The new Willesden Library opened yesterday, and I must say it is even more spectacular than I imagined. As you can see from my previous post, the exterior still has builders all round it, who will continue working on the housing that pays for the whole project for quite a while to come, but the inside is now functioning as a library.
The library is on three floors with a central light well in the middle. The light looks like this from the ground floor:
The ground floor is too big for a single picture. Here is the part nearest Brondesbury Park:
Unlike the old Willesden Library, you can actually see out on to the street:
Looking more towards the back, you can see some of the ipads laid out:
When the builders finally depart, it will be possible to access the library from the rear as well as the front:
Now let's move up the stairs to the first floor:
The first floor is huge:
It has displays around the light well drawing on local history. I suspect these are intended to draw you up to the new Brent Museum on the second floor.
The second floor has yet more books, and yet more computers. This how it looks at the back. The windows face towards the housing.
As I was going round, one of the library staff started chatted to me. She said that rebuilding the library had been the subject of some controversy, a fact of which I was aware. I defy anyone who can remember the old Willesden Library Centre to say that the new one is not a huge improvement. I shall probably do some more posts in a while, particularly on the new Museum and the exhibition spaces that have yet to open. At the moment, I will just leave one last view of the light well:
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