Library Buildings around the World

Located on the western end of the city and following a period of the self-assessment, this building reveals the value of the university
whilst re-establishing its social standing in the civic realm. It’s one of three buildings commissioned by the university to form part of
its strategic revitalisation.
With its series of significant public programs - the Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Bradley Forum, and former
Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s complete political archive (Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library) - the building celebrates
the university, student life and learning as well as signalling the institution’s connection to the city.
Finding expression on both the exterior and interior and unlike the previous opaque university structures, this building is open and
transparent with views from Fenn Place up and into the civic spaces and interior. The facade features a rich pattern of misaligned
concrete panels and fine copper detailing. It recalls both traditional ideas of the civic institution and the contemporary expression of
a future-focused university.
An intertwined two-stranded stairway – one black and one white - becomes an emblematic signature for the entry. From within
vistas open up across programs and circulation spaces and then back out into the campus centre. (Wardle)
Catherine Helen Spence Library, University of South Australia, City West Campus, Adelaide, SA –
Australia 1997 (2003/2007/2010/2011)
Client: University of South Australia, Partners: John Wardle Architects - Design Architects & Joint Project Delivery Hassell
Architects - Joint Project Delivery
Constructed by the University of South Australia as part of the new City West Campus in 1996, the Catherine Helen Spence
Building was officially opened in January 1997. The four storey building housing the Library at City West Campus was extended on
two floors in 2003 to accommodate the collections moving from the Underdale Campus when it was closed in 2004. The ground floor
was extensively refurbished in early 2007 to accommodate the growing demand for study space. Further refurbishments in early
2010 and 2011 have created more study spaces. The building also housed the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library during its
inception before it relocated into the Hawke Building in 2008.
Catherine Helen Spence was born in Scotland in 1825 and emigrated with her family to South Australia in 1839. She opened her own
school and campaigned for education for women, resulting in the establishment of the first government secondary school for girls.
This led to women being accepted in Teacher Training Colleges and eventually into universities.
Catherine Helen Spence was Australia's first truly professional woman journalist and first female political candidate, as well as a
fearless social and political reformer. Her influence on suffrage, culminating in South Australia being the first state in the world to
give women the right to stand for Parliament, extended beyond Australia. She died in 1910. Considering her work as a writer,
educator, journalist, speaker, and reformer it is apt that the Library was named in her honour.
“The library extension … picks up the concrete grid of the original building, partially inverts its colour scheme, and then works
both within and around the grid. On one elevation, aluminium panels provide a colourful infill alluding to the shelves of books
within, while on another, precast concrete panels are suspended over the laneway making reference to the building opposite. To the
south, the double-storey window reconnects the library to Hindley Street, making a display for pedestrians out of the activity of
study groups and their reading materials and, in turn, giving students a view of the very context in which their knowledge ought to
find application.” Scott Drake, Architecture Australia (Wardle)
Whitefield McQueen Irwin Alsop, Collingword, VIC – Australia
http://archive.wmia.com.au
Libraries:
Waurn Ponds Library, Geelong-Waurn Ponds, VIC – Australia 2012
Size: 1000 m², Costs: $ 5.800.000
This golden punctuated shell is the glistening new Library and Community Hub at Waurn Ponds on the outskirts of Victoria in
south-east Australia by Whitefield McQueen Irwin Alsop. The firm’s concept arose through a simple Wikipedia search of the Waurn
Ponds area which confirmed that the region’s name originated from a series of interlinked, cascading ponds. Whitefield McQueen
Irwin Alsop generated a steel laser-cut solar skin pierced with holes in a range of sizes to wrap the building, supplying the necessary
solar protection and a strong statement for the new library.
Besides this shimmering Library and Community Hub, Waurn Ponds is also home to Peddle Thorp Architects and Davis Langdon’s
Leisurelink complex, a bold, curved waterpark in close proximity to the new scheme. There is also a baseball field nearby which
formed a tight site footprint for the design team at Whitefield McQueen Irwin Alsop: “Our experience with other libraries told us
people would come, what we needed to do was make the destination worth the visit. The site is a leftover portion of land wedged
between two significant sports venues. Our approach was to pull the elevation forward to ‘stick its head around the corner’.”
Entrance stairways have been replaced by timber boardwalk ramps and the repeated circular motif ensures a memorable image for
the facility’s visitors whilst retaining a sense of respect for the surrounding architecture and community amenities. The clean lines
and simple silhouette act in direct opposition to the swirling footprint of the established Leisurelink centre and promote community
integration for all users regardless of age, gender or background.
(http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=18951)
Bachus Marsh Library, Bachus Marsh VIC – Australia 2012
Architects Whitefield McQueen Irwin Alsop have designed a new library and community building for the rural community of
Moorabool Shire, located in Main Street, Bacchus Marsh about 45 minutes outside Melbourne.
The first new building in Main Street for almost 30 years, the design team, looking for inspiration, turned to the nationally
recognised and iconic Avenue of Honour, the elm trees planted along the main road in 1918 to honour those who served in World
War I, landmarks the arrival in Bacchus Marsh.
“We quickly realised the full palette of design ideas was available to us in the trees that form the Avenue, the buildings structure,
skin and openings were all inspired by the Avenue, a fitting way to add to the Urban fabric by honouring the past and connecting to
the future”
The exposed steel frame is a refined ‘trunk and branch’ structure. The skin of the building is dark and finely ribbed, taking the fine
lines in the leaves and the darkness generated when the Avenue is in full leaf. The buildings openings are a stripped down
representation of the Avenues negative space in the canopy, where sun penetrates the openings, even the green on the steel was
colour matched from the green hues of the leaf canopy with full sunlight behind.
The building is part of a precinct master plan and broader cultural strategy for the town. As well as providing a new language to the
streetscape, including street furniture and low maintenance planting, the building also acts as an environmental beacon, advertising
Councils commitment to positive climate change initiatives.
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