Back in the days before austerity crippled local councils, through the slashing of their budgets from central government, grand municipal projects for cities to be proud of were not unusual. One such project was the rebuilding of the central library in our second city. The new library was opened in 2013, replacing the earlier Brutalist style building which had stood on the the nearby Paradise Circus since the 1970s.
Despite its innovative design, the predecessor had not stood the test of time due to the poor condition of the building materials (a member of the public was hit by a small piece concrete falling from the building). Ugly netting was added to prevent any further erosion; the original white concrete became grey and stained as it was never cleaned: the days of the old library were numbered.
The new library sited in Centenary Square after a competition to design it. I visited Hannah back in February, there was snow on the ground so the city centre was quiet, but we decided to take a look at the library.
We couldn't go out onto the rooftop gardens then as it was icy and hazardous, but I still loved my visit. It also meant that I was determined to visit later in the year to see the gardens.
I used Paige Evans Oh My Heart papers to make the layout about my trip to the library. As the embellishments are in rose gold, I bought some rose gold cardstock from Craft Perfect by Tonic (Hochannda), where you can choose your own papers to die cut my own title. the dies are a script set by XCut.
The books (an ideal embellishment) are cut from the papers, and the feathers are a Sizzix die by Pete Hughes.
2 comments:
Gorgeous layouts and what a difference a building makes!
The last time I visited Birmingham this was being built, lots of scaffolding & I hadn't a clue what it was going to be. It's very impressive now.....Mgt.
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