See my writeup on this on TeleRead:
http://www.teleread.com/library/birm...-opens-europe/
I'm okay with the architecture one way or another - what's dismal about the whole affair is Birmingham ploughing money into these civic egoboost projects while the rest of the country's public library sector is in meltdown. England's local library financing system gives politicians a horribly effective smokescreen for sneaking away from their responsibilities to provide library services. This from the country that brought you the LIBOR scandal.