Description

The Library of Birmingham opened in late 2013 as a grand addition to the second largest metropolitan economy in the United Kingdom. Sited in Centenary Square, it replaces the previous library of Birmingham, a concrete icon of British Brutalism, and fulfills previously frustrated intentions for a landmark in the central city. Wrapped in a distinctive facade of aluminum filigree circles, the 31,000 m² library transforms the square, providing a new cohesion with the adjacent 1960s Repertory Theatre and the 1936 Baskerville House. Facing the busiest pedestrian route in the city, the ten-story structure is a visible statement of today’s library as both civic icon and informal public place.

Mecanoo’s creative director Francine Houben states that libraries are “the cathedrals of nowadays…” (The Observer) and the Library Birmingham, as one of the largest institutions of its kind in Europe, withstands such a comparison in scale and scope. Designed to serve 10,000 patrons daily, the extensive program includes not only the adults’ and children’s library but also a music library, several study areas, health services, multi-media center, archives, exhibition halls, cafés, lounge space and a shared performance space with the newly renovated Repertory Theatre. These numerous spaces are arranged vertically with public service areas on the lower floors, and archives and the relocated Shakespeare Memorial Room on the upper levels. These designations between the quotidian and the precious are additionally differentiated in the glazed facade through the gray and gold bands; gold bands indicate the location of the treasures such as the Shakespeariana archive and renowned documents of the Industrial Revolution.

The floor plans of the above-ground levels, each a simple square, are distinguished from one another by different-sized circular openings in the floors. The resulting eight, unaligned, overlapping spaces offer unique glimpses into the areas directly above and below. Mecanoo describes these spaces as rotundas that play an important role in connecting the library physically and with light and ventilation. Some hold special significance within the library. The rooftop rotunda houses the relocated Shakespeare Memorial Room, a Victorian reading room designed in 1882 as the first Birmingham Central Library. A recessed rotunda in the plaza accommodates an outdoor performance center and connects with the Repertory Theater.

In another aspect comparable to church congregations, libraries, too, must attract and maintain their audience. Houben’s goal at Birmingham is to “promote the informal” and to “seduce people into coming in” to this “cathedral” of knowledge. The rotundas, many of which are connected with escalators, recall the pedestrian movements of shopping malls. Here, though, their eccentric placement in plan resembles Deconstructivist compositions and creates dynamic movement amongst the many varying spaces, both interior and exterior. This retail-inspired strategy serves the library well in creating social spaces amongst the books for many types of interaction in what Houben calls “the most public space in the knowledge economy”.

The successful completion of the new library – on time, below budget and with a BREEAM Excellent rating – is in itself a civic statement. The realization of such a large-scale public project in the current global economy is the product of a design project management that foresaw the selection of an architectural firm well after the start of the process. With the City Council as client, the process also involved many sub-consultants including a design manager for the development of an integrated building design approach. Mecanoo’s success in this respect is the ability to negotiate such bureaucracy with grace, wit and fiscal wisdom.

The City Council conceived of the new Library of Birmingham as a place of learning and community. Mecanoo’s ambition for a “people’s palace” (press kit) as such a place is part of the search for a new paradigm in 21^st century public library design.

ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) Project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions, March 2007, p. 119.


Rowan Moore, “Library of Birmingham – Review”, The Observer, August 31, 2013, p. 2.


Mecanoo Architecten, press kit.

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