"I'm pretty pissed that this poor excuse for a public library has been foisted on the residents of Kansas City."
"I'm pretty pissed that this poor excuse for a public library has been foisted on the residents of Kansas City."
Finally, an honest review of the new Plaza Library. Same as the old boss.
He sounds like an "everything sucks I bitch about everything because I am REAL" type of person. The downtown library and plaza library are some of the few things KC has done right.
ReplyDeleteKansas City, love it or leave it you hippy freak!
The old Plaza Library was a great mid-century building and a well designed library, but it was falling apart. The foundation was rapidly deteriorating. I would put a pencil down on a table and it would roll away until it fell to the floor. I was still sorry to see it go, especially the murals above the bookcases in the main reading room. What happened to them?
ReplyDeleteI like the new library and visit it at least once a week. I am addicted to requesting books online and having them delivered to the Plaza branch for me to pick up. I agree the lack of carpet is a huge distracting and detracting factor, but it is my understanding that it is not the fault of the Library. The developer who built the building claims to have run out of money so no Library carpeting and the promised public auditorium one level down is unfinished. I find this odd, given that the Library board allegedly gave the developer the rights to the property for one dollar, plus I believe there is approx $14 million in tax abatements on the property. I am guessing the professional offices upstairs have not had to go without carpeting or put up with unfinished rooms. Rights to the property should have included a guarantee that the Library spaces would be finished according to the proposal at the developer’s expense. Unless the developer is giving away the upper floors for free (you know that isn’t the case), they should have finished the library as promised by now. I hear the Library has found funds to install carpet, but I don’t know when it will happen.
The building itself is oddly undistinguished despite some obvious attempts by the architect. The best I can say is it could have been worse but being in such a prominent location it had the chance to be a jewel and it just isn’t. It doesn’t relate to anything around it. It doesn’t contribute to the aesthetic of the Plaza or the neighborhood or Brush Creek and it presents a rude boring north side to the street level of Ward Parkway when it had an opportunity to pick up on the wonderful street level façade of fountains at the Stowers Institute a few blocks away.
But I do like most of the Library interior and I also like the outdoor circular plaza where you enter the building and the various businesses/restaurants in the complex. It is a good controlled mix of auto and pedestrian traffic and if forces everyone to pay attention to each other.
Hope it is ok to post my response in both blogs? What is the protocol on that?