Seattle Central Library | Favorite Architecture
The Seattle Public Library’s Central Library is the flagship library of The Seattle Public Library system. The 11-story glass and steel building in downtown Seattle, Washington was opened to the public on Sunday, May 23, 2004. Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus of OMA/LMN were the principal architects, Magnusson Klemencic Associates was the structural engineer with Arup; Arup also provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering, as well as, fire/life safety, security, IT and communications, and audio visual consulting; and Hoffman Construction Company of Portland, Oregon, was the general contractor. The 362,987 square feet public library can hold about 1.45 million books and other materials, features underground public parking for 143 vehicles, and includes over 400 computers open to the public. Over 2 million individuals visited the new library in its first year. It is the third Seattle Central Library building to be located on the same site at 1000 Fourth Avenue, the block bounded by Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Madison and Spring Streets. The library has a unique, striking appearance, consisting of several discrete “floating platforms” seemingly wrapped in a large steel net around glass skin. Architectural tours of the building began in June 2004,More info:wiki
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#10 The embodiment of a new library for the 21st century,More info:arup
The Seattle Central Library opened in 2004 to great civic pride and universal critical acclaim. It has been described as the embodiment of a new library for the 21st century.
The design team’s challenges included maximising public space without the use of visually impairing pillars, strengthening the external structure for seismic resistance and support, and doing both in a sustainable manner.
For the exterior, designers developed a diagonal grid system of insulated glass on a steel structure that provides great stiffness to resist lateral forces. Approximately half of the panes are triple-layered glass with a metal mesh sandwiched between two outer glass layers. The mesh reduces both heat and glare.
#9 A Bomb Scare that Nearly Shut Down Seattle Central Library Turned Out To Be an Army Training Exercise,More info:seattlemag
On Saturday, April 14, staffers at the downtown Seattle library discovered two alarming objects on its third-floor shelves: Two books, including South of Broad, a family drama by Pat Conroy, that had been hollowed out and filled with what appeared to library staffers to be two primitive homemade bombs, according to an internal library email about the incident.
Each of the books contained batteries, wires, and computer chips. According to the police report, obtained through a public disclosure request, staffers considered the objects to be “potential explosive device[s].”
The staffers on duty that Saturday morning, according to multiple accounts of the incident, then called 911, stationed security guards on several floors, and prepared to evacuate the entire 363,000-square-foot building and its approximately 3,500 occupants in response to the apparent potential bomb—a complicated process in any building, made more so by the fact that the downtown library, with its meandering “book spiral” and hard-to-find emergency stairs, is not designed for easy evacuation.
#8 IMMIGRATION 101 TRAINING AT SEATTLE’S CENTRAL LIBRARY,More info:nwirp
#7 Seattle Public Library Seattle Central Library in 4 Minutes HD,More info:Reggae and The City
#6 Seattle Public Library,More info:wikiarquitectura
#5 Seattle Public Library,More info:scottnorsworthy
#4 Seattle Public Library | OMA + LMN,More info:arch2o
#3 Are Libraries Dying? Rem Koolhaas’ Seattle Central Library thinks Otherwise!,More info:archute
There was a time when books were high up the ranks insofar as pastime favourites were concerned. Long before the invention of the television and radio, people would turn to books to be woven into the lives of fictional characters. But then came the advent of the 21st Century and with it, various technological advancements along with that thing called the Internet! Today, information is ubiquitous! And with the digitisation of media, the future of the hard copy book let alone the library itself is looking bleak. If everyone eventually has a portable device with access to volumes of digital books, will the library building still be relevant? Are libraries dying or are architects helping the library typology evolve with the times?
#2 Seattle Public Library,More info:ideas.demco
#1 Seattle Public Library,More info:brucemaudesign
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