I've always had a keen interest in architecture of all eras. I like to think it's in my blood. My grandfather on mother's side would take his six children on Sunday morning walks through their home town, the city of Amsterdam. Grandfather pointed at gables and gargoyles, illustrated guilt plaques on façades, and the way antique window panes get heavy at the bottom. He taught his children to have an eye for style and design and love for architecture. So when I started showing my old hometown and its new buildings, to visitors from out of town, I was merely stepping in my grandfather's footprints.

My love for storytelling, and plays, lead me to become a stage designer, performer and eventually writer. For the longest time the theater was my life, my life the theater. Theater makers are collaborators by definition. Actors, directors, designers, musicians, singers, they all know each other. The arts often overlap, collaboration occurs outside, as well as inside the theater. Painters and dancers, sculptors and architects, they may embark on multimedia projects.

I'm happy to say that some of my best friends are architects. They keep me up to date of their latest accomplishments. I stay abreast by studying publications and visiting new buildings when I can.

As long as I can remember, libraries have been my home away from home. That's only one of the reasons why I delight in giving architectural tours of Seattle Central Public Library. Another reason is my interest in all projects embarked on by Rem Koolhaas and his Office of Metropolitan Architecture.

Seattle's new downtown library is a true collaborative project and in that a learning tool. As a guide and docent my aim is to make the building more understandable, to point out special features, and to help the patrons see that this building is more than an architectural feat; it's all about books.

During the first year after Seattle Central Public Library opened in May of 2004, I donated 114 hours as volunteer architectural tour docent. The free tours were supposed to last 1 hour and to be limited to 20 people. My tours were more likely to last 1.5-2 hours, depending on the interest and engagement of the patrons and often our caravan added up to 30 participants. Check the library's web site www.spl.org for schedule of general and architectural tours. Sign up at the Welcome Desk at level #3, inside the Fifth Avenue Entrance.