The Library of Birmingham was a £188.8m project to build an iconic new Central Library of Birmingham. In 2010, Daden developed an immersive model - working from architects plans - for use by Library staff to plan the use of the new building and to engage with the community. Daden delivered the immersive build in Dec 2010 and then opened to the public to explore in April 2011, 2 years before the real build was complete.

1. Library of Birmingham
Case Study
© 2013 www .daden.co.uk

2. Background
 The Library of Birmingham was a £189m project to build an iconic new
Central Library for Birmingham
 In 2010 Daden developed an immersive model – working from
architects plans - for use by Library staff to plan the use of the new
building and to engage with the community. Daden delivered the
immersive build (developed in Second Life) in Dec 2010
Architect's original image 2D plans in the 3D world 3D immersive model

3. Three Phase Approach
 Phase 1: Virtual construction of the “steel and concrete” of the new
Library
 Phase 2: Finishes, fixtures and fittings, including flooring and lighting
 Phase 3: Creation of the consultation tools and systems
Phase 1: Virtual Concrete Phase 2: Texturing Phase 3: Systems
We took a 3 phase approach to the build:

4. Orientation Space
The orientation space provided the same function as a site Marketing
Office. It helped to put the build in context, provided links to information
about the physical build, and also showed users how to choose an
avatar and how to use the consultation tools. There was even a virtual
receptionist!

5. Consultation Tools
To help users interact with the model, and to give Library staff information on
the user experience we provided a range of consultation tools including:
 voting & survey podiums,
 layout selection choices,
 a virtual tour guide,
 a “flying book” tour,
 information icons,
 virtual smiley “post-it” notes
The virtual post-its could be used to make comments, and then voted on by
other visitors. All data was logged on the web and available to the project
team.

6. The Virtual Warehouse
Key to the project was giving the Library staff the ability to make changes to
fixtures, fittings and equipment which were within their control. We created a
virtual warehouse full of example fittings and furniture that the team could
place in the build to try out ideas and to keep it up to date with design
decisions. We even trained a couple of the team in how to make their own
objects.

7. Public Access
As well as being used by the Team in the office and on road-shows the
virtual Library was also available to the public. The virtual Library was built in
Second Life as at the time (2009) this provided the best and most flexible
public platform. If we were doing the project again we would use a newer
platform which could make the build accessible directly from the web
browser, and even on a computer tablet, and make it far easier to use.

8. Public Consultation
The virtual Library made big impact at the road-shows done by the team to
educate citizens on the new Library.
“The opportunity to reach more people,
more quickly and in a more meaningful
way was extremely important to the
planning for the new Library. “
- Tom Epps, Development Project Manager,
Birmingham Library Service
“I ran a session at Yardley Library and the effect was
astonishing. I got one of the kids out of the audience to
drive himself around the Virtual Library while his Mom and
Dad were watching on the big screen and they were
absolutely staggered. There were 40-50 people at a time
in those sessions, and to try and have the same impact
other than through a 3D model, it would be really, really
difficult. This had much more impact than the public doing
it themselves.”
- John Marsh, Project Manager, Service Birmingham

9. Planning and Design
But the bread-and-butter use of the model was in trying out design ideas and
using it to inform design and use choices throughout the Library
“The virtual model showed us areas where we
needed to review our existing plans, and was a
huge help in planning the layout of the facilities that
were installed”
- Tom Epps, Development Project Manager, Birmingham Library
Service
“ There is a fairly unique screen arrangement to the left of
the lifts, where we decided to use two double portrait
orientation screens to display the information. Which is
weird, but we tried it out in the virtual library first and put
an image on there and thought “blimey that’s good!” And it
is such an unusual shape, we probably wouldn’t have had
the nerve to position the screens that way if we had not
been able to test out first in the virtual build.”
- John Marsh, Project Manager, Service Birmingham

10. Sub-Contractors
One things that surprised the team was that sub-contractors started using
the public model to better understand the build and to inform their bids –
even though they were used to reading 2D plans. Once contracts were in
place the model could then be used to support virtual meetings and to agree
the exact placement of fixtures and fittings.
“Due to the unique nature of the building, practical
and serviceable physical locations for the Wireless
Access Points were a challenge and important to
get correct. This challenge was greatly assisted
using the virtual Library. Having calculated the
locations required to provide the WiFi coverage they
need, the virtual build helped us verify the
practicalities of establishing these positions.”
- Phil Hewson, Senior Wireless Consultant, Lan2Lan.
“Having recently visited the physical Library to carry
out some post installation RF tests, I felt I was more
than familiar with the building having spent so many
hours in its virtual twin during the design stage. The
likeness and detail felt almost surreal.” - Phil Hewson

11. Other Advantages
Other advantages identified by the team included:
 The flows of people through the building, including walkways, viewing
spots and potential pinch-points, could be more easily identified just by
watching how they themselves and other visitors to the virtual build
behaved.
 The voice and text communications facilities within the environment
allowed virtual meetings to be held in the relevant area of the virtual library
to examine any points of discussion or concern. This saved on travel and
meeting set-up time, and minimised the risk of misunderstanding from
people looking at 2D plans or even sharing 3D CAD models.
 The layout and internal geography of the building was much more easily
appreciated from the subjective viewpoint of being an avatar in the 3D
virtual model, compared to plans or drawings or even a CAD style 3D
model. Each user had free movement around the space, and the space
could be explored as a group of individuals – giving it far more of the feel
of exploring a real building than of looking at a CAD model.

12. Access and Launch
 In Jan 2011 construction work started on the physical build
 For 2 1/2 years the Librarians “lived” in the virtual build, working with
contractors, suppliers and the community. Taught by Daden they were
able to make changes to the model to try ideas and to embed their
decisions
 In April 2013 the librarians got their first look inside the physical build –
the sense of deja-vu was incredible
 In September 2013 the physical library opened, to great acclaim to the
public and the world at large
 The following slides show some comparison shots between the virtual
model and the final build. Whilst there are some changes in finish and
detail the broad experience is exactly the same – and even some
movable bookcases are in the exact same positions in both versions!

13. Virtual and Real

14. Virtual and Real

15. Virtual and Real

16. Virtual and Real

17. Virtual and Real

18. Virtual and Real

19. Virtual and Real

20. Virtual and Real

21. Virtual and Real

22. Virtual and Real

23. Virtual and Real
 Library staff reported a “sense of being a little kid in a toy shop” as they
explored the physical build and saw not only how well it matched the
model, but also how their design ideas and decisions had been
implemented in the physical build. The model had been a “godsend” to
the team in helping them plan the Library.
 But there was one problem....
“The trick that was missed was that we only built the
public part of the building. If we knew then what we
know now, we could have put all the back office in, so
now staff wouldn’t be wandering around looking for
their desk or even how to get out of the building - so
they could understand where all their own facilities
were as well as the public ones!.”
- John Marsh, Project Manager, Service Birmingham.

24. And in summary....
“This has proved a powerful tool for the
project team and staff as we develop the
new library, enabling us to get a really good
feel for how the spaces in the new building
will work that would not otherwise be
possible.”
- Brian Gambles, Library Director, Library of Birmingham
“As a new building training tool, that has be
a big tick for me and absolutely
tremendous.”
- John Marsh, Project Manager, Service Birmingham.

25. Buildingscapes
Developed from our experience of working on the virtual Library and
other projects, Daden's Buildingscapes can provide you, your staff and
your stakeholders with an immersive, interactive 3D model of a new or
retrofit build, enabling all the social and user-experience issues of a
project to be planned and managed in this powerful new way. Key
features include:
For more information, please contact us.
 Import of architect and CAD 3D models
 Web, download or tablet PC/iPad
deployment
 Multi-user environment
 Place/build/change functionality for specific
groups and features
 Consultation tools with web integration
 Selected BIM data integration

26. Web: www.daden.co.uk
Email: info@daden.co.uk
YouTube: www.youtube.com/dadenmedia
Twitter: @dadenlimited