Crossing Centenary Square in the pouring rain is nothing new to Birmingham, Mecanoo’s Library on the other hand is, situated between Baskerville House and the ICC, encapsulating the Repertory Theatre, a series of glass boxes stacked on top of each other, in such a way as to create huge dramatic cantilevers, very much in Dutch tradition of Koolhaas where heavy objects appear to float in the air, also in the tradition of Koolhaas, is the reference to context, in fact there is none, it forms its own context, significantly taller than its two counterparts, an exquisite object, a jewelled box referred to my four-year-old daughter as a building made of fairy wings. The fairy wings are a series of overlapping metal rings on the outside of the glass, probably offering a degree of solar protection, if there was any solar radiation falling on the surface, but mainly they are for decoration, to make a statement.
On passing beneath the floating jewelled box, the cantilevered volume above provides a welcome respite from the rain, enough to shake of an umbrella before entering. On entering the lobby, a glass fronted space it is the library itself that the the main exhibit, a long travelator leads up across a circular atrium, a drum that descends to an underground level, the drum seems to be made out of books, or at least the circumference is lined with books on black shelves. In front of the books, black steel structure and balustrade line the edge of the atrium, wood floors complete the effect of making this feel like a comfortable place to read books.
At the head of the travelator, a glass fronted space, with glass fronted corridors leading off to library offices where the staff can be seen working in an open environment with clear views out aver the city. A glass lift ascends through a smaller circular space above the drum, much to the bemusement of an elderly couple who have just ridden down in said lift, wait while others get in, only to be transported back up to the top. At the top an exhibit that feels like it has been transplanted from another time, which of course it has, the Shakespeare room, disassembled in the 1970s and reassembled in the 2010s, timber panelling, cabinets, empty drawers, and a collection of artefacts associated with William Shakespeare.
Outside is a not so secret garden, not so secret because there are signs pointing to it, and it is listed on the appropriate level in the lift. Coats on, umbrella up, and out onto the roof of the library and into the rain , which has actually eased a bit, and wow! For a nine storey building, an unexpected clear view of the Birmingham skyline, demonstrates the benefit of building on the top of a hill. This is amazing, a tranquil space with intimate seating areas surrounded by shrub planting, with the whole city as a backdrop, Le Corbusier’s Solarium, from Vers une Architecture. City landmarks punctuate the skyline giving the impression of towers set in a green park, as distance hides the roads and low rise buildings and houses that exist between the trees. John Madin’s iconic inverted ziggurat, still bearing the name Birmingham Central Library, a pure sculpture in a plane of blocks, looking rather sad, rain stained, neglected.
Make’s Cube, another sculptural object with no relationship with its context, pure form, making its own bold statement, a huge cube seemingly made up of many smaller cubes in a type of three dimensional puzzle, on the higher levels, sections are left out, and at the top glass planes are folded to form the roof. A statement of creating a place within the neglected industrial plane, very much part of the thinking of the 2000s in stark contrast, the dull brown low rise blocks of 1980s conservatism, that stand directly in front. Scanning around, the rotunda, designed in the 1960s by Jim Roberts, rehabilitated by Urban Splash, now a cool address to live, a glass cylinder looking very much like Roberts’ original design. The absence of any sign of new street station from this vantage, shows how much has been removed in the current progress of reorganisation.
Directly opposite the library, Arena Central, or at least the parts that were undertaken, Alpha Tower stands in a clear plaza following the removal of the television studios, a face lifted Crowne Plaza Hotel, essentially painted black and white to make it relate to the white concrete and graphite panelling of the apartment development. The neo-classical bank building that line the edge of Broad Street stand empty awaiting conversion into boutique hotels. The registry office now offices for the department of sport, out front the very shiny statue of the three Victorian industrialists, Watt, Newcomen, Priestley, studying a map of how they were going to transform the world. Beyond, a large concrete block with air handling units on the roof, reads as the Ballroom to the Crowne Plaza. In the background, the grey clad sides of the Mailbox.
Looking up Broad Street, The Hyatt hotel, the 1990s glass tower a symbol of confidence in the future of Birmingham, along with its partner the Symphony Hall and ICC. Beyond Brindleyplace makes its own mark on the skyline, Porphoryos’ curious venetian tower, stands out among the brick clad blocks, historic buildings, Ikon Gallery in the former Oozells Street School, and the Church Nightclub, in a former Church, with their clock towers just poking up above the later blocks. Along Broad Street itself, office towers that were built in the 1970s have been reused, converted to hotels, breathing new life into the city.
My daughter does not share my interest in viewing the skyline, she wants to go swimming, we take a ride down in the glass elevator and to my surprise she wants to go out onto the roof terrace that fronts onto Centenary Square, there are quite a few people out here, enjoying the gardens on the top of the cantilevered box, benches are set into the landscape, some are the edge of the raised planters, one such bench has no planting, the space enclosed by the wooden slatted bench is lined with blue acrylic playing surface, a little person climbs over the bench, into the blue zone, now extremely happy, she is swimming! Must have noticed this from the secret garden on the roof.
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