Seattle, WA

Located on the fourth floor, its blood-colored, curving walls and walkways, as well as the organically shaped interior windows and other architectural details of the Red Hall, do strongly bring to mind the cardiovascular. The difference here, on this trip, is you only have to take an elevator to another floor if you start to feel queasy.

The Red Hall is just one floor of Seattle’s Central Library, the flagship of the city’s library system, which inside and out looks and feels like a structure that is absolutely cutting edge. The beautiful Central Library is filled with striking rooms and unexpected architectural vistas, as well as oceans of natural light (the glass that sheathes the library would cover more than five football fields).