I was doing some research this weekend on architect and visionaries, browsing content on Ted (Ideas for Sharing). One I found interesting being in the Seattle area is the architect Joshua Prince-Ramus’s presentation on the design of the Seattle City Library.
Part of Joshua’s talk is the rationality of the approach, and how the design came out naturally. What I found coincidental is I could envision Microsoft’s Mike Manos giving the similar reasoning for how his team came up with the design of the Generation 4 Data Center.
Here are some interesting connections from Joshua’s presentation in regards to how the Seattle City Library was designed.
Modularization.
Instead of its current ambiguous flexibility, the library could cultivate a more refined approach by organizing itself into spatial compartments, each dedicated to, and equipped for, specific duties. Tailored flexibility remains possible within each compartment, but without the threat of one section hindering the others.
Our first operation was to “comb” and consolidate the library’s apparently ungovernable proliferation of programs and media. By combining like with like, we identified programmatic clusters: five of stability and four of instability.
Efficiency & optimization
Each platform is a programmatic cluster that is architecturally defined and equipped for maximum, dedicated performance. Because each platform is designed for a unique purpose, their size, flexibility, circulation, palette, structure, and MEP vary.
The spaces in between the platforms function as trading floors where librarians inform and stimulate, where the interface between the different platforms is organized—spaces for work, interaction, and play.
Flexibility and Scalablity
Each platform is a programmatic cluster that is architecturally defined and equipped for maximum, dedicated performance. Because each platform is designed for a unique purpose, their size, flexibility, circulation, palette, structure, and MEP vary.
The spaces in between the platforms function as trading floors where librarians inform and stimulate, where the interface between the different platforms is organized—spaces for work, interaction, and play.
By genetically modifying the superposition of floors in the typical American high rise, a building emerges that is at the same time sensitive (the geometry provides shade or unusual quantities of daylight where desirable), contextual (each side reacts differently to specific urban conditions or desired views), iconic.
Breaking the rules to change the experience.
The traditional library presents the visitor with an infernal matrix of materials, technologies, “specialists.” It is an often demoralizing process: a trail of tears through dead-end sections, ghost departments, and unexplained absences.
The Book Spiral liberates the librarians from the burden of managing ever-increasing masses of material. Newly freed, they reunite in a circle of concentrated expertise. The Mixing Chamber is an area of maximum librarian–patron interaction, a trading floor for information orchestrated to fulfill an essential (now neglected) need for expert interdisciplinary help.
The Mixing Chamber consolidates the library’s cumulative human and technological intelligence: the visitor is surrounded by information sources.
Seems like the Architecture Design Principles are a good match. Here is Microsoft’s criteria for Generation 4 Data Center
Scalable Plug-and-play spine infrastructure Factory pre-assembled: Pre-Assembled Containers (PACs) & Pre-Manufactured Buildings (PMBs) Rapid deployment De-mountable Reduce TTM Reduced construction Sustainable measures Map applications to DC Class
If you have never been to the Seattle Library here is a tour.
Mike Manos is a Chicago native, so I know he appreciates good architecture. I wonder if he knew these facts about the Seattle City Library, and how closely he followed a patterns of Joshua’s architect firm Rex.
We design collaborations rather than dictate solutions.
The media sells simple, catchy ideas; it reduces teams to individuals and their collaborative work to genius sketches. The proliferation of this false notion of "starchitecture" diminishes the real teamwork that drives celebrated architecture. REX believes architects should guide collaboration rather than impose solutions. We replace the traditional notion of authorship: "I created this object," with a new one: "We nurtured this process."
We embrace responsibility in order to implement vision.
The implementation of good ideas demands as much, if not more, creativity than their conceptualization. Increasingly reluctant to assume liability, architects have retreated from the accountability (and productivity) of Master Builders to the safety (and impotence) of stylists. To execute vision and retain the insight that facilitates architectural invention, REX re-engages responsibility. Processes, including contractual relationships, project schedules, and procurement strategies, are the stuff with which we design.
We don't rush to architectural conclusions.
The largest obstacle facing clients and architects is their failure to speak a common language. By taking adequate time to think with our clients before commencing the traditional design process, it is our proven experience that we can provide solutions of greater clarity and quality. With our clients, we identify the core questions they face, and establish shared positions from which we collectively evaluate the architectural proposals that follow.
One other piece of trivia. How did Joshua get involved in the Seattle City Library project?
Answer: his mother. seattle pi article.
On his mother (Marcie Ruskin) being the unsung hero of the Seattle Central Library's design:
Yes, that's true. She was reading the newspaper on the day before there was a mandatory meeting on the library project in Seattle. She called me, informed me about the library competition and told me about the meeting. Rem was in Korea then, so I went to the airport and flew from Amsterdam to Seattle. I came to the mandatory meeting the next day. ... If OMA had not signed up at the meeting, we would not have been eligible to receive info about the project and continue in the process. The flip side of that is I spent five years worrying my mother would get stoned for involving us in the library project. Now, it seems she's safe (laughs).
