Ranting on Idea Stores (and a little technology)

Having recently visited a number of Idea stores in London to get an idea about their current program and the building typology, I felt a little disappointed. Admittedly currently I have visited 2 of the 4 built, however in my opinion there seemed very little initially seperating them from conventional libraries. It was interesting comparing the Adjaye idea store (nearish the Gerkin) to the marketplace adjacent. One was lively and bustly whilst the other was seperate and unengaging with the majority of people. The market had a more rapid exchange of data and interactions and was acting far more of a social hub than the idea store. On the ground floor of the store members of the local government were setting up workshops on how to best re-develop the area and I wonder how many people from the market actually got involved (and to what degree they did). You can bet the organisers chose that day to put it in to coincide with the market and the store logostically made the most sense, however this could certainly be improved in the future design of a similar typology.

How about a building which uses display technologies in a variety of ways depending on time of day and can cater for different events? A similar precedent can be seen in the work of Cedric Price where outdoor theatres could temporarily be created (ok and a little archigram there too). In addressing the lack of livelyness of the idea stores, a building that positively integrated/incorporated public events into its own built fabric I propose following up upon. The building needs to give something back to the public realm, if it is part of a dynamic interactive information institution (I think the word institution is inappropriate for this project). Just off the top of my head perhaps a building form which could create external public spaces (suitable for markets, street art, public theatre and cinema), however could also adapt at night to not just close off particular elements but to also provide additional information content. eg 12am you can go up to the builidng and find the number for a taxi company from the interactive display content. It would be ideas like this which could add to give the building a distinct character in the city.