Library Buildings around the World

Carr Cotter & Naessens, Cork – Ireland
http://www.ccnarchitects.net
Libraries:
Dún Laoghaire, Rathdown Library – Competition 2007 (2012 – 2015)
The proposed design is a response to the particular context in the centre of Dunlaoghaire and includes the remaking of
Moran park. The brief includes a cultural centre and County Library, accommodated in a complex arrangement of interlocking
voids and volumes forming a compact site plan. The form of the building relates to the immediate surrounding yet has a civic
presence on this significant site. (Carr)
Construction of the new Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Library/Arts/Culture/Community complex at Moran Park, at an estimated cost
of €36.6m, has been approved by DLR County Council. The project is the outcome of an RIAI design competition, which was won by
Carr Cotter Naessens Architects. The Part 8 scheme for this project was approved by the Council in November 2009. The tender
process has now been completed with the award of the tender to John Sisk and Sons and vacant possession of the site secured. This
major cultural addition for DLR will comprise the following facilities:
- Major public library, which will include a dedicated children’s library, teen space, local history & reference sections and space for
Council archives
- Arts/cultural facilities including a multipurpose hall, a gallery, arts workshops & training areas and facilities for artists in
residence,
- Community meeting rooms
- Public café and a major public plaza
- Office accommodation for the Council’s Library HQ and Arts Office functions.
“This is by far the most significant public infrastructure development in Dún Laoghaire for over 100 years”, said the Cathaoirleach,
Councillor Bailey, adding “it will make a major contribution to the regeneration of the town and to the county”.
The project was approved by Council in at its March meeting as part of its Capital Expenditure Programme of €165m over the 4
year period 2012 to 2015. Approximately €113m of the total expenditure of €165 will be funded from the Council’s own resources,
with the balance of €52m coming from non-Council sources – mainly grant aid from central government Departments.
(http://www.riai.ie)
FKL Architects (Michelle Fagan, Paul Kelly, Gary Lysaght), Dublin – Ireland
http://www.fklarchitects.com
Libraries:
Library & Local Areas Office, Dublin-Baldoyle – Ireland 2004
Awards:
RIAI Architecture Awars 2004
AAI Award 2003
At the end of a residential terrace, the site has an unspoilt view across Dublin Bay to Ireland´s Eye. The brfief was to refurbish an
existing public library and adjacent green space and to provide local area services offices, a public meeting room and exhibition
space for Fingal County Council. The concept for the new extension is based on a folded tube wrapping around the back and side of
the existing building. At ground floor level, the end of the tube addresses a new public space, while at first floor it addresses the view
out to sea. The tube is clad in granite with a subtly changing pattern that registers the twisting of the form. Internally a timber lining
progesses through the tube leading visitors pastcthe pblic counters to the main above – a large public reading room. (FKL)
McCullough Mulvin Architects, Dublin – Ireland
http://www.mcculloughmulvin.com
Libraries:
Caherciveen Library & Art Centre – Ireland in development
The site for the Caherciveen project is located on a corner at the entrance of the town, sloping from the urban edge of New Market
Street to the Fair Green with views to the hills beyond. The brief includes a library, local area offices, a theatre and art gallery
around a covered public space- a forum for the whole town with spaces to meet, think and create, offering potential synergy between
activities. The plan makes a ramped pedestrian route within a rectangular ground plan; spaces are set around it, with offices at an
upper level. This is a free-standing building; there are four facades- it can be accessed from all sides; the form is slate-clad, a hard
quartz-like, light reflective mound shaped by the double-height spaces within. It is both landscape and ancient monument, bringing
the extraordinary context of South Kerry into the streets. (McCullough)
Tubbercurry Civic Offices and Library, Tubbercurry – Ireland 2006
The Tubbercurry Civic Offices and Library project was built to provide public services for the people of South Sligo; it contains
Local Authority offices, facilities for the Health Board, a library, as well as courtroom space for the Western Circuit. The site is
urban- located on a side street near the town square; it was formerly occupied by houses, two of which were retained in the project.
The houses were small, lightly imprinted on the ground, but had long gardens running in plots back from the street- luxuriant,
overgrown, generous fingers of space. The project was an opportunity to explore modern concepts of urbanity in a small Irish town :
the front façade is set into the street and the plan opens back into a series of narrow fingers echoing the original house plots, inviting
access deep into the scheme. Space is held between two floating planes; the building is covered by a single undulating zinc roof like
the horizon line on the local landscape. It is interrupted by rooflights- large segments cut and folded up , smaller circular lights over
the library. The ground floor is stepped like a piece of open ground with the floor plate folded down in a ramp; two floors of office
accommodation are incorporated within the envelope at one side. The rectangular plan can be accessed at several places- including a
ramp which runs from the car park and is threaded through a narrow throat of space into the lobby; further routes are set between
grids of structure and screens from the front out to the car park at the rere- where their line is visually extended in the paving.
(McCullough)
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