The Book Country

New landmark buildings outside London have been a bit thin on the ground in recent years, so to hear about the new 10 storey Library of Birmingham opening its doors yesterday is all good news for the construction industry. It may have been publically funded at a cost of £188.8m, but this building could be the start of several new landmark developments popping up around Birmingham. 

In Leeds we've seen the opening of Trinity Shopping Centre and Leeds Arena this summer, so let hope this is all a good sign that the construction industry is well clear of recession.

Birmingham’s colourful new BREEAM excellent library, designed by Mecanoo with Buro Happold, is 20% larger than its predecessor and will display 400,000 of the institution’s 1 million text collection to the public. The outside of the building has gained a lot of attention over the past few months as construction has drawn to an end. With its intricate interlocking metal circles, reminiscent of a Spirograph pattern and references the ‘interlocking stories of industrial heritage, jewellery, people and knowledge’ in the local area. 

A design similar to one we have used recently in a linear format, which can also graphically reference a DNA strand. Very fitting for a large scale library full of knowledge and research about all known living organisms and the origins of life.

www.sovibrant.co.uk 

Architecture - Construction - Interior Design 

Images courtesy of Google Images