Sunday, Jan 15 - Bibleotheque

traveled way out to the 14th district to see the Bibleotheque Francois Mitterand in the morning - amazing building, very unconvincing in the glossies, incredible in person. it has four L-shaped buildings forming the sides of an enormous boardwalk plaza - so large that in the middle there is a cut-out with a sizable forest inside. i'd say the site was at least a block by a block and a half large. the building was quite a ways from the main city, right by the river, and the plaza was so large that it felt like a completely different location - completely silent, and empty (even though the bookish french had formed lines probably 300 people long to get in at the opening time). very still, very large, very quiet. the picture shows a little of the sunshading - books don't want too much sunlight, so these panels open up just to allow light when people need it, and they close and allow the space to suck heat out of the building when the light isn't important. i'll cut it short: it was an impressive site and work.