The jury said from the outset that the winning design was, “by far the most interesting and stimulating” with the library being built entirely below ground on one level. It is linked visually to the plaza above by a sunken storey garden, and the entrance to the library incorporates an amphitheatre leading down from the plaza.
Green Square has become home to 11,000 new residents since 2000 with another 30,000 people to move there as new homes, public space and offices are built in the next two decades. By building the sunken library the Green Square Town Plaza will become the “community living room” for this community providing open space for mobile furniture, a tower for movie projections and a water play area for children.
Jury member Sharan Harvey, Brisbane City Council’s Manager Library Services, said library design is changing radically around the world and the winning Green Square entry swung the jury because of the way the library and plaza are integrated to increase the range of activities offered, even including music practice space for residents in high-density living units to avoid disturbing their neighbours.
Tram services will run through the plaza, but as yet there is no easy pedestrian access from the site to Green Square Railway Station across Bourke Street.
The City has allocated $25 million for the library works, and a further $15 million for the public domain and plaza, with work on refining the design, rehabilitating the library site and constructing the library and plaza expected to take until 2017.
