“A People's Palace” exhibits models and movies of recent public buildings by Mecanoo, including the Library of Birmingham. The first instalment of the exhibition has taken place at the acclaimed Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin, Germany. Aedes, founded by Kristin Feireiss, is one of the most prominent international platforms for architecture and urban design.
Besides the Library of Birmingham, the municipal offices and train station in Delft, the Kaap Skill museum on Texel, the Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Performing Arts in Kaohsiung, and the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in Boston are among the projects included in the exhibition.
The exhibition expresses Mecanoo’s founder and creative director, Francine Houben’s belief that public buildings are the social and cultural heart of society: “Public buildings need public space and should be welcoming to everybody.”
For Birmingham, Mecanoo designed a library building that is inviting and inspiring for people of all ages and backgrounds - a real public building that also creates an outdoor public space. In the first year since its opening in September 2013, the Library of Birmingham received over 2.7 million.