Any Seattlites been to the new eyesore (library) yet?

[LisaM]

Geesh, it makes the EMP seem warm and fuzzy! I almost got seasick coming down on the bile colored elevator. And I could barely get out because you can't find the doors.

[jono]

1. I went the first day it was open.

I generally like it, actually, and I consider it much less of an eyesore than EMP (or the old library building, for that matter). My biggest complaint is the lack of escalator (or non-emergency stairwell) from the bottom of the book spiral to the fifth floor.

My favorite thing about the new library: free wi-fi access throughout the building!

[geniph]

2. I can't bring myself to go

it looks like a migraine waiting to happen, with all that glare. I think it will look outdated and ridiculous in about five years. Oh well. It did make some much-needed improvements, such as more than 12 parking spaces for staff and patrons combined (that was literally what the old building had), and a staff stairwell. When I worked for the library, it was taking your life in your hands to use the public stairwell. It was one of the most dangerous places in the city. The first week I worked there, one of the night janitors was attacked with a straight razor by someone who hid in the public stairwell. Plus the old library had possibly the NASTIEST staff accommodations in the world - down in the ancient sub-sub-basement, damp, dreary, lightless, with concrete walls. The staff actually gets to see daylight sometimes now.

I do not like the crayon colors of escalators and such, but I really hate that giant ascending colon, that horrid bulbous red room. Maybe it works better from inside. It certainly looks grotesque in the pictures.

[LisaM]

3. I never even found the winding spiral thing

I saw the dangerous children's room, the Rubik's Cube furniture, the bile-colored elevator, nothing whatsoever to accommodate disabled people (there was, for example, a bumpy floor with words carved into it), and the chicken wire all over the place. The top floor (we were there about 5:30) was boiling hot. The carpeting looked like a sci-fi movie, and frankly, the computers were too ubiquitous, click click click all over the place. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the website today and saw bright cherry colored images, with a drinking fountain carved into what looked like a tube of lipstick.

[flamingyouth]

4. I haven't been inside yet

But I think it looks pretty cool from the outside.

[Myra]

5. Agree about the colors; they make me feel like bolting

Hardly warm and inviting.
I don't know what the hell they were thinking.
Every level has a different color; they're all hideous.
And that escalator...Ugh!

[progressivebydesign]

6. Pretty from the outside.. but...

I really miss the libraries of the past. The big old buildings with wood floors, staircases, and cozy feeling. These megacorp style ones with elevators.. they're just so damn cold and corporate. NOT what the reading public really wants.. We just want a cozy spot to peruse the books. Oh hell, I even miss the card catalogues!!