Looking it up, apparently the new version was itself demolished in 2015 to make room for commercial spaces, which makes it even more sad.
It was so pretty before! (Birmingham Central Library)
6 months ago by The Picard Maneuver to c/facepalm
The_Picard_Maneuver 9 points 6 months ago
Ooh, that does help.
Evil_Shrubbery 15 points 6 months ago
Well, in a post like this some additional info wouldn't have been out of place (winks at op):
- it's not national
- the building from the first panel burned down
- the building from the second panel opened in 1974, had nicely functional interior, but was deemed unsafe at least by 2011 due to the construction techniques used (there was pubic outcry both towards how ugly it was & later to preserve it, the latter endeavour obviously being unsuccessful bcs rubble)
- the new one opened in 2013 & it's better
Initial use of the library was so heavy that the need for an extension was agreed in 1872 but deferred until 1878. On 11 January 1879 a fire broke out behind a wooden partition serving as a temporary wall during building operations. The fire caused extensive damage, with only 1,000 volumes saved from a stock of 50,000.
The_Picard_Maneuver 3 points 6 months ago
Thank you for the info!
naticus 3 points 6 months ago
I'm sure the new one is probably better considering the construction of the previous was unsafe, but my first reaction was disgust because it looks like it's surrounded by barbed wire. Something just seems off about how they adorned it to me.
Evil_Shrubbery 3 points 6 months ago
*fancy Barbie wire
(But I didn't get that impression, more just like an oriental vibe.)
Ok, maybe I can kinda see barbed wire effect a bit ... (but in my brainhole it's overshadowed by the shady functional purpose of it at).
naticus 2 points 6 months ago
Yeah I guess at the right angles, it could look really nice. I think at a distance, it gives me the effect the most, but up close it does look intricate and has an elegance to it. Thanks for the additional photos!
BradleyUffner 4 points 6 months ago
Rapid unscheduled conflagration
Evil_Shrubbery 3 points 6 months ago
Fire.
Swedneck 2 points 6 months ago
i will never understand how people can find brutalism actively appealing, at best some specific examples (that aren't even proper brutalism) can be tolerable..
Like i'm sorry but it's raw concrete, i.. if you think you find it appealing, you're just wrong, just like you'd simply be objectively incorrect to state "wow i much prefer having a picnic on the surface of the moon rather than in a magical forest"
discozombie 6 points 6 months ago
I like brutalism architecture, I genuinely feel at peace around it. It's polarising. That said I also like art nouveau which I guess is pretty much the opposite.
clay_pidgin 1 point 6 months ago
I also like both!
TheJesusaurus 5 points 6 months ago
I mean, I hate your use of "objective" and "wrong" in here as it's obviously incorrect, but I understand what you're saying. I do find a lot of brutalist architecture genuinely aesthetically appealing myself
Swedneck 2 points 6 months ago
so like, you'd enjoy sitting in a park surrounded by brutalist buildings?
That's the part i struggle to accept anyone actually being okay with, to the point that i think the only thing that can truly convince me is seeing you irl choose to spend a week long vacation in a brutalist city rather than e.g. utrecht.
AvocadoSandwich 2 points 6 months ago
I agree although I understand that there might be a place for the style. The style itself is inherently alienating and rejecting of life so as a building style it is in my opinion best suited for places that want to keep people away or at least want to signal that it is not a place to live. Using it for a library then is an odd choice.
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If it makes you feel better the library building demolished in 2015 didn't mean the end of the library. The library moved to a new and improved building.
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