Modern architecture is known for its sleek, streamlined design, but it’s also often been aptly characterized as being cold and sterile. In Perth, Australia’s Curtin University, one such building is getting a major makeover.
The TL Robertson Library, which has two million users per year, is being revamped by Danish architectural firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, with the help of Australian architecture firm Hames Sharley. The changes are meant to help the building be more user-friendly and also fit better into the green campus.
Constructed in 1972, the library was originally designed with little natural daylight to protect the books and other materials in its collection. Now, Schmidt Hammer Lassen is designing a “living library” by opening up new pathways for visual and physical connectivity in the building, while bringing in more natural light. The new open design is expected to better meet needs of users.
Green spaces and tree-lined walkways characterize Curtin University’s campus. With the TL Robertson Library centrally located on the campus, which makes it a natural focal point, the school’s leaders wanted to take better advantage of that location and the possibilities inherent in the building.
The new architectural design will invite the landscape in, using timber and other natural materials to enhance the warmth of the building. Elongated windows are meant to provide better views of trees in the adjacent park.
With its redesign, the library will fit the goals of the university and its staff and students.
“We were driven by three core principles when designing TL Robertson Library: openness, access and well-being,” said Morten Schmidt, Founding Partner of Schmidt Hammer Lassen. “The redevelopment complements the building’s original features with bold, contemporary architectural interventions that focus on warm, natural materiality, and contrast the current structure with open lightness.”
The warmth that will be engendered by the library’s redesign also is expected to encourage the space to be more often used as a community gathering spot, too.
“This project will support the TL Robertson Library’s role as a key meeting place and activity centre on Curtin’s Perth Campus and its transformation into a place for digital innovation and social collaboration for students, staff, and the wider community,” said Professor Deborah Terry, Vice-Chancellor at Curtin University.
Related Stories
| Nov 3, 2010
First of three green labs opens at Iowa State University
Designed by ZGF Architects, in association with OPN Architects, the Biorenewable Research Laboratory on the Ames campus of Iowa State University is the first of three projects completed as part of the school’s Biorenewables Complex. The 71,800-sf LEED Gold project is one of three wings that will make up the 210,000-sf complex.
| Nov 3, 2010
Seattle University’s expanded library trying for LEED Gold
Pfeiffer Partners Architects, in collaboration with Mithun Architects, programmed, planned, and designed the $55 million renovation and expansion of Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons at Seattle University. The LEED-Gold-designed facility’s green features include daylighting, sustainable and recycled materials, and a rain garden.
| Nov 3, 2010
Recreation center targets student health, earns LEED Platinum
Not only is the student recreation center at the University of Arizona, Tucson, the hub of student life but its new 54,000-sf addition is also super-green, having recently attained LEED Platinum certification.
| Nov 3, 2010
Virginia biofuel research center moving along
The Sustainable Energy Technology Center has broken ground in October on the Danville, Va., campus of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The 25,000-sf facility will be used to develop enhanced bio-based fuels, and will house research laboratories, support labs, graduate student research space, and faculty offices. Rainwater harvesting, a vegetated roof, low-VOC and recycled materials, photovoltaic panels, high-efficiency plumbing fixtures and water-saving systems, and LED light fixtures will be deployed. Dewberry served as lead architect, with Lord Aeck & Sargent serving as laboratory designer and sustainability consultant. Perigon Engineering consulted on high-bay process labs. New Atlantic Contracting is building the facility.
| Nov 3, 2010
Dining center cooks up LEED Platinum rating
Students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio will be eating in a new LEED Platinum multiuse dining center next fall. The 30,000-sf McDonald Dining Center will have a 700-seat main dining room, a quick-service restaurant, retail space, and multiple areas for students to gather inside and out, including a fire pit and several patios—one of them on the rooftop.
| Nov 1, 2010
John Pearce: First thing I tell designers: Do your homework!
John Pearce, FAIA, University Architect at Duke University, Durham, N.C., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy about the school’s construction plans and sustainability efforts, how to land work at Duke, and why he’s proceeding with caution when it comes to BIM.
| Oct 13, 2010
Editorial
The AEC industry shares a widespread obsession with the new. New is fresh. New is youthful. New is cool. But “old” or “slightly used” can be financially profitable and professionally rewarding, too.
| Oct 13, 2010
Campus building gives students a taste of the business world
William R. Hough Hall is the new home of the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The $17.6 million, 70,000-sf building gives students access to the latest technology, including a lab that simulates the stock exchange.
| Oct 13, 2010
Science building supports enrollment increases
The new Kluge-Moses Science Building at Piedmont Virginia Community College, in Charlottesville, is part of a campus update designed and managed by the Lukmire Partnership. The 34,000-sf building is designed to be both a focal point of the college and a recruitment mechanism to get more students enrolling in healthcare programs.
| Oct 13, 2010
Residences bring students, faculty together in the Middle East
A new residence complex is in design for United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, UAE, near Abu Dhabi. Plans for the 120-acre mixed-use development include 710 clustered townhomes and apartments for students and faculty and common areas for community activities.
