This building attracted 10,000 people during its opening weekend. Moving around to the Eastern Façade, the sphere has been abruptly sliced in what might be termed ‘Hemisphere interuptus’. The question then arises what is the purpose of a public library? The timing of this project makes it an interesting case study for the future of public libraries. The building is powered by a large solar array installed on the roof of the Peace Memorial next door.

From inside, you can look out at the park not through a flat glass plane but from vantages, from outcrops and crags, that overlook other lookouts. ​Below: The unfortunate first impression of the interior. The GLHC provides the ability for a diverse ranges of uses including noisy and quiet enjoyment, in depth research and general information access, individual and group study, social and business meeting space, corporate and community training and events venue, telecommuting and urban office, programmed and unprogrammed zones. There’s the primal space of the cave, but it’s also man made, as if we’ve manufactured nature.” Just as the wool trading economy of the 19th century made way for manufacturing and industrial economy of the 20th century, Geelong is now transitioning again, to reshape itself into a knowledge based economy. In their place bold blue hues, a polished concrete floor and an 80 seat cafe.

The climate-controlled Heritage Centre houses Victoria’s biggest regional collection of public and private records. 13th March, 2017 For some it will be the beginning of new careers, where learning can be fostered and new technologies can be mastered. The dome is clad with a geodesic tile array: 332 hexagons in 19 different sizes arranged around a single pentagon.

Behind the existing Heritage Centre sits the new library — an eroded sphere opening up to Johnstone Park, the 1926 Geelong Peace Memorial, and the Geelong Art Gallery. It occupies the same footprint as the old two-storey library it replaces. The new Geelong Library has instead given itself responsively as an icon to a growing regional town, positioning itself around a ‘think global, act local’ ethos. Our building is open to all these historic influences, including the heritage-listed fastigiate Monterey Cypress trees. In particular, we have allowed space for generous IT infrastructure for the public and for an increasingly automated system of returns and sorting. ARM Founding Director Ian McDougall has directed the project. Three conceptual challenges sparked the design of the new eight-level Geelong Library and Heritage Centre. The climate-controlled Heritage Centre, on level three, houses Victoria’s biggest regional collection of public and private records, all stored on site in a vast compacts. The six-metre-high Great Wall of Stories stretches from floor to ceiling in the ground floor. There’s the primal space of the cave, but it’s also man made, as if we’ve manufactured nature.”. The Geelong Heritage Centre was temporarily housed in the National Wool Museum, while the new Geelong Library and Heritage Centre was being rebuilt. Ingenious bones structure the building’s skin. Photography by Michael Smith, Ceilings, Internal Wall Materials & Partitioning, Design smarts: Geelong Library and Heritage Centre by ARM Architecture. Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture. Gone were the tan carpets and neutral colours of libraries of the previous century. It is surrounded by structures of heritage significance including the 1926 Geelong Peace Memorial, the Geelong Town Hall (designed by Joseph Reed), which is Victoria’s earliest surviving municipal building, a Beaux-Arts Edwardian bandstand, a late-Victorian brass drinking fountain. The details have not been finessed to an inch of their life, but the ambitious program has been successfully housed within an even more ambitious form. Where traditionally libraries banned eating and talking, GLHC has elements of the community cyber café.

However, the geometry of the dome is eroded; Howard Raggatt, ARM’s director, remarks that “like a grotto or the entry to Fingal’s Cave, it breaks into a crystalline alcove, allowing the landscape into its zone”. After just six months, it was recording an astounding 9500 visits per week. Our digital age has meant that computers are replacing books; however, celebrating the tactile and stretching a full six meters at ground level, is the Great Wall of Stories, where readers can browse books from an elevated catwalk reminiscent of Sydney’s old Mitchell Library. They recall the Renaissance tradition of the grotto as a primal space of retreat and reflection but the structural glazing of the façades—with both vision glass and shadow boxes—gives them the highest possible thermal rating. As you progress through the building the crystalline shards of the west- and south-facing walls are reminiscent of stalactites, heralding the renaissance tradition of the grotto as a primal space of retreat and reflection. From Johnstone Park the curved silhouette of the library is sympathetic to that of the mature treeline. The colours link the new building with the historic ones around it—particularly the Peace Memorial—so it clearly belongs but is also distinctive and new. The library is a gathering place to hear lectures and discuss ideas as well as a place where one can be alone to experience the joys of reading in a public space with a supreme outlook. Here along the glazed western facade, the connection to Johnstone Park is captured superbly. This unusual cladding system comprises 18 different standard hexagonal tiles and one standard pentagram arranged in a repetitive mirrored array to form a geodesic dome. Opened in November 2015, the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre (GLHC), known as ‘The Dome’, is the ultra-modern centrepiece of the low-lying cityscape. We cut away part of the dome to extend the park into the building, a reference to ideas of gardens of learning and to the picturesque early Australian tradition of the beautiful ruin. Geelong Library and Heritage Center. It is creating a vibrant hub in the centre of Geelong, further enlivening the cultural precinct; acting as a significant tourist destination; and providing world-class library and heritage services to all visitors.”, —Patti Manolis, CEO, Geelong Regional Library Corporation, William Wardell Award—Public Architecture, Marion Mahony Award—Interior Architecture, Sir Zelman Cowen Award—Public Architecture.

Geelong Library And Heritage Centre. Photography: Emma Cross and Michael Smith The individual lounge chairs looking out to the garden view are perhaps the premier public interior reading spaces, anywhere in the state. The Geelong Library and Heritage Centre by ARM Architecture is situated adjacent Johnstone Park. (The skin of a soccer ball is arranged in a similar way.) The dome It’s actually a sphere, partially buried with its surface cut or eroded away to slot in between the Geelong Peace Memorial and the Geelong Art Gallery. The Geelong Library and Heritage Centre by ARM Architecture has an arresting exterior – eight storeys of crystalline shards of glass and minimalist disco-ball curves! From some viewpoints this unfortunately weakens the overall impact and potency of the design. The crystalline glass shards of the west- and south-facing walls are like stalactites at the entrance of a cave. Client: City of Greater Geelong Upon entry it is upturned; the first few floors of the building have rejected traditional notions and the stern attitudes of “no-eating-and-no-talking” policies. 0. (The skin of a soccer ball is arranged in a similar way.) Whilst the building’s exterior alludes to the great reading rooms and their grand interior volumes, its interior spaces have shown an internal modesty and warmth akin to a regional library, and are neatly organized within its shell; the dome now exists as a symbol or even a folly. There is also state of the art printing and technology equipments available as well as digital microfilm readers, smart tables, and a map table. The sphere’s widest point is several storeys above the ground, which means there is significant cantilevering involved. Location: Geelong, Australia marco abanto Architec, Design & Detail. Custom-made “clover columns” (shaped like the lucky leaf) waft conditioned air from the ground up. Photography by Emma Cross. Geelong Library and Heritage Centre Project Type: New Building ... the iconic structure has been designed to extend into the adjacent Johnstone Park and complement the beautiful heritage architecture in the area.Design of the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre was undertaken by award-winning Melbourne firm, ARM Architecture who took inspiration from the domed shape of reading rooms in … Who?ARM Architecture designed it for the Geelong Regional Library Corporation. ARM Architecture designed it for the Geelong Regional Library Corporation.