When Chris and Sam visited, Sam had a list of things she wanted to do. I have to admit that one of those things I had no idea existed until she mentioned it. Having been here eighteen months and also having been through the area involved a couple of times, this was a bit embarrassing. The subject is the Amazon Spheres. Amazon seems to control a lot of territory in Seattle these days but, while most of this is in traditional office space, the Spheres are something different.
They are an environmental space that encompasses a wide range of plant life. It is designed to be used by employees as they have meetings or not to work alone for a while. They can relax in these spaces. At the weekends, though, it is sometimes made available for the public to visit for free. You just have to book a slot. We didn’t know about this when Sam and Chris were here so we only saw them from the outside. However, we did then know a little more and were able to plan a visit when Tom and Lenore came to stay.
The interior of the Spheres is something that you can guess at when you are looking from outside but being inside is totally amazing. The huge diversity of plant types throughout the space is incredible. The engineering of the spheres themselves and of the stairs and walkways within are very cool to someone with that sort of background like me. The ability to sustain the plants and keep them fed and watered is impressive and every turn takes you to something new and interesting. Couple that with some cool workspaces for the staff to use for meetings and you have a unique building complex. I would happily go back there on another occasion just to hang out and relax while possibly photographing more of the plants. I could probably have multiple posts of shots from this place but I shall make do with a combination of architectural shots and some of the plants for now. If you are planning on coming to Seattle, try and time it to coincide with one of the open weekends and give yourself enough time.
The visit of friends seems to provide us with ever more new things to learn about Seattle. Mark and Rosie were in town and Rosie told us about Seattle Public Library being worth a visit. I had never been to the library and was totally unaware of it. I must have been within a couple of blocks of it many times but never saw it. As we got close to it when walking up the street, we were all taken by the external architecture.
The outside was great but the inside was just as worthwhile. Each floor seemed to have a different style to it. There was a lot of open space within the building and you could go to the top floor which gave you a high view outside the building as well as a view straight down throughout the whole of the building to the first level. As someone with little love for heights, I took a look down but didn’t spend too much time up there. It was a long way down!
