It's like a painting, see? From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess. That's kind of what Lawrence Cheek says in the PI today, where he dares to say what a lot of Seattleites are thinking: our new central library building isn't all that. This library, incredibly, is an uncomfortable place to read. The third-level "Living Room," which has the feel of a vast indoor park, is not conducive to......

The American Institute of Architects asked 1800 Americans to name their favorite buildings in the US. After further refinement and surveying, the AIA compiled a list of the top 150 and released it on Wednesday. A grand total of two Seattle buildings made the list: at #108, the gorgeous but metroartificial Seattle Public Library; and at #135, Safeco Field. Nowhere to be found: the viaduct, the EMP, Smith Tower, Washington Mutual Tower, Rainier Tower, Qwest......

Seattlest thinks the Seattle Central Library is gorgeous. But in every conversation we've had about the building, someone always points out the elephant in the room: it's a bitch finding your way around. One of our friends likes to tell the story of the frantic woman she saw approach a librarian, crying, to ask for help finding a book before her parking expired. She'd been there for fifteen minutes and hadn't even found the nonfiction......