I’m sitting in the gardens of Lea Bridge Library in east London. It’s late summer and I’m shaded by the tall trees, looking up at an intensely blue sky. With the red brick of the library, it makes for a wonderfully colorful palette. There’s a wooden climbing frame for children to climb and large rocks and plants of different heights, and from here I can see both the Victorian row houses and Lea Bridge Road, so it feels residential and urban at the same time.

Behind me is the library’s new extension, a pavilion designed by Studio Weave in wood and red concrete that runs along one side of the garden. It’s 11:30 a.m. and there’s a stay-and-play coffee morning in session; I can see the babies crawling around through the large windows. There are a few kids playing in the garden...