The main Salt Lake City Public Library at 210 East 400 South was designed by Moshe Safdie and Associates with VCBO Architecture. It was funded by an $84 million library bond and opened on February 8, 2003. The article gives no style, and notes a wedge-shaped form resembling Safdie's Vancouver Public Library.
The five-story building covers about 240,000 square feet. It uses about 44,960 cubic yards of concrete and about 176,000 square feet of glass, including a five-story curved outer wall. The Urban Room atrium rises through all five floors under a 20,000-square-foot skylight. The roof has a garden with beehives, and the building points toward the Salt Lake Temple.
Library Journal named it Library of the Year in 2006, largely for the building's significance. Fireplaces on four floors and a children's library visible from every level add to its design.
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