Architecture
The Library of Birmingham will occupy a key site in the heart of Birmingham. Located on the northern edge of Centenary Square, the city’s largest public square, the Library of Birmingham will stand between the 1970s Repertory Theatre and the 1930s grand Baskerville House.
Three palazzos
Key to the Mecanoo design is the principle that The Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Library of Birmingham and Baskerville House will together form an ensemble of three distinct building identities fronting Centenary Square. Baskerville House, a monumental limestone building designed in1936, The Birmingham Repertory Theatre (REP), a concrete clad building designed in 1964, and the Library of Birmingham, designed in 2009, a transparent glass building wrapped in a delicate metal filigree, inspired by the rich and proud history of this former industrial city with a tradition of craftsmanship. These three complementary characters will define and influence the public space of Centenary Square on a more human and intimate scale. According to Mecanoo’s proposed design, Centenary Square will change into a public space with three different realms: monumental, cultural and entertainment. These three palazzos will be a part an urban narrative experience from different periods of Birmingham’s urban history. Pedestrians will walk along what Mecanoo calls ‘the red line’, the busiest pedestrian route of the city, which connects the Bullring, New Street Station, Victoria Square, Centenary Square, through the International Conference Centre towards the red and blue brick Canal district.
Canopy and Amphitheatre
A large canopy announces the new shared entrance to the Library and the REP while providing shelter below and above creating a public city balcony from which to watch events on the square. Additionally, a grand circular open-air amphitheatre creates a dramatic visual link between the library’s lower ground level and Centenary Square, and provides natural light and an outdoor space for staging events. Above the entrance canopy, the building volume steps respectfully away from Baskerville House. The volume reduces again higher up, this time stepping away from Cambridge Street and the REP to create space for a garden of the senses with panoramic views.
Experiential journey through rotundas
Mecanoo introduces an experiential journey through the Library. Escalators and travelators dynamically placed in the heart of the building interconnect circular voids. These overlapping rotundas create constantly changing vistas as visitors ascend to the public levels while passing by other levels such as archives storage and staff areas. The rotundas not only provide way finding through sightlines but also natural light and ventilation. The changing atmospheres provide varied and multiple opportunities for unexpected collective encounters and diverse social and learning experiences.
Circles
The circle is a leading theme for the library of Birmingham; the amphitheatre, the patterned metal façade, the rotundas and the layout of the elevated gardens. As the one of the simplest and most fundamental forms known to man, the circle is understood and recognised equally by someone coming from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia or the Americas. For Mecanoo the archetypal form of the circle embodies universality and timelessness. This new building symbolizes what Birmingham is: a global city with a local heart.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
The REP, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with its unique and beautiful auditorium will be kept and renovated. The back of house area facing the City Centre Gardens will be demolished and updated with state of the art accommodations for loading and unloading. New workshops, staff accommodations and a shared 300-seat theatre and foyer space will be created for both the REP and the Library.
BREEAM excellent rated building
The Library of Birmingham is being designed to achieve a BREEAM excellent rating. To accomplish this, a variety of energy saving techniques will be adopted. Although the library is a transparent building it will maintain energy efficiency through the careful selection of materials and the use of mass and shading in the design detailing. At the same time the design is such as to invite natural daylight deep in the building.
Cultural destination
The new library is designed to draw people from not only the local population, but from all over the world as visitors to Birmingham, a city reborn as a cultural destination. The Library of Birmingham is designed to be a place for the dissemination of ideas and information, a social heart of the city; a second home for Birmingham’s diverse community.
Mecanoo architecten / Francine Houben
April 2009
