🏢 The Seattle Public Library — Seattle, Washington

Ballard Branch

A curving, light-filled branch crowned by a living roof of thousands of low-water plants, with a periscope at the circulation desk that lets you peek up at the greenery.

📖 About Ballard Branch

The Ballard Branch opened on May 14, 2005, and was designed by the architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson as a combined library and neighborhood service center for Seattle's historically Scandinavian and maritime Ballard district. Its defining feature is a gently curving green roof planted with more than 18,000 low-water plants, which insulates the building and helps absorb stormwater runoff, complemented by rooftop photovoltaic solar panels that trim its electricity demand. Because the living roof sits out of ordinary sightlines, the architects installed a periscope near the circulation desk and an observation point so visitors can look up into the roof's ecology. The design's warmth and civic presence earned it an EDRA/Places Award in 2008, and the branch has become one of the most visited in the Seattle Public Library system. In keeping with the neighborhood's roots, its collections reflect Ballard's maritime and fishing-industry heritage.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• Curving green roof planted with more than 18,000 low-water plants
• Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; opened May 14, 2005
• A periscope at the circulation desk gives patrons a view of the living roof
• Rooftop solar panels and a co-located neighborhood service center

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