Random encounters

Dear Sheddists,

don't you just love those random encounters that bring sparkle and life to the day!

Day-tripper

Earlier this week we travel to Birmingham for a long overdue visit to the not-so-new civic library - it's now some two and half years old. In passing we stop to view the extensive demolition works currently being undertaken at the site of the old library.  It seems the renovation of the curiously named, 'Paradise Circus' is well underway.

If Paradise is half as nice

The 'Paradise' attribution dates way way back to the sixteenth century, perhaps describing the quality of the land or even the existence of an early medieval pleasure garden.

The site is formally named 'Paradise Street' three centuries later, then subsequently renamed 'Paradise Circus' in the 1960s when the bordering road is transformed into a massive urban roundabout.

Sadly, the circus element to the name will be lost once the current redevelopment is completed. Instead we are promised that ...

'Paradise is to be transformed into a vibrant mixed use development of commercial, civic, retail, leisure and hotel space, providing major improvements to pedestrian access and greatly enhanced public realm befitting this exemplary historic setting.'

We can't wait.

Demolition man

We suspect few will mourn the demise of the old library, widely perceived as ugliness personified.

In the 1988 BBC documentary, 'A Vision of Britain' that well-known architectural critic, Prince Charles, described it as 'a place where books are incinerated, not kept'.

We find it difficult to disagree, but even in their death the most ugly of buildings can achieve a certain dignity and beauty denied them during their lifetime. The lower tier of windows in the soon to be demolished building bears the triptych logo, 'surprised; informed; inspired'.

It serves as one last poignant memory of Birmingham's brief but brutal 1970s flirtation with the Modernist movement.

No protection

All of which brings us, somewhat randomly, to a little-known piece of music by the awesome Massive Attack which also bears the name, 'Paradise Circus'.  It comes from their much under-rated 'Heligoland' album.

Given the band is well-known for its post-apocalyptic take on modern society it seems an entirely fitting soundtrack to what is now a major demolition site in the very heart of Birmingham. You can listen it by clicking on this link.

Shock and awe

Our wintery reverie at an end we skirt the demolition site in search of the encircled, gold-banded successor to the old library.  It gleams brightly in the noon-day sunshine, ushering in the shock of the new.

The building is an inspirational architectural paradox, square-jawed like its predecessor, but festooned from tip to toe in a series of inter-locking metal circles.  This circular pattern recurs throughout the interior, curves and lines interspersed at each level of its nine stories.

It really is a stunner and Birmingham can rightly be proud to host the biggest civic library in Europe. The official opening comes in September 2013 when Malala Yousafzai, the brave and inspirational Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban assassination attempt, says this: 

'Let us not forget that even one book, one pen, one teacher, can change the world'.
  
Blue lines

We spend nearly two hours exploring - there's just so much to see.  The blue-lined escalator takes us to the first floor as we look down on elegant columns in the browsing area below. Just one floor further up we step out into a magical rising circle of library shelves in one vast metal-ringed rotunda of books.

The delights continue.  An oasis-like garden tops the first of the three giant cubes that make up the vast bulk of the building.  The view across Birmingham is surely one, if not the best, in the city but the hidden beauty comes in two delightful touches within the garden itself.  Some simple bird-boxes and a drilled wooden insect sanctuary welcome visitors from the natural world alongside their human counterparts.

 Sitting on top of the world

And so on to the very top where a magnificent curved glass viewing area provides yet more stunning sights of the city below, this time from the comfort of two plush red sofas.

An old brass-handled door lies just behind, the entrance to yet another hidden marvel.  We enter a vaulted room clad in elegant wooden display cases that house the Shakespeare Memorial collection.

The room was designed in 1882 by John Henry Chamberlain and has already been taken apart and reconstructed twice - once in the library currently in the course of demolition and now to its new home on the 9th floor.

The Shakespeare collection is one of the two most important in the world and the gold crown that tops the apex of the new library is designed specially to protect it for many more generations to come.

Going Underground

We retrace our steps, down through the browsing area, past the soft-play Story Steps and along a corridor to the hobbit-like room at the far end of the library.  It houses the library's extensive collection and yet more red upholstered sofas.

Outside in the circular courtyard Chinese students play table-tennis unseen by the passing pedestrians overhead.  Our visit over we retire to 'Asha's', one of Birmingham's finest Indian restaurants just a short walk away.

Happy Birthday to you!

Our random encounter of the day...

We enjoy a fine lunch at 'Asha's', serenaded by a spirited rendition of 'Happy Birthday' from the table behind, which is occupied by three lively ladies in fine voice.

A birthday-piped dessert plate arrives and I volunteer for photographic duties, first with one of their phones then with my own camera.

The girls tell us they're off 'on the razzle' afterwards, though quite where 'razzle' is to be found at 2:30 in the afternoon in the middle of Birmingham quite defeats me! We decline their kind offer and make off into the afternoon sunshine in search of our bus home.

I leave you with one last photo which says it all!