One of the core ideas in Permanent Temporary is that you can, and often should, do more than one thing at a time. In this case, some apartment building laundry rooms are moonlighting as libraries and sanctuary for the arts. Kudos.
The article is mildly interesting, but I must counter one claim in the article referencing the idea that in NYC “so many people live in energy-conserving apartments”. I doubt they come close to offsetting the countless apartment buildings that are centrally heated and force residents to leave their windows open all winter. I was forced to do it myself. I think there are much more of these kinds of building at present, just for the record. But this is beside the point.
Maybe your next trip to the laundry room will result in a found copy of Permanent Temporary! 
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/nyregion/01bigcity.html?_r=1