
Olson Kundig

Temperatures in Seattle are supposed to peak in the 70s on Friday, but anyone seeking a rapid cool-down can go to Occidental Square and hug a 10-ton ice cube plopped on the ground.

The frigid installation, made by local architects at Olson Kundig, will appear on Friday and quietly melt in the following days for the Seattle Design Festival. Though a similar artwork of glacier ice graced last year’s climate summit in Paris, the message here is not (explicitly) global warming. Rather, it’s about the never-ceasing migration of water from land to sea and back again—something the perennially misted city should know a lot about. The architects write: