Salt Lake City Public Library

The Salt Lake City Public Library is one of the most amazing buildings I have ever been entered. It was named Library of the Year in 2006 by American Libraries. It is a library where the architects obviously listened very closely to the librarians and responded with beautiful creative spaces. The image below is the front door. To get to the front door, you either walk through a plaza or a park. The library has a series of small shops outside these front doors, and as you walk in there are more small shops. There are two cafes, the Friends of the Library book store and shop, a flower shop, a downtown visitor's bureau, and an art gallery.


The shops are on the first floor to the right of the picture below. Moving up - above the shops - are sitting areas where patrons can either look to the east - out to a mountain range, or to the west - into the library atrium.


Below is the children's game area. It is hard to tell from this picture, but it is a tiny room in the children's area - it has small furniture and feels really cozy. Along with this mini computer room there is a "crystal cave" for children to crawl around. There is also an "attic" - a room that looks like the top of a house with wood floors and beams - for kids to crawl around. So fun.


Below is a view of the library plaza from the 4th floor.


This is the library atrium from the 4th floor. You can see the seating areas to the right. One thing I noticed walking through the library was that there were people who seemed homeless sitting in this beautiful leather furniture in front of windows with stunning views. I spoke with the assistant director of the library about this. I thought the library space all on its own had the potential to change people's lives. She told me the story about a person who was homeless who was coming to the library regularly. He started volunteering for the library and eventually the library hired him and he works there today as a library employee.



This is just one of the stunning details. From the first floor you cannot tell these are butterflies sitting on books, the formation, from a distance makes a giant three dimensional head. As we got to the 4th floor, Kathy saw that they were butterflies on books and as we got closer, the butterflies wings were flapping delicately in the air. Beauty.


The 5th floor of the library is an art gallery that opens onto a giant rooftop garden. It is so large and layered, once you walk into the garden, you can't even tell you are 5 floors above the city. It is so comfortable. The pictures below are of the rooftop walkway that you can take down the side of the building to the library's plaza.



Below is a view from the walkway coming down the side of the library. To the right you can see the library. The building in the center of the picture is the historic City County building. From this distance above you can see the XXX pattern in the sculpture garden in the library's plaza.