Completion year 2015
Key People
The new City of Perth library is the first major civic building to be built since the Perth Concert Hall nearly 40 years ago. The convenient location in the CBD makes the library of choice for not only residents but a sizeable segment of the daytime population of the central city area including workers, students, tourists, shoppers and researchers.
The library also creates a true sense of place providing plenty of community interaction or quiet and reflective spaces.
The mechanical systems within the new building include underfloor air distribution through the main library collection levels. This is to be implemented in order to achieve reduced floor to floor heights, reduced capital cost (over conventional air distribution system) and improved air distribution by delivering air directly into the occupied zone. These initiatives also formed part of the greater sustainability initiatives for the building.
The project forms part of a larger redevelopment of the historical Cathedral Square precinct in the Perth CBD. This required careful and detailed integration with other projects on the same site including an existing multilevel basement carpark that sits directly beneath the site for the new building.
The project won the George Temple Poole Award and the Jeffrey Howlett Award for Public Architecture at the 2016 WA Architecture Awards.
