I went to visit David Adjaye's original IdeaStore in London the other day. The concept of the IdeaStore--a glorified library, really—with community center aspects, classes, lots of free computers, and a supportive staff to facilitate more than book-lending—is great. The building was nice, and very nicely integrated into its neighborhood. The much-touted blue and clear facade takes its cues from the blue and white tarps of the market stall tarps outside. I was disappointed to find that the escalator, which supposedly 'brings the street in' was actually blocked off and apparently only open for the summer months. The interiors were nice but not altogether groundbreaking, I thought--more open and spare than traditional library stacks, and it was certainly well-used, but I left not entirely sure about the hype.
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