New design images of the Library of Birmingham have been released, showing the first look at what we can expect from the central rotunda (top) and the outdoor amphitheatre.
Operating as a main focal point of the building, the central rotunda features a breathtaking wall of books across several floors, with the image showing an improved environment with user-friendliness at its core. Wide travelators and escalators provide links between floors, while spacious public areas are flooded with natural light.
The outdoor amphitheatre, meanwhile, promises to become a hugely popular feature of the new building upon completion. Accessible from the music and children’s sections of the Library of Birmingham, the amphitheatre will provide the perfect space for outdoor performance and activity which can be viewed by onlookers in the above Centenary Square.
Due to open in 2013, over the next year the library aims to complete the construction of the concrete frame, the installation glazing, and the application of the distinctive frieze.
The next peak at the Library’s interior will also come in the new year, as a ‘flythrough’ video is to be released, offering the most in depth look so far inside the Library of Birmingham.
Looks like a shopping mall, and if the library buy anything like half the books in that top picture, rather than the ragbag collection they have in the lending section currently, then I think I’ll run naked around the city centre.