Library Buildings around the World

ARM, Melbourne, VIC – Australia
http://www.a-r-m.com.au
Libraries:
Albury Library/Museum, Albury, NSW - Australia 2007
€ 8.000.000ardAward
“Albury Library/Museum has revolutionised the reading and borrowing habits of the city in the past year. More children are
borrowing more books, and the adults are following them. Staff are reporting “a phenomenal increase across a range of services”
Border Mail. 26 July 2008. ARM is proud to have provided the architectural services for the Albury Library/Museum. After being
appointed in early 2003, ARM began working with Albury City Council to create the combined facility of the Albury Public Library
and the Albury Museum. Council’s vision was for a single civic facility to provide a library, museum, community and new IT
facilities for the Albury region, all co-located as a new type of public building. Our architectural vision for the building was to bring
together reminiscences and almost familiar elements from the Albury region; the giant webbing of the railway bridge over the
Murray, the banks, levees and trees of the surrounding landscape, the river course itself, the streetscape of the Civic precinct, the
coved cornices of a railway carriage, even the types of materials that one sees on the buildings in Albury. (ARM)
St. Kilda Library + Town Hall, Melbourne, VIC – Australia 1994
€ 7.600.000
Vividly aware of the St Kilda context, using associations and symbols of the area, the building architecturally develops the
deconstruction of the cargo culture of the ex-colonies. The fetishised culture of world architecture is tested in a local setting. The
open space in Carlisle Street has been redeveloped as a civic plaza, establishing a link to the library. The extension of the existing
library, originally designed by Dr Enrico Taglietti, involved an upgrade of existing facilities, providing additional book stacks, main
desk, entry and public face. Much effort was undertaken to retain the original, and in adding to it, in order to positively extend the
fine brutalist work. The new street façade of the addition is a curved bluestone clad “book”, with a flush S curved picture window,
an “illustration page” with overtones of a video screen, a simple and evocative image providing an obvious focus for the community.
This is symbolic architecture. It is a building which plays a strong role in an important civic space. The monumental idiom of the
project continuously tests the proposition of the death of the book, while in stylistic terms the form contests another neo Baroque.
(ARM)
Brewster Hjorth Architects, Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW – Australia
http://www.brewsterhjorth.com.au
Rockdale Civic Centre and Library, Sydney-Rockdale, NSW – Australia 2012 (final design report)
(http://www.rockdale.nsw.gov.au/Pages/pdf/BuinessPapers/21141-4.07-120723-RCCDesignReport.pdf)
James Cook University ICU, Eddie Koiki Mabo Library, Townsville-Douglas, QLD – Australia 2012
Size: 3.500 m², Cost: $ 9.000.000, Completed: July 2012
The Eddie Koiki Mabo Library of Townsville’s James Cook University is the landmark and built focus of the Campus which was
laid out by the prominent Queensland Architect James Birrell. He also designed the original library building which was to become
his Master-work.
The 1966 building had an ‘organic’ plan form and sculptured section and off-form concrete envelope reminiscent of Corbusier’s
later work.
This redevelopment reinforces the importance of Birrell’s concept minimising the impact of later additions, to create modern, open,
technology rich learning environments. The redevelopment has been designed in three stages.
Conceptual Framework
The completed work is the first stage of a concept design that re-organises all 3 floors of the building: The original undercroft is
opened up to create a series of open, interconnected public spaces with the introduction of a new central circulation spine at each
level of the building aligning with the Masterplan axis of the campus, incorporating a new south entry to the building, and a reorganisation
of its functional zones arranged along the new spine.
Student Reading and Study spaces are positioned to the northern edge of the original building where the full drama of the
architecture is revealed.
The new concept responds to the digital-age approach to to information access. The physical collection is relocated along the
southern side of the building as a permanently accessible resource leaving more space for interactive and collaborative learning.
The conceptual approach to the interior design is to reveal the original robust design of the building with powerful, off-form concrete
walls, voids and striking structure, and respond to this in the design of the new interventions.
The spatial arrangements, functional planning and detailed design of spaces and furniture incorporate a light and unconstrained
language of curves which relate to the original structure.
Program Resolution
The integration of new “student commons” with 24 hour access, and teaching spaces dedicated to new modes of group and
interactive learning were core of the brief requirements for this stage of the redevelopment, Stages 2 and 3 relate to the collection
and passive learning spaces on the building’s upper levels.
Integration of Allied Disciplines
The reduced height of the original undercroft necessitated complex underfloor services and HVAC ducting. The work required
detailed co-ordination of the architecture with the Building Services engineering. Structural interventions were limited but highly
sensitive given the exposed nature of the off form concrete envelope and structure.
Public and Cultural Benefit
The new Eddie Koiki Mabo Library re-asserts its importance at the core of the University and gives new life to a marvelous building.
It provides the student body with new spaces for shared and interactive learning, reflecting modern pedagogies, supported by
pervasive access to electronic data technology.
The new interior street, along with the adjacent Southern Entry and Landscaping, supports the planned re-organisation of the
campus Masterplan towards its original Jeffersonian intentions, with the University Library as the head and centre of the campus.
The Eddie Mabo Library at the Townsville Campus of James Cook University is the landmark building of the University. It was
originally designed by the prominent Queensland Architect James Birrell in 1966, with an original and organic concept. The
building was built as the centre of the university Masterplan, with Construction being staged over several years. The building was
extended in 1991 to its present size of 9,500m2.
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