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Monday, May 5, 2008

The Building

posted by on May 5 at 14:22 PM

A wonderful image of the Central Library…
library_02-1.jpg…from the bottom of this site.
It truly is the city’s best building.

RSS icon Comments

1

The first time I went I hooked up.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 5, 2008 2:34 PM
2

@1: You're my hero.

Posted by Aislinn | May 5, 2008 2:44 PM
3

It won't look so hot once the 400' insects finish devouring it.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | May 5, 2008 2:45 PM
4

the Chapel of St. Ignatius is the city's best building. This is second, but only because it doesn't have much competition.

Posted by cmaceachen | May 5, 2008 2:54 PM
5

Poe, really??

Posted by Non | May 5, 2008 2:59 PM
6

@5

Really.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 5, 2008 3:06 PM
7

The first time I went I got caught on the top floor, trapped by the big red escalator.

I've survived on old book bindings and moisture from the HVAC ductwork, and have been posting from here ever since.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | May 5, 2008 3:09 PM
8

Does the McKinstry guy give you candy?

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 5, 2008 3:12 PM
9

No, but then perhaps I'm not as susceptible to the McKinstry guy's blandishments.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | May 5, 2008 3:15 PM
10

Shame.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 5, 2008 3:17 PM
11

This isn't anywhere near the best building in Seattle. It's not in the top 100. Neither is the SU chapel.

Posted by Fnarf | May 5, 2008 3:56 PM
12

The library is a wonderful building....until you actually have to use it.

I wonder why the space needle isn't on this list?

Posted by Polka Party | May 5, 2008 4:17 PM
13

I got stuck with a dirty sharp at the central library three weeks ago, and security wouldn't let me go to the hospital until I filed a report. Took them forty minutes to get around to talking to me, and after all of that I never heard from them again. Not even a letter. I'm sticking to my local branch from now on.

Posted by jewritto | May 5, 2008 4:18 PM
14

@ Poe..I want to know everything! But alas, you probably don't kiss and tell (or bend and tell, or jerk and tell, as whatever it were).

Posted by Non | May 5, 2008 4:29 PM
15

LOVE.

I know Rem Koolhaas is the kind of amoral architect who builds his fever dreams in China and Dubai just because he can, I know he's an apologist for nearly every perverse postmodern phenomenon that's happening to our built environment.

But still.

LOVE.

Posted by k | May 5, 2008 4:35 PM
16

Gosh it looks so much better from this angle than any angle I ever get to actually view it from.

It's not a library it's a museum of what a library was. Sort of a giant diorama.


I predict it will have very high maintenance costs, use lots of energy and will leak.

Posted by bob | May 5, 2008 5:02 PM
17

I have to second #11. It's trying too hard.

Posted by w7ngman | May 5, 2008 5:02 PM
18

Mr. Poe makes me wish I was a gay man.

Posted by PopTart | May 5, 2008 5:12 PM
19

Only someone with limited taste in city-ness (I am being polite) with what makes a great city would post on "the best building." Sheesh.


Posted by David Sucher | May 5, 2008 6:02 PM
20

I suppose... if you're a big fan of form taking precedence over function and buildings that will look terribly dated in 20 years.

Posted by sloggerette | May 5, 2008 6:31 PM
21

@19: exactly. To quote Hubert de Cronin Hastings ("Ivor de Wolfe", one of my new favorites) "great architecture often makes for poor townscape". The best buildings in Seattle are ones you hardly notice, except for the way they WORK. The library is a decidedly mixed bag in this regard.

Posted by Fnarf | May 5, 2008 6:59 PM
22

My favorite building as well. I find it extremely functional and multifaceted; those that don't must not be looking hard enough.

Posted by k. | May 5, 2008 8:42 PM
23

Thank you # 21.

But I see my post was garbled so let me repost and expand a bit:

It does not suggest great experience with what makes a great city if you use such a debasing phrase as "the best building." Sheesh. There is something — excuse me — irrelevant, even sad, about writing "the best building in the city" (or really the "best anything.") It's so much like an ad from a Cadillac dealer.

Charles, if you want to describe a particular building's characteristics, how it meets the street, how it appears from a mile away, its shape, form, mass, finishes, circulation, and so forth, and then on what you see as its specific strengths and weaknesses, why you like it and why not, that would be great. The more critical discussions of buildings the better. But describe first and interpret later.

That is what Edward Said taught me. "Start by describing what is going on in the text. Make sure you have the story right, the exact actions, and who is speaking. Then you interpret."

Posted by David Sucher | May 5, 2008 10:37 PM
24

Striking to look at, but this building exists in spite of its neighborhood and the interior has nothing to do with being a library. It is the last place I would go to use a library. 'A' for effort, but file under "what were they thinking?"

Posted by MyDogBen | May 6, 2008 8:35 AM
25

It is all a matter of taste. Saying buildings I like are better than buildings you like is silly.
These buildings all look good but it does not mean they are the best.

Posted by -B- | May 6, 2008 9:46 AM
26

@14

We didn't fuck in the library. I wasn't even looking at books. I walked in to look around, see the building, etc. I saw him, smiled, eventually noticed he had followed me down the escalator, he smiled, I laughed, we left, like civilized people, to go get a drink, and then fuck.

I still have his number.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 6, 2008 9:51 AM
27

you are neat, Mr. Poe.

Posted by Non | May 6, 2008 1:30 PM
28

I know. I know.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 6, 2008 1:51 PM

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