The stacks, arranged along a continuous spiral ramp contained within a four-story slab, reinforce a sense of a world organized with machine-like precision./Nicolai Ouroussoff
Situated on a sloping site between 4th and 5th street the new library will have entrances on both street levels.
The entrance level on 4th Street, one of Seattle's main thoroughfares, houses the Children's Library and foreign-language resources.
Rows of escalators lead to the 5th Street "Living Room" lobby located under a 50-foot-high slope glass wall. The lobby can also be reached directly from a covered walkway than runs the length of the 5th Avenue facade.
The carpet "Living Room" contains the fiction stacks while non-fiction are located on the "Dewey Ramp"; a four-story ramp that allows people to browse through books in a continu sequence. The Reading room, on the top floor, has views of Puget Sound and the surrounding mountains.