The Central Library, the flagship library of the Seattle Public Library system, is located in downtown Seattle, Washington. This 362,987 square feet building can hold about 1.45 million books as well as other materials, and was opened to the public on Sunday, May 23, 2004.
The library is amazing. It’s an 11-story glass and steel building with a unique striking appearance. Consisting of several discrete “floating platforms” seemingly wrapped in a large steel net around glass skin, it shouldn’t be missed. Architectural tours of the building began in June 2004. Sadly we weren’t able do a tour on our last visit, but hopefully we can the next time we are in the area. Just seeing it in person was pretty cool.
In 2007, the building was voted #108 on the American Institute of Architects’ list of Americans’ 150 favorite structures in the US, It was one of two Seattle buildings included on the list of 150 structures, the other being Safeco Field. On a side note, in the library’s first year, 2.3 million people came to visit this interesting library, and roughly 30% were from outside Seattle.
