A great idea?

Interested in modern architecture?

Or do you care more about where local governments are spending your hard earned taxes to plan services for your future? Take a trip to Whitechapel Art Gallery in East London before 26 March and you could satisfy both concerns.

A new exhibition - ‘Making Public Buildings' - is currently showcasing and celebrating the work of David Adjaye, one of Britain's leading contemporary architects. The Tanzanian-born designer has worked on some high-profile private projects in his time, but this airing focuses purely on his commercial work.

The location is an inspired choice. One of his latest projects - the Whitechapel Idea Store - sits a few hundred metres directly east along Whitechapel Road. This is one of the ten featured buildings in the exhibition. In addition, the construction of the project has directly enabled an ambitious £10 million expansion of the art gallery - the adjoining Passmore Edwards library having been relocated into the Idea Store - inextricably linking the two buildings, at least for the duration of the exhibition.

A real exhibition

The Whitechapel Idea Store is the flagship building in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council's plans to update its education and library facilities. The concept is to supply traditional library services in a flexible space that also offers other educational resources (see box, ‘What's the big Idea?').

In this case the Idea Store includes a dance studio, creche, cafe, and numerous classrooms for adult education courses. It has directly replaced the existing libraries in Whitechapel and nearby Stepney and will be the largest in a planned network of Idea Stores for the Borough.

Adjaye Associates won the competition to design this building, plus another in the network at Chrisp Street in June 2001. The Chrisp Street store, sited further east in Tower Hamlets opened in July 2004; the Whitechapel branch opened to the public in late September 2005. In keeping with the Idea Store concept, both are sited in the midst of the local shopping areas.

The Whitechapel Idea Store has been built on a former area of wasteland between Whitechapel High Street and a Sainsbury's superstore. It is a few minutes walk from an underground station, raising its accessibility to the public, and is surrounded by a bustling street market.

The five-storey building dominates the landscape. It's fully glazed facade has been brought to life by a series of blue and green coloured panels, which also form the function of creating a recognisable brand - the Chrisp Street store having the same striped effect.

Inside, the differences to traditional libraries are instantly apparent. Rather than dark, intimidating silent spaces, the atmosphere is bright, open and relaxed. Bright red flooring leads the public through airport-style security gates into an open-plan reception. Comfort levels extend to the servicing of the environment; making sure people are comfortable while using the facilities is a major factor in the amount of time they remain and their likelihood of returning.

ECA member firm ECG Group carried out the mechanical, electrical and public health services at the Whitechapel and Chrisp Street Stores. It was contracted directly by main contractor William Verry in a multi-million pound package. "The same project team worked on both schemes," explains John Hannen, ECG's mechanical project engineer. "The Chrisp Street and Whitechapel [Idea Stores] were designed and procured as one project to achieve economies of scale," explains Heather Wills, Tower Hamlets Idea Store programme director. This was a decision taken early by the council.

"The main issue [of the m&e services installation] was getting everything in and co-ordinated with the other services," explains Craig Batten, ECG electrical project manager. Nothing was to be on show and there were a lot of services."

As is common with many modern public buildings, the structure is playing an integral part in the services. The thermal mass of tonnes of exposed concrete is used to provide a baseload to help heat and cool the building naturally, reducing the amount of mechanical services needed. "This design meant that there were bare concrete ceilings, so no voids available for services," explains Batten. "Hence all services had to go under floor voids."

There are two main risers serving the building, one for power and one for data. These run in front of the central lift shafts from the ground to the fourth floor. From here they supply local distribution boards. "All the floors were quite intricate and awkward due to the sheer amount of services going into the voids," stresses Batten. Each storey is basically serviced from floor level, with the ceiling level lighting being fed from the floor above.

One complication to this system came on the ground floor. The building sits directly over the route of a proposed new railway system, Crossrail, which reduced the area available for underfloor services. "A quarter of the ground floor has a void under it specially sealed ready to cater for [the Crossrail project]," explains Batten. "This meant no services could run across this area, so we could only use the ceiling void to serve these areas."

At roof level it was the building design that meant special attention to the services installation. "We couldn't have anything underfoot as there is a Sarnafil roof installed, which means nothing can be accessed from above," explains Batten. This meant that ECG had to install conduit for rooftop plant prior to it being positioned and the roof being laid.

In liaison with roofing contractors and the m&e consultant the conduit was laid, then the roof installed. ECG could then install cabling and connect rooftop plant from underneath in the fourth-storey. "We sat down with the CAD operative and worked on a reflected ceiling plan to design the conduit," explains Batten.

A larger complication came from client changes. Batten explains: "Part way through the project the client wanted more power and lighting controls, which meant extra cabling and services within the floors." To cope with the changes and maintain timescales, ECG increased on-site staff by up to 50%. The services were installed on a floor-by-floor basis from the top down. Operatives were split by task and for consistency remained on the same jobs throughout the build.

To date, library visitor numbers are up 282%, indicating a success story for all involved. Once the art exhibition is over it seems that Adjaye has helped to create a reason to continue to visit Whitechapel.