I remember watching a lecture by Rem Koolhaas on his practice and philosophy that included his work on the Seattle Central Library before ever moving here. There was a part where he showed how a statistical bar graph of some kind (I could look this up) was used very literally as the basis for the multiple volumes of space that make up this strange civic monument.
He called OMA’s approach “parametricism,” which became a whole architectural style that “relies on programs, algorithms, and computers to manipulate equations for design purposes.” That word stuck with me. I still use it today to refer to all ways of thinking that rely (a bit too much) on number crunching.
It was fun to walk around this building, but two vignettes reminded me of that word and how it made me feel: first, I overheard one workshop on the far end of the Red Hall complaining to another about how hard it was to find anything here, and her friend replied: “yeah, it’s not a very good library.” And second, a security guard kept making the rounds to remind us that our voices carry up into the computer rooms, prefacing his friendly but firm request with: “given this building’s architecture…”
It’s a very pretty building, but does it work?
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“I know cool people who do cool things. Love, Jad.” That’s what @christine.bingham.art said with only a smidge of sarcasm when I asked her what I should put in the caption. Well, by golly, she isn’t wrong! This was another successful Saturday afternoon marauding these streets with the @rawplusseattle crew.
Christine’s been tagging along to dust off her speed sketching skills and this time even be my model (she says “prop” – she’s got jokes, that one!). These photowalks are a great way to connect with creatives as well as to see familiar places in a completely new light. Swipe to see Christine drawing me while I photograph her.
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I hadn’t been in the Seattle Central Library’s Red Hall before, mostly because I hadn’t realized that there’s a 5th & Madison entrance before either, as I was last here pre-pandemic. So, I couldn’t have made the connection between OMA’s sensory overload and a similar hall of crimson a couple of blocks over: the red foyer in Peter Bohlin’s City Hall.
Witold Rybczynski calls these two buildings “two different faces of Modernism”. Both were designed and built around the same time, right after the infamous “Battle of Seattle,” a time when the city really wanted to cement its place on the global map.
Of the Library, Rybczynski writes: “the Seattle library is a building of its time—although of a different time. It’s rough and chic, glamorously gritty, and fashionably unconcerned with hierarchies and traditional architectural virtues.” While “Bohlin’s City Hall is different; it doesn’t put on airs. After spending a day in the building my chief impression was of craftsmanship, unruffled calm, and an even-handed sense of balance—a veritable civics lesson in glass, maple, and natural light.”
We considered an impromptu shoot on the other side of this red glass, but the door we tried was locked.
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This photo excursion was an elaborate excuse to have some low-stress fun in a taxpayer-funded facility with the missus while getting a little bit of practice with thinking on my feet about pretty faces in complex places. Lucky for me, Christine is really good at striking a pose!
Christine’s new job includes an unexpected workload of introducing middle schoolers to the basics of photography, alongside the standard art curricula. It’s been a fun convergence of interests given that I basically have a middle school understanding of the craft.
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Ever think about what this big old world must look like to a child? Most of my earliest memories still retain that sense of distorted scale. I was reminded of that as Xanna showed us the little Instax Minis her daughter had taken that morning: the big city streaming past the bus window, her favorite people looming large. I wonder what kinds of photos I’d have taken at that age. High angles at tall buildings? Or micro macros at floor level?