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Library of Parliament gives me wood...
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A change in the carpet would breathe a lot of new life into that space!
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While Edmonton's new central branch is turning out to be an ugly beast, the Edmonton Public Library's done a really great job modernizing the suburban branches in recent years.
The Jasper Place Branch opened in 2013 and was designed by Dub Architects and HCMA Architecture: https://hcma.ca/wp-content/uploads/2...d-1376x774.jpg https://hcma.ca/project/jasper-place-public-library/ https://images.adsttc.com/media/imag...jpg?1373229154 https://www.archdaily.com/398988/jas...dub-architects The Capilano Branch opened in 2018 and was designed by Patkau Architects: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b4d17576_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...238ba9c4_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...645b4e7a_c.jpg And the city's oldest, and original, library building is still in use: the 1912 Strathcona Public Library building. It was originally intended to be a Carnegie branch, but the SPL's request of $25,000 was turned down. Offered only $15,000, they decided to forgo the grant and all of Carnegie's staunch requirements to build this building instead. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0ba05874_c.jpg The only kind of old-school reading room we have left is the University of Alberta's 1951 Rutherford Reading Room, which is pretty spectacular: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7eea78fc_c.jpg |
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Those other Edmonton libraries look great! How did they botch the central one so badly while promoting such awesome design in the burbs? Was it a different city council?
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Wired magazine's 10 most beautiful libraries list has a Canadian entry:
1) Dokk1 Library, Aarhus, Denmark (Schmidt Hammer Lassen) 2) Lawrence (Kansas) Public Library, (by Gould Evans) 3) Yangzhou Zhongshuge, Zhen Yuan, China (by X+Living) 4) Beyazit Library, Istanbul (by Tabanlioglu Architects) 5) Vennesla Library, Norway (by Helen & Hard Architects) 6) Bodø Library, Norway (by DRDH) 7) Chicago Public Library, (by SOM) 8) Birmingham Library, (by Mecanoo) 9) Halifax Library, by Schmidt Hammer Lassen 10) Conarte Library, Monterrey Mexico (by Anagrama) https://www.wired.com/2016/09/settle...braries-earth/ The BBC also features one (unnumbered viewer chosen list) El Escorial Library in Madrid Vancouver Public Library Bodleian Library in Oxford Trinity College Library in Dublin Boston Public Library The Main Reading Room, Library of Congress in Washington, DC Ruins of the Library of Celsus in ancient city of Ephesus John Rylands Library in Manchester Sainte-Geneviève Library in Paris Picton Reading Room, Liverpool Central Library http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/201...iful-libraries |
The Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal was designed by Patkau Architects and completed in 2005. I've always found it a little unimpressive from the outside but it's a lovely building inside with an interesting variety of spaces. It combines Montreal's central public library with Quebec's national library and it's always very busy thanks to a great location on top of the city's busiest metro station.
https://patkau.ca/wp-content/uploads...-1456x1080.jpg https://patkau.ca/wp-content/uploads...5-717x1080.jpg https://patkau.ca/wp-content/uploads...p-850x1080.jpg https://patkau.ca/projects/gbq/ Montreal has historically had a very underdeveloped network of branch libraries but things are starting to improve. The Marc Favreau library that opened in Rosemont in 2013 is nice. It was designed by Dan Hanganu. http://www.hanganu.com/%20data/proje...cfavreau02.jpg http://www.hanganu.com/%20data/proje...avreau08.1.jpg http://www.hanganu.com/%20data/proje...cfavreau14.jpg http://www.hanganu.com/index.php/fr/...quemarcfavreau The Bibliothèque du Boisé in Ville Saint-Laurent also opened in 2013, designed by a consortium of three Quebec architecture firms. https://images.adsttc.com/media/imag...jpg?1417584832 https://images.adsttc.com/media/imag...jpg?1417583621 https://images.adsttc.com/media/imag...jpg?1417584035 https://www.archdaily.com/574698/the...du-boise-lemay The Mordecai Richler library is in Mile End (near where he grew up) and is housed in a former Anglican church. It's small and a bit cramped but the vaulted ceiling is nice and so is the stained glass. http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/culture/...?itok=fRll85GN http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/culture/...public-library Among Montreal's historic libraries is the Saint-Sulpice library, which built in 1912 and was where part of the Quebec national library's collection was housed before the Grande Bibliothèque was built. It is currently empty with plans to convert it into a library for teens, but unfortunately those plans keep being delayed. http://saintsulpice.banq.qc.ca/wp-co...photo-ML-3.jpg http://saintsulpice.banq.qc.ca/wp-co...06/photo-7.jpg http://saintsulpice.banq.qc.ca Montreal's former central library was built in 1917 and served the city until the Grande Bibliothèque was built. It's a nice building but not particularly big and it never played a very central or unifying role in the city, maybe because its location feels just a little bit out of the way (even if it isn't really). It is now home to the municipal arts and heritage councils. http://archivesdemontreal.com/docume...21-600x599.jpg http://archivesdemontreal.com/docume...34-600x555.jpg http://archivesdemontreal.com/docume...11-600x409.jpg http://archivesdemontreal.com/2017/0...e-de-montreal/ |
This is an upcoming expansion of the Maisonneuve library in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood of Montreal. There was some local opposition to the design by Patkau Architects – one of the people opposed to it was quoted as saying the library should be expanded underground so as not to damage the integrity of the original beaux-arts architecture. I can only imagine that someone who thinks an underground library is a good idea is someone who never spends any time in libraries. Luckily the city is moving ahead with the project regardless.
https://media2.ledevoir.com/images_g...7836/image.jpg https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/m...ue-maisonneuve Here's the existing building. The expansion would impose a couple of glass boxes on either side. http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/culture/...?itok=BIGoHqYg http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/culture/...public-library |
Cobourg Library
https://www.cobourg.ca/uploads/63598...33807222850915 This little courtyard usually has chess boards and stuff now, looks deserted here https://images.century21.ca/Listings...oth&lang=en-CA |
Those local branch libraries in Edmonton are amazing.
I'm a big fan of the expansion plans for the Maisonneuve Library. Too often people call for a replica of the original, but the contrast between the heavy stone and modern glass is very nice. That 70s church conversion is also very well done. |
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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...251d4cc1_b.jpg Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4bbcb7d9_b.jpg Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr |
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London's old central library is a beautiful building in a beautiful location. Today? It's in a mall.
That sounds very boring but in hind sight it was a great idea. The city desperately needed a larger main library but this was in the 90s when Eaton's closed. It left the largest downtown mall with gobs of empty space and a major commercial development that was going to turn into an empty shell and a blight on the urban landscape. This offered the ability to make sure that huge mall didn't collapse and gave Londoners a new much larger library in a very central location with underground parking and with 2 blocks of every downtown bus. Being on the main drag, Dundas Street, which was in collapse in the 90s, it also helped turn around the street and with it's new flex-street design, the main drag is quickly returning to it's former glory. This precipitated other corporate and especially educational players to open downtown campuses like Fanshawe and, to a lesser extent, Western. It turned the tide for the mall which although not a thriving one, certainly a viable one so much so that the developer actually put more money into renovating the mall a couple years ago. Thankfully the old building still remains and is fully occuppied so no heritage buildings were destroyed so it worked out to be a win-win. The movement of the library to the old Eaton's Centre was a first in Canada to try to salvage those huge gaping holes that had begun to develop across mid-size city Canada and has been followed by many cities in the country since. |
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._%26_Photo.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Public_Library |
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