Seattle Public Library’s Central Library

(image via: The Seattle Public Library)

Libraries are often funded by governments, corporations or through university endowment funds that provide architects with plenty of green with which to grow their visionary ideas. Case in point: the Seattle Public Library’s Central Library that dominates the corner of Madison and Fourth Street.

(image via: The Seattle Public Library)

Opened on May 23, 2004, the library was constructed using 18,400 cubic yards of poured concrete, enough glass to cover 5½ football fields and 4,644 tons of steel - enough (by weight) to build 20 copies of the Statue of Liberty.