State Library of Victoria set for $83m revamp

An $83 million revamp of Australia’s oldest public library, the State Library of Victoria, will give users access to about 40 per cent more of the whole-block institution that faces Swanston Street, and present high-tech and use-specific areas to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship, family and child-friendly interaction.

Last weekend, the state government announced that an impressive consortium of international and Australian-based architects, heritage experts and engineers had been selected from a contested group of other applicants for the task “to transform the iconic building”.

The second multimillion-dollar refurbishment program on the library this century will return to public use one of the most significant spaces in a complex that comprises 23 buildings spread across a two-acre site.

The Queen’s Hall, built in 1856 and according to its heritage citation “is of particular note for how elaborate its interior is as an example of early library design”, has been closed for years, deemed unsafe for public access. According to the library, “returning it to public use is very important”.

The fantastic Domed Reading Room, with its octagonal 35-metre-high dome that was one of the largest such structures in the world when it was completed early in the 20th century, will also be refurbished.

The Reading Room Dome of the State Library of Victoria during White Night. Photo: James Braund

Australian firm Architectus​, which has branches in the eastern states as well as in China and Singapore, made the winning bid in a team that unites it with Danish architectural practice Schmidt Hammer Lassen, and three other expert heritage and engineering firms.

The track record of built achievements and commissions of the two leading players in the library’s expansion and restoration, which will also include reopening the Russell Street entrance, is dazzling to say the least. The firms are already working together on Christchurch’s $85 million New Central Library.

Halifax Central Library in Canada, by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Photo: Adam Mørk

As separate entities, Schmidt Hammer Lassen has been involved with Scandinavia’s largest public library, the Royal Library of Copenhagen, and the Halifax Central Library in Canada. Some 50 per cent of the firm’s projects are international.

Architectus has 250 employees working in architecture, interior design, urban planning and development and has many innovative achievements in educational, medical, multi-residential, office and transport. Among its many pending projects is building Papua New Guinea’s National Museum and Art Gallery.

As State Library of Victoria CEO Kate Torney says: “These are some of the best designers of public library buildings in the world and their work at the Library will be exciting and visionary,  adding to the legacy of great design that has built the library over 160 years.”

Halifax Central Library in Canada, by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Photo: Adam Mørk

The project is due to start next year and to be completed by 2020.