Three organic bronze forms — Evolution of Man, Flight of Gulls, and Seaweed — rise from stone in the shadow of the Space Needle. Commissioned for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and designed in collaboration with architect Paul Thiry, the Fountain of Creation is DuPen’s most recognized public work and a designated Seattle Landmark.
Over six decades, the fountain has been reimagined three times — from a modernist water basin to a beloved wading pool, and most recently to a splash-pad plaza with in-ground jets. The bronzes have endured every transformation, their patina deepening with each decade.
The Commission
In 1957, Seattle architect Paul Thiry was appointed principal architect for the Century 21 Exposition — the 1962 World’s Fair that would give Seattle the Space Needle and transform a neighborhood into Seattle Center. Thiry envisioned a sculptural water garden for the north courtyard between the fair pavilions.
Thiry had worked with DuPen before — commissioning the Limestone Triptych for UW’s Electrical Engineering building in 1947, and a fountain for the Washington State Library in Olympia in 1955. Their working relationship was productive if occasionally tense: Thiry imagined Balinese dancers and electrical currents; DuPen delivered three powerful organic forms that stood on their own terms. As DuPen put it, a sculptor should not “water down his designs to conform” — his work should act as “opposing contrast and be strong in its own right.”
Building It
DuPen built the full-size plaster models in his studio at the University of Washington, working on a ladder to reach the top of the towering Evolution of Man. The forms were then cast in bronze and colored concrete and installed in a rectangular water basin with fountains for the fair’s opening in April 1962.
The 1962 World’s Fair
When the Century 21 Exposition opened on April 21, 1962, the fountain sat in a clean-lined rectangular basin with vertical water jets — a modernist composition of bronze, stone, and spray framed by Thiry’s international pavilions. Nearly ten million visitors passed through the fair during its six-month run.
The Three Bronzes
The fountain comprises three distinct bronze sculptures, each on its own stone base: Evolution of Man, the central and tallest piece, depicts stacked organic forms cradled by two sweeping arcs; Flight of Gulls captures birds in angular, interlocking motion; and Seaweed (sometimes called Kelp) rises in sinuous vertical forms. Together they evoke the Pacific Northwest’s relationship with nature, sea, and sky.
A Gathering Place
After the fair, Seattle Center became the city’s civic campus. In the early 1990s, the City collaborated with DuPen and his family to remodel the fountain, adding 45 boulders and transforming the basin into a wading pool. For the next three decades it was one of Seattle’s most beloved summer spots — generations of children climbed the rocks and splashed in the turquoise water while parents watched from the edges.
The Reinvention
In 2019, the redevelopment of Climate Pledge Arena created an opportunity to reimagine the fountain for a new era. The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board approved a renovation that replaced the wading pool with a flush-grade splash pad featuring in-ground water jets with colored LED lights. The three bronze sculptures were carefully lifted by crane, conserved, and repositioned on new stone bases across the redesigned plaza.
The renovated Fountain of Creation was rededicated in 2025 with the DuPen family in attendance.
Today
The fountain plaza is now an open, accessible public space between the Northwest Rooms and Climate Pledge Arena. Water jets erupt from flush-mounted nozzles with colored LEDs, and the three bronzes stand on individual stone bases spread across the plaza — inviting visitors to walk among them and see the sculptures up close for the first time in decades.
Visit
The Fountain of Creation is located on the north side of Seattle Center, between the Northwest Rooms and Climate Pledge Arena. The plaza is free and open to the public year-round. Water jets operate seasonally.
Seattle Center, north of Climate Pledge Arena
305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109