In 2013 this remarkable building in Birmingham, England, replaced a Brutalist concrete structure, the Birmingham Central Library (built in 1974). The exterior layer of the facade is a lattice of black metal rings, said to represent the city’s many former gas holders, almost all of which have now been demolished (Birmingham was the site of the first-ever building to be illuminated by gas). Underneath the lattice of black rings is a further lattice of silver which has gold, silver, and black decorative panels underneath. This ornamentation is said to represent…
