howthesausageismade

Seattle Central Library

by OMA / LMN Architects · architecture · 2004

sparse entry

the 11-story glass and steel building in downtown seattle opened may 23, 2004, designed by rem koolhaas and joshua prince-ramus of oma with seattle firm lmn architects. the building organizes program into five stacked platforms derived from functional diagrams, with the book spiral arranging the entire nonfiction collection in a continuous dewey decimal run across four floors. the structure uses a regular column grid for vertical loads and a diagonal steel mesh skin to resist lateral forces, making the building's structure and exterior envelope the same system.

referenced

  • Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan · Rem Koolhaasnot yet generatedgenerate →

    koolhaas used his theory of manhattan's skyscrapers as stacked floors with alternating functions as the starting point for the library's spatial organization.

    “Koolhaas rummaged into his obsession with Manhattan's congestion and its skyscrapers. He took it as a starting point for the design of the library. According to him a skyscraper is a sequence of stacked floors on which anything can happen and functions can freely alternate from one floor to the next.”
    source ↗

visual reference