Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

High Schoolers in Seattle Build a Tiny Library That Makes Room for Everyone

High Schoolers in Seattle Build a Tiny Library That Makes Room for Everyone

The city-sponsored project is the new home of Estelita’s Library, an open and inclusive space where activism is encouraged through community engagement.

As the City of Seattle continues to experience explosive growth-and displacement that goes along with it-a disused snippet of land on a major thoroughfare in the Central District neighborhood has become a proving ground for the potential of community-driven design. Atop the small plot is now a micro structure, a neon sign proudly announcing the new location of a significant gathering space within the city: Estelita’s Library.



Estelita’s Library is a new micro community space in Seattle that doubles as a social justice-focused bookstore and library. The project was designed and built by local high school students through non-profit Sawhorse Revolution, which pairs students with professional architects and carpenters.

Since being founded in 2018 by Edwin Lindo in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, the justice-focused library has provided free access to more than 1,500 books-a catalogue that features works by Audre Lorde, Malcolm X, and Howard Zinn, along with Lindo’s collection of Black Panther newspapers, one of the largest in the country.

After Lindo learned their building was slated for demolition to make way for high-rise apartments, he partnered with Tiny Cultural Spaces, a pioneering City program launched in 2018 that matches deserving cultural groups with unused, city-owned land.



Sawhorse Revolution students designed the space with professional mentorship from Olson Kundig, and then built the structure from the ground up to pass structural review. "At the core of our work is the idea that youth can and should have a hand in shaping their own neighborhoods," says Sawhorse"s executive director, Sarah Smith.



Estelita’s Library was part of Sawhorse’s all-womxn’s program, meaning that all participants including mentors, students, and volunteers identified as women. Two-thirds of the students were youths of color and three-fourths were from low-income backgrounds. "We truly believe in experiential learning and engaging students in the landscape of their community," says Smith.

"The program takes invisible and overlooked municipal liabilities and turns them into living, thriving community assets," says Matthew Richter, the City of Seattle’s cultural space liaison. "There was something about Estelita’s scale of vision that fit this tiny space in a natural way. They are an organization absolutely hungry to connect to community."



Edwin Lindo, founder of Estelita’s Library, sits in front of the 225-square-foot space in Seattle's Central District neighborhood. Labor and materials were donated for the construction of the library by local companies, including Rieder Facades, who donated the Oko glass fiber siding with a custom color.

Estelita’s new space is a 225-square-foot, saltbox-roofed structure designed and built by Sawhorse Revolution-a local non-profit that teaches high school students architecture and carpentry with hands-on community projects.

"We strive to team youth furthest from educational justice with professional carpenters and architects so they can build for their own neighborhoods," says Sawhorse’s executive director, Sarah Smith, who partnered with architect Olson Kundig and three other local builders to lead 20 young people.



Estelita’s Library is the first recipient of a new program launched in 2018 by Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture called Tiny Cultural Spaces. The program pairs worthy cultural organizations with tiny snippets of unused City-owned land. "The purpose is to beautify the city, and radically empower arts and cultural organizations with the gift of property ownership," says Smith.

"For Estelita’s, the students’ core idea was to create a space that was welcoming for all people, and that brought together the activism of the past, present, and future," says Smith of the young design/build team. That translated to a bright, colorful interior that opens via double doors to an adjacent deck, with rolling bleacher storage benches that can move seamlessly from inside out.

Inside are built-in desks on one end and U-shaped bookshelves lining the opposing walls. Outside, a 330-square-foot cedar deck serves as multi-purpose gathering and event space, visually linking Estelita’s to the surrounding neighborhood. "The library can open up for a public lecture, reading, or whatever the community wants," says Smith. "Our goal was to design the most generous communal space."



A colorful pastel palette and warm walnut floors help make Estelita's Library kid-friendly and welcoming to all community members. Rolling, bleacher-style seating doubles as storage and can move to the outdoor deck for events and gatherings.



Estelita’s Library houses a collection of over 1,500 books, and founder Edwin Lindo’s collection of Black Panther newspapers, which is one of the largest in the country. For Lindo, the books are a catalyst for community conversations and dialogue. "The goal is for you to start thinking about worlds that seem impossible," he says.

Unlike most libraries, Estelita’s was always meant to encourage out-loud thinking. "Our goal was to be a complement and ancillary to [the Seattle Public Library]," says Lindo. Named for his daughter Estella, Lindo envisioned Estelita’s as a place for transformative dialogue around topics like race, poverty, and activism. "What Estelita’s tries to do is give us space to think critically and to think with freedom," he says.



Adjacent to the bookshelves is a built-in desk area, with moveable chairs and low windows that help increase accessibility.



For Seattle, Estelita’s is a hint of things to come. The city’s Office of Arts & Culture is planning to issue a second call for Tiny Cultural Space projects in Fall 2021, with intentions to develop it into an annual program. "Arts and culture generally punches way above its weight," says Richter. "With Estelita’s, you’re talking about a 225-square-foot space that’s going to redefine the neighborhood."

Smith agrees: "Perhaps more than any other project, Estelita’s has taught our students how creative design and construction projects can change your perspective, and your community."



Sarah Smith of Sawhorse Revolution sits in front of Estelita’s with Sawhorse Revolution volunteers and representatives from Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture. "One thing we’ve found in the last decade of this cultural-space work is that it’s not just about the length of your lease or the scale of your occupancy costs, it’s about gaining a sense of agency," says Matthew Richter, the Seattle's cultural space liaison.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×