The Seattle Central Library is situated at the corner of a block in the centre of Seattle. On the 412.000sf, the building accommodates an auditorium, a reading room, a mixing chamber a living room, a staff floor, a childrens play area and meeting places. The program is organised in terms of platforms which are connected by several escalators and elevators.
New Seattle Public Library
The ambition was to redefine and reinvent the Library as an institution no longer exclusively dedicated to the book, but as an information store, where all media – new and old – are presented under a regime of new equalities. In an age where information can be accessed anywhere, it is the simultaneity of all media and the professionalism of their presentation and interaction, that will make the Library new.
The library is transformed from a space to read into a social center with multiple responsibilities.
Architects: OMA + LMN
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Client: Seattle Public Library
Project year: 1999-2004
Constructed Area: 38,300 sqm
Budget: US $169.2 M
Photographs: Ramon Prat, Philippe Ruault
More info and pictures on Archdaily
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