#5

The New West?

Left: Seattle Public Canyon. Cfwan. 2010

Right: Grand Canyon of the Colorado. William Henry Jackson. 1883

Standing at the edge of the gigantic interior space of the Seattle Public Library, an interesting coincidence occured. A woman walked into the frame and leaned out over the edge (Even more conicidentally, the woman turned out to Renee Daoust, a Canadian Architect of note that was a juror at one of my recent critiques) and it instantly reminded me of the iconic Jackson photograph that has come to symbolize the American pursuit of the west. Needless to say I quickly snapped the image.

At first I was only thinking on my envy towards Seattle for having such a fine project and not my city. Later on I got to thinking about the lineage of this building concept. It's redefined public interiors, and spiralling library stacks were first attempted in the OMA competition entry for the Bibliotheque Nationale (1989). Thus, the idea has matrued and migrated from Paris via a dutch architect to the far reaches of the American West.

Perhaps this building is perfectly sited in west, albeit a heavily refined and cultured west. Perhaps it represents the end note of the West (capital W for Wild). More specifically, an end note of the nineteenth and twentieth century expansion towards the Pacific and the culture it fostered. The west I have come to know, after experiencing Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and even parts of Alberta for that matter is confirms this refined and worldly sub-culture despite the outdoorsy, backwoods style on everything that stands.