Calgary Library - Stunning

I decided to make a trip to the brand new Calgary Library today during my lunch walk. It's a beautiful, impressive building with fascinating engineering and art work. I took my shitty iphone6 camera and really should have taken the GR2 for this. However, you can tell by the shots that some are washed out, mainly due to the tiny sensor on the iphone and it does poorly in low light and high contrast shots.

The Ricoh's massive APS-C sensor @ 16 megapixels allows a huge dynamic range that cannot be matched by ordinary camera phones. Although they sell now for $500, it's a bargain, considering how Ninja like this camera is. Nobody, and I mean nobody, sees this camera when I come up on them to take the shot. It's practically invisible.

The building is a spectacle of beauty: Smooth, elegant curves and precise geometic designs on the windows.

The pillars have names of donors who paid money to support the building of the library. I was very impressed because the names only show up in high light and are not obnoxious.

I loved the baloons. This library is made for all ages: Children, old people, young people, and everyone in between. The gorgeous baloons and colors contrast with the assymetrical stairs (one set of stairs are huge, the other is regular size). 

The birds outside the library were not moving today. I think the motors have not been turned on yet. 

 Another close-up shot of the baloons, which trail from the 2nd floor down to the 1st floor in a graceful arc that defies gravity. I love it.

 Even the walkway outside is fancy. The only complaint I have is the smell: It stinks like raw shit outside. And I don't know if it's because of new construction, or if it was due to a sewage pipe venting to the air. Either way, it was very gross.

A minimalist book center and a cute play area that looks like a gigantic lite-brite kit for kids. Even I loved this thing. It was awesome.

 The book sections are laid out intelligently but I still couldn't find a book I was looking for. Volunteers were all busy and there were many tours of the library going on, making walking through this library difficult. My big boots stomped through, which is all right.

 The graceful wooden curve is beautiful. It's hard to describe what you feel until you actually see it in person.

 The impressive skylight and walkway up, all perfectly laid out and impeccable.

This took my breath away. The curves and geometic patterns are impressive.

 The shot below is a "polling station" which people put a marble into a glass container to indicate which library they visit the most. I love it.

 More curves and unusual stairway patterns.

 Close up of the library model on display.

 An even closer shot of the detail. Very detailed.

 This is the only library in the world that I know has a free teen section with gaming and gigantic television sets to play games on. What a place.

I'll be back, very soon to take more photos and explore areas I missed during my first visit. 10/10