The amazing architecture–an engineering marvel of glass and crisscrossed steel that jut and cantilever–is the work of Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. When he got the commission, he and the library’s board visited a number of libraries in the United States and Europe. “The beauty of the process was that we started not by designing but by thinking,” he says. “In almost every case,” says City Librarian Deborah Jacobs, “we saw the encroachment of books on public spaces.” So at the heart of Seattle’s library is an expandable space just for books: a ramp that gently snakes around a sun-filled atrium, where you can browse the entire Dewey Decimal System in open stacks, with a capacity of 1.4 million volumes. (It currently holds about 800,000 books.) Above and below are floors with flexible, people-friendly spaces that include 400 public computers and a vast reference room, dubbed by Koolhaas the “mixing chamber.” Best spot to curl up with a good book: the adult reading room near the top, with 360-degree views of the city and Elliott Bay.
