The library from the future.

Uh... Where to begin? I don't think the Seattle Central Library is the library of the future. I think it's a library from the future. Look at this slideshow tour and tell me I'm wrong. Notice the shiny, candy-like meeting floor that looks like something out of 2046. Look at this staircase! This building is crying out to be the set of a bleak, psychological sci-fi film.
What is the mixing chamber? It sounds like something out of Willy Wonka. Though this whole place looks like something from Willy Wonka. Only with more concrete.
There are several major art pieces, including this sculpture that looks like something from Dave McKean's subconscious.
In case the architecture doesn't float your boat, there's the electronic display of books in circulation, a wall of screens above the circulation desk of all the books put back into circulation that day. The library is averaging around 36,000 books a day and the information is presented in various ways according to the time and Dewey Decimal classification of the material. Designed by George Legrady, it's like a Winamp visualization plugin for books.
The NY times has a review of the library that's an interesting read. You can tell there were points where he got so hot and bothered that he had to stop to, ahem... relieve himself. "Intense vertigo gives way to erotic stimulation.... Don't look now, but the library could be reading you." But really, who can blame him? As he says, it's a big ol' "blazing chandelier to swing your dreams upon."
Wikipedia has a interesting article on the history of the library, along with some nice images and informative links.
The library was designed by Dutch design firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture under the direction of their head genius weirdo Rem Koolhaas, who went to film school in Amsterdam and is, as far as I'm concerned, a 6'5" walking advertisement for the legalization of drugs.
So, how soon are the going to convert some of that space into luxury condos? I'll take one.