| Seattle Central Library | |
|---|---|
 Seattle Central Library in 2019 | |
  Location within downtown Seattle | |
| General information | |
| Type | Public Library |
| Location | 1000 Fourth Avenue Seattle, Washington 98104 |
| Coordinates | 47°36′24″N 122°19′57″W / 47.606699°N 122.332503°W |
| Construction started | 2002 |
| Completed | 2004 |
| Opening | May 23, 2004 |
| Cost | $165.9 million[1] |
| Owner | Seattle Public Library |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 196 ft (60 m)[2] |
| Roof | 185.01 ft (56.39 m)[2] |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 11[2] |
| Floor area | 362,987 sq ft (33,700 m2)[3] |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | LMN Architects/Office for Metropolitan Architecture |
| Developer | Seattle Public Library |
| Structural engineer | Magnusson Klemencic Associates with Arup Group Limited |
| Main contractor | Hoffman Construction Company |
The Seattle Central Library is the flagship library of the Seattle Public Library system. The 11-story (185 feet or 56.9 meters high) glass and steel building in the downtown core of Seattle, Washington was opened to the public on May 23, 2004. Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus of OMA/LMN were the principal architects, and Magnusson Klemencic Associates was the structural engineer with Arup. Arup also provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering, as well as fire/life safety, security, IT and communications, and audio visual consulting. Hoffman Construction Company of Portland, Oregon, was the general contractor.
The 362,987 square feet (33,722.6 m2) public library has the capacity to hold about one and a half million books and other materials. It offers underground public parking for 143 vehicles and over 400 computers accessible to the public. Over two million people visited the library during its first year. It is the third Seattle Central Library building to be located on the same site at 1000 Fourth Avenue, the block bounded by Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Madison and Spring Streets. The library has a unique, striking appearance, consisting of several discrete "floating platforms" seemingly wrapped in a large steel net around glass skin. Architectural tours of the building began in June 2004.
In 2007, the building was voted #108 on the American Institute of Architects' list of Americans' 150 favorite structures in the U.S.[4] It was one of two places in Seattle to be included on the list of 150 structures, the other being T-Mobile Park.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
historyCentralwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Emporis: Seattle Central Library[usurped] Retrieved on February 19, 2015
- ^ About Central Library Retrieved on February 15, 2015
- ^ Smith, Andy (2007-02-06). "108. Seattle Public Library (2004) - Seattle, WA; Rem Koolhaas; Office for Metropolitan Architecture; LMN Architects (America's Favorite Architecture)". Blog.aia.org. Archived from the original on 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2012-08-15.