Pushing the Envelope

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Pushing the Envelope
The Seattle Central Library
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Background

• In 1890, The Seattle Public Library was
  introduced by the Seattle city government.
• On January 2, 1901, an early morning fire
  destroyed the Yesler Mansion, where the library
  was located.
• The community pleaded for funds to rebuild the
  library at a new and permanent location. Andrew
  Carnegie, whom helped construct libraries across
  the country, donated 220,000 for the new
  building.
• In 1902, the city purchased an undeveloped
  downtown block for 100,000 to become the new
  site of the library.
• In August 1903, the city selected P.J. Weber of
  Chicago to design the building.
• Construction began in 1905 and it opened in 1906.

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Background

• In 1956, the city began setting the stage for a
  new library to replace the unsightly and
  inadequate Central Library Carnegie.
• The second Central Library opened on March 26,
  1960.
• By the 1990s, planning for library improvements
  were under way.
• In November 1998, Seattle voters overwhelmingly
  approved a 196.4 million Libraries for All
  bond to build a new Central Library.
• The Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas was chosen to
  design the latest Seattle Central Library

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• The Seattle Central Librarys goal was to
  redefine/reinvent the library as an institution
  no longer exclusively devoted to the book - as an
  information store, where all media, new and old,
  are presented under a regime of new equalities.
  In an age when information can be accessed
  anywhere, it is the simultaneity of all
  media and the professionalism of their
  presentation and interaction, that will make
  the library new.
• -Rem Koolhaas, Architect

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An International Collaboration

• Office for Metropolitan Architecture
  (Netherlands)
• LMN Architects of Seattle
• Arup Offices (Los Angeles, London, San Francisco,
  and New York)
• Magnusson Klemenic Associates (Seattle)

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Quick Facts

• Opened May 23, 2004
• 12 Story Structure
• covering 412,000 square feet
• Divided into 5 overlapping platforms
• 165.5 million project
• Features a Glass-covered atrium
• One of the largest structures certified by the US
  Green Building Councils Leadership Energy and
  Environmental Design program

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How the Design Evolved
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The Five Platforms

• The architects took into consideration the
  distinct functions and areas of the library and
  created these five platforms as boxes stacked
  upon each other
• Parking
• Public Spaces
• Information
• Collections
• Administration and Staff
• The boxes were repositioned to provide better
  views and more light.
• The administration section east to face 5th Ave.
  Mt. Rainer,
• other main boxes north to give views of Elliot
  Bay from the reading rooms.
• Moving the upper floors created more natural
  light for the lower floors.

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The Grid

• Lateral force resisting system
• In the early design the engineers attempted to
  create a column-free design to maximize space.
• The grid was developed to make this possible. The
  mullions of the grid would be able to support the
  force of the structure.
• During testing the grid showed very good in-plane
  strength to seismic forces.
• This column-free design would have been very
  expensive so the final design called for several
  large columns between the platforms located
  behind the grid.

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The Megatrusses

• Protect the platforms from lateral movement by
  transferring gravity to the perimeter columns or
  internal trusses.
• Because the seismic and gravity systems were
  separated into the grid and megatrusses, it
  enabled engineers to create a greater number of
  unobstructed views and maximize the amount of
  daylight.

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The Footing

• The building is founded upon spread footing of 30
  square feet x 7.5 feet thick.
• It is able to hold a pressure up to 10,000 pounds
  per square foot.
• Under the stairway core there is a mat foundation
  of 44 feet x 65 feet. It descends the full height
  of the building.
• There is a 28 feet wide combined footing that
  supports two shear walls and a column.

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The Use of Glass

• Engineers tried to find a glass that had a
  maximum transparency and balanced with occupants
  comfort levels with outside light.
• They decided to use a high performance glazing on
  the sunlit facades to improve energy efficiency.
  A more transparent glazing was used on shaded
  facades to create more natural light.
• The glazing system includes metal mesh in between
  two planes of glass.
• 140,000 square feet of transparency glazing and
  skylights.

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Energy Saving Benefits

• To extract the full benefits of energy savings
  from the design the buildings light control
  system was designed with photocells that
  automatically shut off artificial lighting when
  the natural light level is adequate.
• High velocity jet nozzles distribute conditioned
  air directly onto the buildings glazing to offset
  the facades heat gains and losses.
• There are carbon-dioxide monitoring systems that
  shut off the air ventilation system when
  occupancy is low to save energy consumption.

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Energy Saving Benefits

• An atrium economizer cycle draws air from
  throughout the building to the top of the atrium
  to the outside. Thermal energy will be extracted
  and recovered through this cycle and used to
  precondition the atrium.
• To conserve water the library is installed with
  low flow plumbing fixtures, a system for
  collecting storm water, and a landscape
  architecture program that emphasizes
  drought-tolerant plants and trees.
• Rain water is collected from the roof, treated,
  and used to irrigate the buildings landscape.

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Tour

• For a virtual tour
• http//seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/librar
  y/

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Questions?
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Thank You

• Julianne Abe
• Brandon Estrella
• Happy Holidays