Green Square Library competition

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Green Square Library competition

Firm

Type

Educational › Library
Landscape + Planning › Public Park

SIZE

300,000 sqft - 500,000 sqft

Objective
The design seeks to unify all the major parts of the Green Square Town Centre to become a vibrant community hub that provides for all the disparate and competing demands of the area.
Design idea and strategy - Rock, stream and feather
A principal design idea was formed for the entire competition site and surrounding area to guide our decisions – we have called this idea “rock, stream and feather”. These are metaphors for the primary elements which underpin the scheme, complementing and contrasting each other.
Rock
The “rock” is the library which is embedded at the western end of the plaza. The library and plaza are conceived as one urban landscape entity with the ground plane of the plaza tilting upwards to form a green accessible roof for the library. The sloping roof is a series of stepped terraces forming an amphitheatre facing the plaza. The roof steps fold down on all sides of the library in a series of tectonic plate like panels letting light in at the fissures.A deep crevice is cut through the top of the rock to provide light and air into the body of the library.
Stream
The original Shea’s Creek has been reinterpreted as a water element weaving along the site providing a linear connection from the Drying Green through Nielsen Square and the CivicPlaza. The stream then drops underground at Botany Road to continue onto AlexandriaCanal.The stream is expressed in different ways along its journey –it dips and rises to form active and passive water play areas, pools and waterfalls. The water is used as phase change material for the cooling system of the library.
Feather
The “feather” is the tensile structure canopy which lightly folds and twists over the transport concourse and the plaza. The canopy will be anchored to the landscaped roof at the light slot and fold in opposite directions over the transport concourse and the plaza. The canopy is envisaged as a triangulated wire structure twisting and turning over the landscape below. Parts of the canopy will use lighting and speakers to engage the public, photovoltaic cells and planting to provide shade while other parts will be left open to allow winter sun through.
Sensory experience
The scheme provides a range of sensory experiences throughout the site. Diverse species of planting in the public areas will stimulate visual and olfactory senses; the water elements will provide sound differentials; the sense of touch will be catered for in the paving, grasses and water; there will be cool shaded places and places exposed to the warming sun.
Sustainability
The scheme employs “best practice” ESD principles in numerous ways. Both rainwater and stream water will be harvested and recycled; photovoltaic cells will provide most energy requirements; the library roof will be planted to provide thermal mass; other energy initiatives are a bio filter system, geo thermal heat exchanger and double skin external U glass walls.
Connectivity
The scheme is integrated within the site and responsive to the wider context of Green Square. The surrounding infrastructure and street pattern is acknowledged with a passage through the ground floor of the library connecting the concourse and the shopping arcade to the south. The library roof is accessible to the whole community providing a journey to the top of the “rock” and a stage for public events and markets in the plaza. The library will be the hub of community activity through its social and digital connectivity.
Public Art
Public art is seen as integral to the success of the scheme – its implementation will be thread through the library and plaza via traditional and contemporary art forms. All the senses will be stimulated through art.