Seattle Library Liberating

Despite the creature comforts offered at Gnomedex, a conference concierged graciously by Chris and Ponzi Pirillo, I ducked out midway the first day to check out the sights of Seattle, particularly the new library, designed by Rem Koolhaas. It's not hard to spot from a few blocks away because it's like a pyramid of glass that's crashed, hypotenuse first, onto an entire block.

Inside, everything is illuminated -- from above -- through panes and panes of glass. Bright yellow escalators, like chicklets strutting through a park -- glide from floor to floor. On one floor, raised letters of the alphabet are carved onto  wooden  slats, and one feels the architect's merriment conveyed right through the soles of the feet.

I asked for permission to use a computer -- there were literally hundreds of Internet-enabled computers available on each floor and each bore the stamp, IBM -- and someone at a counter (there don't seem to be any desks) gave me a free visitor pass for one hour. On the way out, I wandered near a so-called mixed media space -- every floor seems to be open space, including the third floor, which includes a cafe -- named after Charles Simonyi, the former Microsoft research guru and Martha Stewart man. At the entrance, hosannas are engraved to Microsoft and Amazon for contributing to this knowledge mecca.

I wonder why schools can't be designed like glass pyramids as well (unless Koolhaas has a copyright on the design). If not schools, it would be great for conference centers, which, no matter how brightly lit by minds and lighting matter, dungeon the entire experience for me.

There were some silly speakers at Gnomedex, including Justin of .tv fame who is better on mute; the GeekBrief (Podshow) couple poseurs who were too cutesy for me; and inexplicably selected as keynote, a post-war syndrome-affected ex Marine and spy  who was a caricature of a libertarian (although I think a libertarian is an oxymoron anyway). Guy Kawasaki did his entertaining aren't- tech-entrepreneurs-great cheerleading spiel, and David Litton from Vancouver Island spoke about his experiment in developing community currency but ended his talk with a plea for real money.

I had trouble  centering on a conference gestalt, but the Seattle Public Library -- like a great cathedral -- inspired me to believe.

Comments

[Shannon Clark]

Sylvia,

I too made a stop at the library (on Sunday as the tailend of the MeshWalk) and it is an amazing space.

In fact I'll be posting a blog post about a really unique part of the library in a little bit - on the 9th floor there is a special room for writers. It is a space which anyone who is writing a book (with a book contract or other proof of seriousness) or article can get access to for a 6 month period. It has great light, professional workspaces, and even private lockers to store materials in. All-in-all if I lived in Seattle I'd definitely use it while writing my book (and heck, I'm half tempted to move to Seattle when I do).

In terms of Gnomedex I've been thinking a lot about the overall experience. Professionally for me Gnomedex was a fantastic conference - lots of really useful connections, discussions and networking. However I felt that nearly everyone on stage this year - with only a few exceptions - was a let down. (I thought that Vanessa Fox did a good job, that Darren did a great job, and that Guy though rehashing a talk many had heard before set a high bar, the Ignite talks were very good, and a few of the others decent - but the first and last talks of the show were nearly absolute kooks).

Shannon

[Dan]

Hey -- now I want to go up to Seattle to check this thing out Sounds wonderful.