
La Trobe University Library, Australia
Kosloff Architecture
Melbourne based studio Kosloff Architecture elaborated on its take on what the new library should be for this commission for La Trobe University in Bendigo. Challenging the perception of the ‘traditional library’ and adding a strong layer of community engagement and openness to their design, the team reimagined an existing shell into a space featuring playful transparencies, spatial articulation and colour. The interior spans three levels and includes consultation rooms, ASK La Trobe information pods, postgraduate lounge, and a board room. Photography: Derek Swalwell

Dorset Library, UK
Aidan Crawshaw
Crawshaw Architects has given a new twist to traditional library architecture with this re-invented out-building in Dorset, UK. Adjoining a Grade II-listed Georgian farmhouse and water mill, the new library is housed within a transformed former cowshed and farm equipment store. Architect Aidan Crawshaw, the London-based studio’s founder, was commissioned to transform a substantial portion of this long brick building into a library and office space, with the intention on creating a home for a substantial collection of historic books on Palladian architecture. Crawshaw, working with his colleague Pandora Dourmisi, chose to preserve the proportions and form of the original farm building. The library is based around a long central arched nave flanked by a pair of aisles containing the book stacks, a modern interpretation of classical proportions. These not only reference the Palladian book collection but were constructed using carpentry and metal-working methods that hark back to the building’s days as part of a working farm. Photography: Ingrid Rasmussen

Matsubara Library, Japan
MARU Architecture
This project, which replaced an existing library on the same site, stands out for its sculptural qualities and striking location, next to a reservoir. MARU Architecture drew on this setting as well as the city’s character for their design. ‘When we visited Matsubara, we were struck by the reservoir ponds and ancient tombs dotted throughout the city,’ explain the architects. ‘These man-made structures were on a much larger scale than the residential neighborhoods surrounding them, and over the course of many years had come to resemble natural landforms. They brought to mind civil engineering projects on a grander scale than architecture, reflecting our own project’s unique conditions—that is, a library built in a pond.’ Photography: Shinkenchiku Sha

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, USA
Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle
Meet the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL), New York’s brand new central circulating library, designed by Dutch architects Mecanoo in collaboration with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners. The project sits within the 1914 shell and steel frame of the old Mid-Manhattan Library. The existing building was redesigned and topped with an eye-catching, angular roof. ‘Libraries are the most important public buildings of all,’ says Francine Houben, principal of Mecanoo. Photography: John Bartelstone

Charles Library at Temple University, USA
Snøhetta
Snøhetta has shelved away its latest library design at Philadelphia’s Temple University. Sitting at the heart of campus, the Charles Library was developed in collaboration with engineering firm Stantec. The layout rethinks conventional library tropes, introducing a wave of technologies and collaborative and social learning facilities to the 39,000-strong student body. Flowing wooden arches, elegant glass volumes and a striking three-storey domed atrium lobby are capped by a 47,300 sq ft green roof, one of the largest in Pennsylvania. This contributes to the site’s stormwater management system, which relocates heavy rainwater to two underground catchment basins. Photography: Michael Grimm

Yan at MIXC, China
Tomoko Ikegai / Ikg Inc
Shenzhen Bay’s MIXC commercial complex plays host to a bookstore design well read in Zen Buddhist philosophy. Realised by Ikg Inc’s Tomoko Ikegai, (who also designed the historically-imbued YJY Maike Centre Flagship in Xian), Yan was conceptualised with the theme of ‘life in the East’. The store’s layout embodies this expression – a rammed-earth wall closes off the interior as a space for personal emotional and mental reflection. The rammed-earth wall is composed of numerous colourful local soils, while mock Italian travertine tiles express the idea of accumulation and experience developed over many years. The store’s slim, golden bookshelves, meanwhile, fade into the wall, implying that visitors are immersing themselves in a sea of books and knowledge (where, in accordance with Buddhist philosophy, we can discover truth for ourselves).