City of Whitehorse: Nunawading Municipal Library Refurbishment
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The building in which the Nunawading Library resides was once the original Council Offices for the former City of Nunawading; now the City of Whitehorse.
The building was typical of its era and of the functions it originally housed:
- Brown brick walls
- Little access to natural light
- Low ceilings (less than 2.7m high)
- Few external windows
- Poor visual access between internal and external spaces
The Nunawading Library inherited these ‘qualities’ when it took tenure of the building, and until the realization of this project there had been little if any refurbishment of the Library and its spaces.
Thus, a major challenge for the project team was how to transform an ‘office building’ with nothing going for it into a 21st century quality Public Library, that included all the technological ‘bells and whistles’, met the functional brief demanded by the Library Corporation, and by its very nature opitimised the qualities that one expects of a public/ civic building of this day and age; inviting spaces visible from the street, filled with natural light, exuding warmth and enticing the patron to enter and experience the wonders of the information it contains, stimulating the patron to dwell, learn, read, sit, interact and grow.
The outcome is a complete success – the external facades revitalized and transformed, the internal spaces filled with natural light, external vistas evident through transparent walls and internal spaces drawing one in to experience and explore. Energy efficient, contemporary, practical yet innovative and delivered within the project budget.