That's from 2004. Here's a review by an architecture critic from 2007.[1] "The shin-high steel fences built around the slanting structural I-beams to avert head-bonking look like improvised fixes for a problem nobody anticipated." "'The building's celebrated splotches of weirdness -- the red sea-monster-bowel corridors on the fourth level, the bile-yellow elevators and escalators, the vertiginous canyon overlooks on the upper levels -- exist to draw attention away from the fact that most of its work and pleasure spaces are actually cheaply finished or dysfunctional." "You and other critics have been had. From the tip of this glass squeeze box to the bowels of its red metal stomach, this library is a joke, a monument to the architects' vanity, to the critics' collective vanity, to a city's greedy desire to be noticed. And noticed not for achievement, not for actually doing anything, but for looking cool."<p>That last seems to nail it.<p>However, it does have 4 1/2 stars on Yelp.<p>12 years on, most of the weirder floor materials are gone, replaced by bare concrete. The badly upholstered chairs have been replaced with PVC. Lots of railings and fences have been installed to keep people from hitting their heads on angled beams. They've probably also gone to LED lighting on those high ceiling lights. So the building is at least workable now. I'm impressed that nobody is complaining about it being too hot or too cold; tall atriums are a huge HVAC headache.<p>If you're in SF, consider joining the Mechanics Institute library. This is a private library with a good, well-curated collection, with new books coming in regularly. Classic multi-level stacks, columns, wood furniture, and librarians who will hush you if you talk.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/article/On-Architecture-How-the-new-Central-Library-1232303.php?source=mypi" rel="nofollow">http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/article/On-Architecture-How-the-...</a>