A brilliant notion

Okay, I love this transformation: when Wal-Mart ditched their original store in McAllen, Texas in favor of a larger property, the city transformed the abandoned space into a gorgeously colorful and beautifully designed 123,000-square-foot public library. Speaking as someone who lives in a city (Olympia, WA) that has needed a larger library for, oh, my entire lifetime, and has more than its fair share of under-utilized or abandoned big-box stores, this would be incredible.

You can see more images via Apartment Therapy and the NYTimes.