When I was working in Paris our offices at some point were located next to the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. You could argue that the main purpose of a library is to preserve books. Especially when that library has the function of a national archive hosting documents from as early as the 11th century. Now imagine you’re an architect and you have about 750 Million Euro (~ 1 Billion US$) at your disposal to build the library of all libraries.

I am still struggling to understand how the architect of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France thought it was a good idea to design the library to be a high rise open glass structure with direct sunlight and temperatures in summer heating up quickly… 

Clearly not the best of environments for delicate documents!

SPARK OF THE DAY

No matter how cool your design, great your service or creative the features, every project, product or service has go / no-go criteria – if you’re a software developer: build applications that stay up and running; if you have an accountancy service: file your customer’s statutory returns on time every month; if you run a restaurant: make sure you have a tidy kitchen and serve food that is well prepared…

You can offer as many nice to haves as you like, but if you fail to deliver on the must haves, you’ll be out of business sooner than you think!

P.S. In a bid to not let the 750 Million Euro go to waste, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France spent another fortune to enhance the windows with wooden shutters to shield the books – gone maybe the concept of open transparent towers, but at least all ended well for the books✨