Description

The Whitechapel Idea Store is the flagship of seven “idea stores”, the reincarnation of a library system in East London. The “idea store” is the result of a major campaign, begun in the 1990s, to rejuvenate the Tower Hamlets library system in addressing the contemporary needs of the district. Designed by Adjaye Associates and completed in 2005, the Whitechapel Idea Store exemplifies an unabashed use of retail design and marketing in rethinking the concept of the library and its community.

Historically recognized as the impoverished sector of Victorian London of the infamous “Jack the Ripper”, many parts of the present-day Borough of Tower Hamlets remain characterized by high unemployment, low levels of education and one of the country’s least-used library systems. The inadequacy of this system with its historic, aging buildings prompted one of the most extensive library surveys in the history of London. Responses were unequivocal in condemning the system as outdated and run-down. They were equally clear in expressing a prioritized need for books and technology over an upgrade of the existing structures.

The branding of the library as an “idea store” signals a deliberate departure from the antiquated library system, its institutional connotations of class and education and the resultant inaccessibility of such a system to its present-day community. With the introduction of the Idea Store, the library is envisioned anew as a learning center integrating the resources of a modernized Tower Hamlets library with those of Lifelong Learning Services, an agency of the borough that offers credit and non-credit courses serving as feeder for colleges and vocational training programs. The merger of the two institutions makes available books, media, technology and walk-in access to 900 courses. Drawing on retail concepts, the Idea Store sells learning in its tangible form as books and its intangible form as education.

The Idea Stores also address the problematic issue of location, an issue that has contributed to the failure of the existing library system. The lack of patronage of the old facilities was, in part, due to their placement within a city of a different era – a placement that lacks relevance in today’s borough. Rather, each of the new Idea Stores is sited amidst the circuit of everyday 21^st century life – near retail establishments, malls, supermarkets and banks. Anne Cunningham, the Head of Libraries, said, “If McDonald’s or the major supermarkets wouldn’t site a store there, neither would we.” As the flagship store, the Whitechapel Idea Store is positioned on a major thoroughfare near several markets, a gas station, a pharmacy and the Whitechapel Underground station. A five-level structure with multiple entrances, access to Whitechapel includes an escalator in an open-air atrium that spills directly onto the street.

The Whitechapel Idea Store is a straightforward stack of five floor plates in which 10 % of the program is devoted to retail while the remainder is equally divided between the books/media and the classrooms. A café with panoramic views of St. Paul’s Cathedral is placed at the highest level, employing a classic retail design device to draw the public through the building. These programs are unified by a facade of aluminum panels and alternating clear and colored glass that incorporates a logo as well as a high-tech informational display system. This appealing modern facade in translucent hues of blue and green has become the signature of the Idea Store. As such, its architectural palette as a branding device derives iconic aspects from the highly successful Apple store.

The vision to replace all the existing libraries in Tower Hamlets with Idea Stores has implications for cost and infrastructure. It is estimated that the cost of operating each new store is 25 % above current library expenditures, due to expanded hours and services. These costs will be subsidized, in part, by the borough and the government and, in part, through the revenue derived from retail sales and the café. The existing libraries will not be demolished but, rather, be reused, where possible, for other community events.

Patronage has increased dramatically since the opening of the Idea Stores. While the word “library” is scrupulously avoided – this includes the substitution of the position of “ideas supervisor” for that of “librarian” – this new attitude towards books, media and learning is a positive step in the development of the library in the UK of the 21^st century.

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Originally published in: Nolan Lushington, Wolfgang Rudorf, Liliane Wong, Libraries: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2016.