It is nice that San Diego FINALLY has a library with underground parking. However, the architecture leaves me cold --- literally. It is all unfinished steel, glass, and ceramic tile with wood in a few places serving no other purpose than to gather dust as fake shelves, since they cannot be accessed to hold books. The silver paper on the insulation in the ducts is left as something that is visible and which is 'supposed to be' decorative. Perhaps San Diego is trying to be avant garde, but they fell down on the job with this one, since it could be called 'unfinished modern'. I worked for an architectural firm and I never saw anything like this go out our door, thank goodness!!!
As someone who works at the library, and hears comments about it all day long, I have to say that the opinion above is rarely expressed. Negative comments are few and far between. People praise this building and love the library's architecture.
R Crawford I understand that some people love the unfinished look. It just is not my cup of tea. The library staff is friendly and informed, which is not always the case in libraries I've visited here in my own country and even abroad. The collection is great. San Diego's main library has many things going for it --- especially versatility. However, perhaps it is speaking to another generation more than to me..... I am 67 and I don't believe in new and 'cutting edge' just for the sake of being different. To me, curling up in a window seat is the way to enjoy a book, not on a construction girder. The scale is imposing and intimidating, whereas I prefer warm and inviting. I am glad that others are pleased with it, because we will be seeing it for a long time. I am also happy that they have a room for the homeless and many floors for other offerings, such as the rentable room(s) for events. By the way, my favorite place to buy books is a store in Portland (New Renaissance) which is made from 4 old mansions connected by halls constructed to join them in a chain. Windowseats abound! My dismay is, by the way, also extended to the whole of that area's traffic flow, which is a nightmare for San Diego residents and probably much worse for tourists unless they are on foot. I find myself grouchy even before I enter he structure which is, of course, no fault of the library, rather the city traffic planners,
Hope it's a good library, California's going broke while building out these massive, ultra-expensive works of art. Now that's how you keep yourself out of bankruptcy!
It is nice that San Diego FINALLY has a library with underground parking. However, the architecture leaves me cold --- literally. It is all unfinished steel, glass, and ceramic tile with wood in a few places serving no other purpose than to gather dust as fake shelves, since they cannot be accessed to hold books. The silver paper on the insulation in the ducts is left as something that is visible and which is 'supposed to be' decorative. Perhaps San Diego is trying to be avant garde, but they fell down on the job with this one, since it could be called 'unfinished modern'. I worked for an architectural firm and I never saw anything like this go out our door, thank goodness!!!
As someone who works at the library, and hears comments about it all day long, I have to say that the opinion above is rarely expressed. Negative comments are few and far between. People praise this building and love the library's architecture.
R Crawford
I understand that some people love the unfinished look. It just is not my cup of tea. The library staff is friendly and informed, which is not always the case in libraries I've visited here in my own country and even abroad. The collection is great. San Diego's main library has many things going for it --- especially versatility. However, perhaps it is speaking to another generation more than to me..... I am 67 and I don't believe in new and 'cutting edge' just for the sake of being different. To me, curling up in a window seat is the way to enjoy a book, not on a construction girder. The scale is imposing and intimidating, whereas I prefer warm and inviting. I am glad that others are pleased with it, because we will be seeing it for a long time. I am also happy that they have a room for the homeless and many floors for other offerings, such as the rentable room(s) for events. By the way, my favorite place to buy books is a store in Portland (New Renaissance) which is made from 4 old mansions connected by halls constructed to join them in a chain. Windowseats abound!
My dismay is, by the way, also extended to the whole of that area's traffic flow, which is a nightmare for San Diego residents and probably much worse for tourists unless they are on foot. I find myself grouchy even before I enter he structure which is, of course, no fault of the library, rather the city traffic planners,
Hope it's a good library, California's going broke while building out these massive, ultra-expensive works of art. Now that's how you keep yourself out of bankruptcy!