and on the inside looks like this:
...er sort of :-)
Chatting to Bryan Alexander at the emerging tech session - did I mention that I spent some time with Bryan Alexander ;-) - he asked me what I'd seen whilst in Seattle and whether I'd been to the library. He suggested that if you only visit one place in Seattle forget the Space Needle or Pikes Market it had to be Seattle Public Library. So, with un-erring faith in Bryan's recommendations we (me, Paul, Clive and Mark) went on a little SHU field trip to the library after the conference had finished...and, surprise, suprise, were not disappointed!! The building is amazing, the use of space, materials and zoning are really good and the four floor spiral reading room is very odd. The children's section is about the size of a whole library in its own right and looks like a Borders Bookstore. I think my favourite bit of the whole place was the "living room".
Anyway, we took some pictures but to get a flavour check out the flickr images at:
Click the "most interesting" sort to see it at its abstract best!
5 comments:
Yes, let's get one of those.
a couple of "i'm freaked out" comments first:
1) the shot of the outside looks like it's been photoshopped in from some alien world, or some far reaching architect "yeah, one day we might build something this cool" mock-up - so it scores points for coolness on the architecture scale
2) for a public library to have over 14500 photos of it properly tagged on just one photo sharing site - must be pretty damn cool to begin with!
this looks amazing - i'm very jealous - and it's not often you hear that said about library visits. certainly not from me :)
going to have a proper look at this, but i love the following extract from their mission statement: "Our mission is to become the best public library in the world by being so tuned in to the people we serve and so supportive of each other's efforts that we are able to provide highly responsive service.".
they rock! though i must say, the over-colourful interestingness images and dizzying perspectives are starting to make me feel quite nauseous. must...focus...on...screen...
*sobs*
i've just realised i used the word 'cool' 3 times in a comment about a library - what's happening to me??? oh look, time for my weekly learning centre treatment...
I'm so glad you trusted me. :)
Isn't it fascinating? Your point about zoning is very subtle - it's not easy to cram that much stuff into a major city's downtown, these days.
Wow! so Nirvana, Hendrix et al have been put in their place
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