See the New Yorker article: http://www.newyorker.com/critics/skyline/?040524crsk_skyline .
Going by the pictures in the New York Times and other sources, I can’t decide if this building looks more like a stapler made of ice or a Gaylord charge machine covered in disco mirrors. Regardless, the new Seattle Public Library is a handsome building with tremendous visual moxie.
No doubt in the years ahead we’ll hear about the inevitable punchlist items, the things that should have been done differently, the signage that didn’t work, and so on. And we will need to know if it works as a library, for its users as well as its staff. But it’s not timid, trite, or boring, and for that, hats off to SPL.
Posted on this day, other years:
- Christopher Beha, The Whole Five Feet: I Loved Every Inch of It - 2009
- Getting a (goals-based) life - 2008
- ALA's Boot Camp - 2006
- Karen's Cheese Straws - 2005
Bookmark to:
I love that the public service area is called a “mixing chamber” though I liked it more when I thought it was a media room/sound studio.
Looking at the last picture here: http://www.arcspace.com/architects/koolhaas/Seattle/
I would vote for stapler.
I love the idea of the continuous collection, but question that it’s direction is widdershins. The building does look cool.