Library Buildings around the World

Kristin School Library and Senior Study Centre, Aukland-Albany – New Zealand 2004
Awards:
2004
NZIA Local Award
Education, (Kristin School Library & Information Centre)
…This iconic building is built around a central gully area and surrounds the well-developed bush with the trees being preserved to
add to the character and aesthetics of the building.
Effectively several buildings in one, this is a multi-purpose facility, which incorporates the Library and Information Centre, Senior
Study Centre, Senior Administration and Public Gallery and Conference facilities.
The Library and Information Centre occupies the first floor of the building and houses the main library for the Middle and Senior
Schools as well as a separate Junior School library. It also includes reading and seminar rooms that class groups can use for
supervised reading or research-based lessons.
The Senior Study Centre on the ground floor includes a study room as well as a senior common room with an external courtyard for
Year 13 students.
The large open central space has been utilised for parent dinners, art exhibitions, the Xmas shop, Middle School socials and much
more….
(http://www.kristin.school.nz/web/portal/business-services/world-class-facilities)
Kristin School is, in essence, three schools – a primary school, a middle school, and a senior school – nestled within one campus. And
over the past decade, Warren and Mahoney has undertaken two major projects for this innovative organisation.
The first project, completed in 2004, was an Information Centre and Library. This takes the form of a rectangular east wing and a
larger, curved west wing, with the two wings linked by a gallery.
The east wing houses the school’s administration area at ground level, with a junior library and associated teaching spaces above.
The west wing houses a senior study and common room at ground level, with a further library on the first floor.
In keeping with the school’s green ethos, the building’s form and orientation maximises the benefits of solar gain as the sun moves
around the building. Extensive north and east facing glazing maximises winter sunlight, while air-foil louver blades or composite
aluminium-clad blades at high level shade the interior from the summer sun.
All linea fluorescent luminaries use energy-efficient T5 lamps. Automated lighting control conserves energy use in intermittentlyoccupied
spaces. And lights adjacent to the extensive perimeter glazing are linked and controlled via photocells which automatically
turn off the lights when there is an adequate level of natural daylight.
In addition to providing daylight, a series of roof lights promote summer cooling, naturally extracting air from the interior.
Electrically-operated sashes located within the roof lights generate a draught stream which draws the warm air out of the space.
Overhangs for roof lights ensure spaces can be ventilated without the risk of rain entering.
Low-level external louvers, equipped with motorised dampers, combine with high-level motorised sashes in the roof lights to enhance
ventilation during the day.
During summer, the only areas with mechanical ventilation are the computer room of the senior study, the senior library computer
area, and the junior library. These are areas where equipment requires a controlled atmosphere, or where acoustic separation is
required between adjacent naturally ventilated spaces.
The second project, a Humanities & Commerce Faculty and Middle School Learning Centre, was completed in 2009.
The high-profile site of the new development – bordering a predominantly residential area and North Shore Golf Course – provided
an opportunity to show off the school to the wider community. At the same time, the extent of the site enabled large distances to be
maintained between the new buildings and the neighbouring residences, and ensured that the neighbours’ visual and aural privacy
would not be adversely affected.
As the brief developed, it became evident that the school required two blocks of 12 additional classrooms. An approximate footprint
for additional classrooms had been identified in the global resource consent, with each block intended to be a separate stage.
The new classrooms would be in addition to the original classroom blocks established when Kristin School opened in 1973. The first
stage, the Humanities and Commerce building, would include six humanities classrooms, six commerce classrooms, faculty
administration and resource areas, an ICT hub, a reception area, and workspace.
The second stage, the Middle School building, would include six Year Seven classrooms, six Year Eight classrooms, Middle School
administration and resource areas, and student social space.
The classroom block is comprised of three wings, inflecting to optimise the north-orientated court, sheltering it from winter southwesterly
winds and opening it to summer breezes. This green, landscaped space forms the heart of the middle school development.
Combined with the landscaped court between Stages One and Two, it helps to reduce the apparent mass of the development. A
maximum depth of one classroom also ensures that natural light and ventilation are optimised, while creating a transparent learning
environment.
In addition, the building form and material palette of precast concrete and cedar rusticated weatherboard plains, linked by an
atrium and structured landscape, continues the architectural language established in the earlier Library and Information Centre.
(Warren)
Glen Eden Library, Auckland –New Zealand 2004
This community library is the result of an intense design process involving architecture, landscape, art and local iwi. The library is
intended to form a local community focus, connecting the commercial part of Glen Eden with the cultural facilities across Glendale
Road to the west and a park across Oates Road to the south.
The building comprises two main elements that express their function, and also relate to their surroundings in appropriate ways. A
narrow wing containing a Citizen’s Advice Bureau and a community meeting room are located at the Glenmall end of the building
and form an end to the commercial street.
This element is clad in dark-painted timber strips, and is sheltered by a large overhanging roof. The main library is housed in a
dramatic space that becomes wider and taller towards the dramatic Waitakere ranges view to the southwest. Saw-tooth roofs allow
natural light deep into the space, and culminate in a 4.5 metre high window wall, protected from late afternoon sun by sail-like sun
shades.
Large windows to the west allow views to Glendale Road and are protected by adjustable horizontal louvres. Acoustically treated
openings allow natural ventilation to the main library space. Provision for art showcases have been integrated into the design of the
façade. A new urban plaza has been created at the Glenmall end of the site. A grove of kauri trees defines the other street corner and
references the forests that formerly covered the area. (Warren)
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