This summer I had the opportunity to visit Seattle for a few days. On the second day of my stay I toured downtown with my sister, brother-in-law, and uncle. My uncle is a city planner and he knows a lot about the city, including some of its most distinctive architecture. The building that made the biggest impression on me was the Seattle Public Library-Central Library building. Not only was it architecturally astounding, but aesthetically awe-inspiring. It was designed by Rem Koolhaas, one of the world’s most prolific and influential architects, and it opened in 2004. Some critics have criticized the design of the building for failing to work as a city hub, as it does not have multiple entrances that can be accessed from the street, while others have criticized the functionality of the spaces and its various floor plans. Even after reading some of these reviews of the building, my opinion hasn’t changed. Its design is futuristic, the space functional, and the layout engaging.
Upon entering the library, my eyes met those of a native Seattleite, and after saying hello, she told me that to her the library is the best public space in the entire city. It is now one of my favorite places, too, especially after exploring, taking photographs and walking through the levels of this megalopolis of books. As you move through the different sections of the library, design and color changes surprise you at every turn. One floor, for instance, is painted entirely in a coat of deep, glossy red. The ceiling is red, the floors are red, even the figures denoting the women’s and men’s restrooms are red. It made me feel as though I had been transported into another dimension.
Throughout the rest of the library, the escalators are painted neon green, as are the polka dot designs on the transparent glass that partition the book stacks. Beams jut in angles from the ground up in a lattice-like pattern. There is a spiral spanning four floors in the center of the building that negates the need for stairs or elevators when searching out books--Koolhaas’s clever way of conglomerating the floors while preserving the use of the Dewey Decimal system in categorizing the media. This not only serves to make it easy to find books but it also involves the visitor as a participant in the purpose of the building, someone whose agency is activated through the use of the spiraling stacks. There are intimate spaces throughout the library as well, small nooks, tucked away crannies and hideaway holes that allow for quiet research, study and respite.
It seems that Rem Koolhaas saw the future of Seattle when he designed this building, whose design looks to the future in a way that anticipated the massive amazon.com headquarters, aka HQ1, completed in 2016. Seattle is now the center of the future of reading, whether in the physical books found in this great library or in all the virtual forms offered by amazon.
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| Photo by Jeffrey Diedrick |
Upon entering the library, my eyes met those of a native Seattleite, and after saying hello, she told me that to her the library is the best public space in the entire city. It is now one of my favorite places, too, especially after exploring, taking photographs and walking through the levels of this megalopolis of books. As you move through the different sections of the library, design and color changes surprise you at every turn. One floor, for instance, is painted entirely in a coat of deep, glossy red. The ceiling is red, the floors are red, even the figures denoting the women’s and men’s restrooms are red. It made me feel as though I had been transported into another dimension.
 |
| Photo by Jeffrey Diedrick |
Throughout the rest of the library, the escalators are painted neon green, as are the polka dot designs on the transparent glass that partition the book stacks. Beams jut in angles from the ground up in a lattice-like pattern. There is a spiral spanning four floors in the center of the building that negates the need for stairs or elevators when searching out books--Koolhaas’s clever way of conglomerating the floors while preserving the use of the Dewey Decimal system in categorizing the media. This not only serves to make it easy to find books but it also involves the visitor as a participant in the purpose of the building, someone whose agency is activated through the use of the spiraling stacks. There are intimate spaces throughout the library as well, small nooks, tucked away crannies and hideaway holes that allow for quiet research, study and respite.
 |
| Photo by Jeffrey Diedrick |
It seems that Rem Koolhaas saw the future of Seattle when he designed this building, whose design looks to the future in a way that anticipated the massive amazon.com headquarters, aka HQ1, completed in 2016. Seattle is now the center of the future of reading, whether in the physical books found in this great library or in all the virtual forms offered by amazon.
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