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New Birmingham library plans

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Well the more I see it now the more I like it. I admit I could not see anything good at first. I love our old buildings as well though, its good to have a change, makes me admire the old and dare I say accept and smile at the new.

As for the James Watt / Boulton statues opposite - yes I can see that the gold theme is continued in the new library building as well. And for some reason I like those statues in gold they stand out really well. Maybe we are the golden generation :-)
 
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD? Why NOT gold plate the Queen Vic statue as well? I guess the MODERN? age is all glitter now. Same with cars these days, gold plate this and that THEN charge extra for it! John Crump OldBrit. parker, Co USA
 
The council thought about building it in Eastside, then for some reason they chose the site between The REP and Baskerville House.

Anyway the land it could have gone on, might be the HS2 line one day.

Library of Birmingham

Instead Eastside gets this BCU campus (not sure if it will look gold when finished). This was in December 2012.

 
That BCU buildg above does look boxy to me, at least the Library is a better variation on the box theme.

How did we build classic buildings 100+ years ago - but now its all different ?
You feel its the cost nowadays playing a big role rather than creation of lasting beauty.

Can anyone enlighten me ?
 
It's all steel, concrete, glass and coloured cladding these days.

Don't seem to get terracotta on modern buildings, sculpted details like gargoyles or statues at the top like on Victorian / Edwardian buildings had.
 
The new Worcester library (The Hive) is the same, all glass and concrete with a gold coloured roof.
Still, it functions well as a library I s'pose.
 
We drove past the Town Hall yesterday, came around the corner and both exclaimed...OH MY GOD!! It stood out but not in a good way to us. It was quite a shock seeing it from this angle and we both agreed it looked awful amongst the other buildings. Large brillow pad sprang to mind..I hope it is nice on the inside.
 
Suffolk Street Queensway is the closest you can see it from near the Town Hall.

This is the view you would get if you are near Town Hall Car Park (formerly called Brunel Street Car Park)



I don't think you can see it from Paradise Street. Fletchers Walk in the way.
 
Some photos from earlier today.

Confirmation of when it opens



View from the gap in the fence of Centenary Square






View from Sheepcote Street Bridge down the BCN Main Line Canal

 
I think 100 years ago we were making statements of our power as a nation, building classic lasting robustness in brick.
Today cost & functionality are seen as important and I guess there are more different materials available. Steel for one.

I keep fliting; it does stand out from the buildings around it, I wonder if that was the reason for the design - a contrast.
Either way it does attract much attention. :fat:
 
Hand on heart, I'm not much of a modernist. Up to now I've reserved judgement on the building but Wendy's analogy, "A Large Brillow Pad" is the most apt description I've seen up to now. I'm sorry but I just don't like it!
 
Wendy said:
We drove past the Town Hall yesterday, came around the corner and both exclaimed...OH MY GOD!! It stood out but not in a good way to us. It was quite a shock seeing it from this angle and we both agreed it looked awful amongst the other buildings. Large brillow pad sprang to mind..I hope it is nice on the inside.
Click to expand...

looks even worse close to doesnt it wend...rather a scary building that looms up at you from nowhere and looking like it wants to batter baskerville house and the hall of memory...glad you think the same as me as ive been likening it a brillo pad since first seeing the plans some 3 years ago...

still as they say each to his/her own..

lyn
 
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well my opinion on that is that they should never have undertaken a project costing 190 million pounds if the city could not afford it and they are now needing hand outs but thanks for the info lesley

lyn
 
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Hi

I'm just cringing on what the Royal Prince of Wales will say.
His last comment was a Carbuncle on the Existing one.
The new one has a Chinese Birds nest Soup appearance.
Clearly its down to Mike Whitby on the vast amount of Money
allocated to the New Library and the Re-Build of the area around
the Council House.

Mike Jenks
 
Astoness said:
well my opinion on that is that they should never have undertaken a project costing 190 million pounds if the city could not afford it and they are now needing hand outs but thanks for the info lesley
Click to expand...

I think much of the money to buyild the new library came from the company that bought the land where the CURRENT library is, which will be re-developed once the new librayr opens and the current library is demolished.

And I dont see the money from The Wolfson Foundation being a "hand out" (after all it is a charity so has to justify where it spends its money) so assume it must be to provide extra facilities in the new library.
.
 
mike jenks said:
I'm just cringing on what the Royal Prince of Wales will say.
His last comment was a Carbuncle on the Existing one.
Click to expand...

The "carbuncle" comment from Prince Charles was about the National Gallery in London when they were going to build a new extension.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbuncle#Monstrous_carbuncle

What he said about the current library in Birmingham is "it looks like a place to burn books not to store them" (or similar words)
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point taken guilbert but i would have thought that at a cost of 190 million pounds all the librarys needs and facilities would would have been taken into account...oh well what do i know about these things...

lyn
 
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I still think it is an absolute eyesore and certainly in the wrong place. That is one subject I will never paint, (another being Selfridges which I made sure was not on my recent painting of St Martins). Still 'one mans meat is another mans poison' as they say. Eric
 
cookie273uk said:
I still think it is an absolute eyesore and certainly in the wrong place.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. When I saw the first drawings of it before they started building it I did not like.

I thought I may start to like it once I saw the building going up, but I still dont like it.

I think it is the wrong building, of the wrong size, in the wrong place.

For a long time I wondered why I disliked it so much, then I realised it was the total lack of windows.

To me it is a boring design of three boxes stuck on top of each other, with a mess of spaghetti over the outside.

It may be better inside (from the pictures I have seen) but I dont think I will ever like the outside.
.
 
But they are providing a new library with , presumably, ample facilities. In Reading the council is "investigating the possibility" of relocating the library from the building built about 20 years ago into the old town hall (where it was before the new library was opened ). this new home might provide about half the space available in the newer building . The new building would be adapted for other council uses (probably a "sauna" for council members and their supporters)
 
mikejee said:
But they are providing a new library....
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True.

But in the Eastside area of Birmingham the council are calling this the "Learning Quarter" (this is near near Curzon St station and the Millenium Point building).

Aston university are already there, Birmingham City Univerisity (BCU) are moving their campus there from Perry Barr, Matthew Boulton College is nearby, and they have just opened the Ormiston Academy of Performing Arts nearby.

What a FAR better place to put the new library than where they have built it.

To me the area round the convention centre, the NIA, Broad St etc is a combined Entertainment and Business area, and not really the right place for a giant library.

If it had been built in Eastside it would have encouraged many people to go into the area, the one thing the council are trying to encourage.

They have spent 13 million building the Eastside City Park but few people (except for a few students) have a reason to go into the area.
 
i could be wrong here and i will double check but i think the eastside was thought of as a possable site for the new library and then along came the new HS2 plans for that area and the thought was scrapped..

lyn
 
I believe there is a project in motion to build a library on Eastside for the benifit of all the students this should be up and running by 2015. Dek
 
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