On a recent visit to Seattle, I was most excited to see this incredible library designed by OMA (Office of Metropolitan Architecture) for the first time. The building is groundbreaking for its innovative programmatic diagram, which breaks down the standard library typology into a stack of component parts, where functions dictate form.
Floating programmatic boxes of various sizes are layered and pulled apart to achieve dynamic interstitial spaces between, wrapped by an angular glass facade. This unprecedented diagram was a major point of inspiration for us during my time in architecture school!
OMA states that: “The problem of traditional library organization is flatness. Departments are organized according to floor plans. Each floor is discreet; the unpredictable fits of growth and contraction in certain sections are, theoretically, contained within a single floor.”
The diagram creates incredible interstitial spaces for reading and social interaction.
Tongue in cheek details throughout the building express construction techniques, a strategy often employed in the work of Rem Koolhaas.
Circulation spaces are expressed in shockingly bold swaths of colour.
One of the most programmatically innovative ‘floating boxes’ is the Book Spiral, a continuous ramp of book shelves that houses half a million books arranged according to the Dewey Decimal System.
OMA says that: “The Book Spiral implies a reclamation of the much-compromised Dewey Decimal System. By arranging the collection in a continuous ribbon—running from 000 to 999—the subjects form a coexistence that approaches the organic; each evolves relative to the others, occupying more or less space on the ribbon, but never forcing a rupture.”
Externally, the building is bold and dynamic. One of my favourite features is where the skin of the building folds to meet the ground, creating a sheltered public walkway through the structure of the building.
Images by Jonathan Choe
