AWESOME ARCHITECTURE

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THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Many of The Seattle Public Library's facilities are notable works of architecture. They reflect the aesthetics of several very different periods. The various former Carnegie libraries and the Douglass-Truth library all date from a single period of two decades in the early 20th century. 

No further branch libraries were built between 1921 and 1954, and when branch construction resumed, the International style had swept away the earlier revivalism. Today's Greenwood and North East branches are both expanded versions of 1954 libraries, the latter originally designed by Paul Thiry; a third library from 1954, the Susan J. Henry branch on Capitol Hill, has been entirely replaced, as has Bindon & Wright's 1960 Central Library.

The Seattle Central Library opened in 2004 and was designed by Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus of the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in a joint venture with LMN Architects and Front Inc. Facade Consultants. In 2007, the building was voted #108 on the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) list of Americans' 150 favorite structures in the U.S. The building received a 2005 national AIA Honor Award for Architecture.

Six current Seattle branch libraries are on the National Register of Historic Places: Columbia (architects: Harlan P. Thomas and W. Marbury Somervell), Fremont (architect: Daniel Riggs Huntington), Green Lake (architects: W. Marbury Somervell & Joseph S. Cote), Queen Anne (architects: Harlan P. Thomas and W. Marbury Somervell), University (architects: Somervell & Joseph S. Cote), and West Seattle (architects: W. Marbury Somervell & Joseph S. Cote). The original Ballard branch (architect: Henderson Ryan) also shares this status, as does the old Wallingford Fire and Police Station (architect: Daniel Riggs Huntington), which housed a branch library from 1986 to 2000.

In addition, several buildings have been designated as landmarks by Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board: Columbia, Douglass-Truth, Fremont, Green Lake, Lake City, Magnolia, North East, Queen Anne, University, and West Seattle.

The new Ballard Branch is also one of the first buildings in Seattle to incorporate green architecture. The library is equipped with solar panels to reduce its electricity demands, as well as a green roof, which provides insulation to the building, and also serves to reduce stormwater runoff