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New Birmingham library plans

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When I first saw the plans, I didn't realise that part of it would be gold-coloured. I don't think it would have been too bad if it had been all silver or gray, and it would not have clashed with the older buildings as much. As it is it resembles a tarts boudoir, all gold and flashy and ready to be replaced by the latest fad to titilate a punter with no taste,
 
morning john i know you were not too sure when you first saw the plans and froth you hated it but our opinions can change..mine didnt though...as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder..just hope i can find my way round it when it opens..

lyn
 
Yes Lyn I didn't like tho photos of it but to see it in the flesh.......... It's an Iconic building.
How do you know what a tarts boudoir looks like Mike :rolleyes: only joking
 
froth i had my first really good close up look at it on monday and i tell you what..its going to take some keeping up with the cleaning of it..if not it could end up looking quite tatty in 10 years time...also hope that the lifts and the escalators are kept in good working order and the roof dont leak as in the library we have now...only time will tell...
 
This week's The Spectator magazine in the arts section has an article entitled Second city blues. It carries a superb photo from inside the library, and says, regarding the new library: "...it's rather refreshing that for once, such a prestigious building in such a prime site is being used to house something sensible like library books, rather than impenetrable works of modern art. He begins the article (William Cook) which is based on his first visit to Brum after ten years with: "Birmingham has always suffered from patronising put-downs, but, this hugely artistic city is firmly on the up."

He noted too: "...after half a century of brutalist monstrosities, it's finally getting the makeover it deserves."

He visits the Mailbox, art gallery (pre-raphelites) the Barber institute, town hall Symphony Hall, Hippodrome and the Cube...and concludes: "...but as Birmingham rebuilds its city centre, eradicating the modernist eyesores of the past century, it feels most fitting to find this Vicorian celebration of hard work hanging here."
 
Lyn

I agree with you completely, where it is it looks totally out of place. Somewhere else it might not have looked so bad.
 
carolina said:
It reminds me of the wire netting they put around some rocky lanes to prevent rocks from falling down.
Click to expand...

lol carolina...

yes froth i did take the pics..glad you like them..

phil i agree with you there...it is the location that bothers me a lot ..maybe its just my minds eye but it just does not sit right with me..not really bothered about the building as such as it wont stand the test of time and by that i mean it wont be around in 60 years time( again just in my opinion)never mind 160 years time..and it could never replace the design and structure of a lot of our much much older and finer buildings..like i have said on many occasions phil..we are fast becoming a city of throw away history..

oh well its here now so we shall have to see how it goes..

lyn
 
I agree totally with Lynn, it's a total abomination, an eyesore, a boil on the derriere of humanity.
p.s. What does iconic mean?
 
oh astonite i do wish i could think of words like that lol

you see the thing is that im not the sort of person who just thinks of yesterdays historical buildings i also think of the generations to come and what they will see...on monday i took time out to stand in front of the library and i got to thinking...will this still be here in 100 years time and will it be admired as much as the likes of its neighbour baskerville house...and have they built it strong enough to survive that long..or will it end up as just another pile of mangled rusty rubbish??..i think the later will happen..like i said ealier..throw away history...
lyn
 
I cant say this is really artistic
If you reviewed it against Britains other iconic buildings.... would this get into the top 500 ?

Martians must look down and say .. after all this time .. this is the best the human race can do ...
... and then burst into laughter ~ like the cadbury's smash advert.

Birmingham ... the artistic building capital of the world ? All the world comes to view our fantastic buildings
........ sorry I just dropped off then and went into a parallel dream land for a minute :fat:
 
Why did they need the wire cage? I worry about lightning strikes......There was one at a school last year and it didn't go to the lightning conductor, My grandaughters were frightened and part of the school was evacuated. Also how will they clean the windows or won't they bother, they didn't seem to clean the present Library much?
It might have looked better next to Selfridges, but that overshadows St. Martin's.
 
thats a question i asked some time back rosie...looks to be only bout a 3 ft space between the windows and the wire so i have no idea how they will clean the outside windows...

phil i cant be certain so dont quote me but i think its made of some sort of metal..if it is lets hope its rust proof..
 
The latest view from the back on Cambridge Street



I'm having a rest from taking updates from Broad Street / Centenary Square.

Another recent view, from the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal in July (between two of the Civic Centre tower blocks). Near Cambrian Wharf.

 
I have read through all of this thread and as one that has seen the old brum that i grew up in being demolished (I'M 64) so remember parts of brum that i was familiar with disappear , I am all for change and we can't live in the past or we would all be living in the dark ages but it grieves me that there is not enough consultation in all these projects in respect of the designs of these buildings, ie (selfridges) of which the design will be seen as "COMICAL" more than "ICONIC" as will the current "NEW LIBRARY" in about 20yrs time when they decide to pull it down to replace it , I have seen the computer generated interior images which seem fantastic but the outside seems "COMICAL" and i am not speaking from my own opinion but from the future generation of my "KIDS" who have no inclination of the brum that i grew up in so see the new buildings as their future and that they will have to live with! i hope that they will not have to see the wholesale destruction of "ICONIC" buildings that i have known to "MY" city as to their own. (WHAT ABOUT THE PIGEONS ON THE WIRE) i presume they have thought of that.
phil
 
I wish I had that sort Bernie!!
Hadn't thought about the pigeons, (they were a problem in West Bromwich) could birds become trapped between? I can't gauge the distance between the cage and the surface.
 
Astonite, I agree with you Completely, an utter eyesore, and in the wrong place, entirely incompatable with existing buildings around it. That of course is my opinion and I know others feel different, thats the way it should be, I have the same negative feelings against so called 'modern' art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Eric
 
It could have looked like this, if they went ahead with the 1940's plan





But only Baskerville House and the Hall of Memory (1920s) were built.
 
My first impression of it was that it was like a pile of parcels stacked on top of one another like what you would put under your Christmas tree! The parcels look pretty fancy now but I still get the same image in my mind. I work in a 300 year old library building in Dublin so there is a bit of a contrast between the two!!

Having said that I would have pretty conservative tastes, i'm not a fan of the Selfridge's building (looks like it should be on the moon!) even though it seems to be widely regarded now as a symbol of modern Birmingham.

Simon
 
Ellbrown - Those 40's pics - if they had done that then it be something to be proud of. Don't get me wrong - the right type of icon is fine. I like the window designs though - Anyway lets look on the bright side ... in 25 years it might be replaced with the 40's plan.
 
What an ugly & unsympathetic design has been used for the new library. It really jars with its surroundings. The Capita representations are rather misleading & fail to convey the darkness of the metal.
 
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