Seattle Central Library

Left: A close-up of the northeast corner of the Central Library, looking west down Spring Street, Right: General view of the Living Room.

The Programmatic Clusters

The 'Norcliffe Foundation Living Room' off the Fifth Avenue entrance includes public computers and comfortable seating where patrons can relax and read. Carpets are intensely colored patterns of life-like plants that replicate the plantings outside the Fifth Avenue entrance. The escalator here leads to the Fourth Avenue entrance.

Airy hallways cross the building on the south side of the Library's dramatic 'Atrium'. The atrium rises from Level 3 to Level 11, where it is topped with glass, attributing to the library it's unique architectural language. The environment created within is responsive to variations in natural lighting through the day, and is maintained conducive to reading and related activities.

The fluid and vivacious interiors of the Meeting Level

The bright red 'Meeting Level' includes six differently shaped meeting rooms. The hallway floors, walls and ceilings are all various shades of red. But inside each meeting room the colors are neutral, sedate and conducive to quiet time and learning. The stairs lead to the Charles Simonyi Mixing Chamber on Level 5, where patrons can go for help with general questions or in-depth research. This floor also has the largest configuration of technology in one spot - 132 computers - and is the entry to the Books Spiral.

The 'Mixing Chamber' is an area of maximum librarian-patron interaction; a trading floor for information orchestrated to fulfill an essential (now neglected) need for expert interdisciplinary help. The Mixing Chamber consolidates the library's cumulative human and technological intelligence and the visitor here is surrounded by a gamut of information sources.

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