If you’re looking for a free and exhilarating adventure in Seattle, go explore the avant-garde wonder that is Seattle Public Library’s Central Library. Located right in the heart of downtown, between Spring and Madison streets and Fourth and Fifth avenues, it takes up an entire city block and dazzles from the outside like a big chunk of rock candy; its strange, asymmetric concoction of glass and steel reflecting and distorting the images of surrounding buildings into shattered pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.
When architect Rem Koolhaas designed the building, he let functionality dictate the form, so the exterior took shape around the interior spaces rather than vice versa.
But the exterior is just the tip of the iceberg. Walk inside the doors and you will find yourself immersed in an architectural wonderland of light and colour and texture that will make your spirits soar and your inner child clap its hands in glee.
The first thing that catches my eye every time I enter the building is the fantastic Lew Floor, a tongue and groove maple floor created by Ann Hamilton. It is covered in words; they are the first sentences of books in the LEW (Literacy, ESL & World Languages) Collection, in 11 different languages, and they’re inverted; an echo of traditional printing presses.
It is also an interesting commentary on the changing form of print culture in this era of e-readers and digital media. Our relationship with the printed word has changed dramatically in recent years. Standing on this floor, surrounded by an ocean of words, I regularly see visitors reach down to run their hands across the raised letters and can’t help but feel that the artist is making an argument for the tactile, visceral joy of reading printed material.
You won’t travel far before discovering one of the library’s gleaming citrus escalators and once you spy them, you will be powerless to resist their lure.
Chances are, you will find yourself going up and down several times, just for the fun of it.
The second glowing escalator has a video installation in the wall. Braincast is the work of artist Tony Oursler and is a study of the library as a disseminator of information in printed, spoken, recorded and digital forms.
The last escalator is a one-way affair bringing you to the upper level past glass walls of books and finally emerging under a vast ceiling of glass, steel and upholstery.
I could spend hours here capturing the beauty of these spaces and the vistas they frame.
On the way down, you have two options – walk down through the books spiral or take the elevator. If you go for the latter option, be prepared for yet another splash of colour and make sure to press the button for floor 4. The elevator encloses you in a symphony of chartreuse and chrome….
… and then bursts into a startling sea of red as you tumble out onto the fourth floor.
Wind your way along crimson hallways and lipstick red staircases until you happen across a small hole in the wall.
Look through that hole in the wall and find yourself cast as a living part of Tony Oursler’s Braincast sculpture.
If you cannot make the trip yourself, don’t despair. Here are a few video highlights of my trip through the library last week, so you can join in this architectural adventure.
I’m going for one more trip on the yellow escalator, it’s just too much fun.
xxx Ailsa
Where's my backpack? 
I never knew the library was so wacky and fun! I will definitely visit the next time I m in Seattle.
Thank you!!!
It’s so much fun, Michelle, definitely put it on your list next time your in town. xxx Ailsa
HI Ailsa i definitely will! I linked to this post this week. Your photos are great.
A fabulous place, especially for abstracts. 🙂
It’s exquisite, John, a photographer’s dream. xxx
Beautifully written
Thanks Joan, glad you enjoyed my library tour. xxx Ailsa
While I am fiercely loyal to Portland’s Central Library, I have to admit this one is pretty fantastic too. Good overview!
I haven’t visited the library in Portland but I hear it’s pretty spectacular, at the opposite end of the architectural spectrum from Seattle – it’s Georgian, isn’t it? xxx Ailsa
I’m an architecture junkie, so loved the tour (you know I love your videos and this one was excellent). The building reminds me of a beehive, but perhaps that’s because I just read another blog post about bees 🙂
Ooh, Jennifer, it does look a little like a beehive when you’re peeping out through the honeycomb of steel and glass! I had a lot of fun making that video, it’s such a colourful place to try to capture on film! 🙂
amazing video of citrus escalators
Thanks! The colours just make you feel cheery, you can’t help but smile going up those escalators. 🙂
Excellent… 🙂
Thanks Drake xxx
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Some stunning interior features, especially the floor. Brilliant. However , I like a building that speaks with form, scale, materials and mass about what it is. From your excellent photographs, this tells me nothing about what a library is. It might well be an Art Gallery or a Concert Hall…
I have to agree – where are the books?
Ahh, that’s because I was focusing on the design rather than the function. I should do another post on the functionality because their book collection and the layout, in an innovative book spiral that allows for the books to be displayed without a break in the Dewey Decimal System, is wonderful. It would have made for a very long post, however, so perhaps it’s best broken up into two separate posts.
What a good idea to explore the library function of this building.
However, architecture comes from function. ‘Form follows Function’ a phrase which became the foundation of Modernism and gave rise to the careers of the greatest architects of the twentieth century. Another principle of Modernism is ‘ornament is crime’…. While i dont entirely support the latter, floors, decoration, lighting and escalators are not architecture; they are ornament therefore interior design.
Does this building, when you view it from the outside, tell you anything about its function?
What a terrific post. Now, I really want to go there. Love the floors — like nothing I’ve ever seen before! Thanks for sharing. http://ohtheplaceswesee.com
The floors fill me with delight every time I see them. I wonder how difficult it would be to create a floor like that for my very own? 🙂
I love this. What a wonderful building and a wonderful space. It gives me yet another reason to visit Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
Yes, it does, Rosemarie, I hope you get to visit soon! xxx Ailsa
That is one of the neatest buildings! It’s funny how you’d never envision a library to be so modern. The floors in the entryway might be my favorite part, though. Very meaningful. Thanks! Definitely going on my list of places to visit in Seattle!
You will have a fantastic time exploring this building when you visit, Sarah Ann!
Reblogged this on Lindy Hops! and commented:
One of my very favorite places in the city where I grew up!
Thanks for the reblog – what a great city to grow up in! xxx Ailsa
Can I tell you how sad this post made me? BIG SIGH….somehow I missed this gorgeous place on my trip this year. Who knows if I will make it back…but thank you SO much for sharing it with us! Gorgeous pictures.
Ah, but on the bright side, it gives you a fantastic reason to return!
Very fun pictures and video with great dancetrack! It almost seems like an amusement park! Thanks for the fun cyber tour.
Hee hee, I giggled when I chose the soundtrack for this, it’s the opposite of what you’d expect for a tour of a library, and yet with this library, it totally works. 🙂
🙂
It’s a well designed modern library! Beautiful photos!
It is such an extraordinary building, Amy, I love spending time there. xxx Ailsa
Great photos. Thanks for the tour.
Thanks for coming along for the tour, Judy! 🙂
This place is unbelievable! I would be spending an awful lot of time, if I were there. Not only for the books, but this is a photographer’s delight!
I’m right there with you – every time I’m downtown I find my feet drawing me towards the library! 🙂
Dang, we’re going to Seattle next week – well, the Seattle area. This is the first time we won’t be in town and looking for things to do! I so want to go to this library! Thank you for posting these wonderful shots.
So glad you enjoyed the tour, Barbara, and hopefully you’ll find a little bit of spare time in your schedule to check it out in person while you’re in town. xxx Ailsa
How amazing!
Wow, what great visions of the world you give here – fantastic.
Awesome!
I love that place. I have never found a book I’ve been looking for, because I keep getting distracted and end up having to ask how to find an exit. . .
nice shots!!! love the ones of the braincast! (and ditto to loganbruin!, me either) 😉
GREAT post about one of my favorite bits of Seattle! You really bring it to life, especially the symbolism behind the floor. The exterior is gorgeous and definitely eye-catching, but that floor is my absolute favorite detail 🙂
I adore libraries, for me they are a must see and this one is stunning. Love the cyberspace trip up and down the escalators
Hi Ailsa, I did an architecture post just a few months ago. Here is the link: http://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/still-go-home-again/
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