Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
“Our work is deeply contextual, so we dedicated ourselves to studying this historical institution and understanding its important place in the cultural landscape of Melbourne,” states Elif Tinaztepe, Partner at Schmidt Hammer Lassen.
“Our aim with the transformation of State Library Victoria was to allow the heritage spaces to stand out in their raw beauty while complementing them with a strong contemporary design line to help carry this beloved institution into the future. Respecting the authenticity of the spaces and existing design elements was our guiding principle.”
Working in partnership, Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen and Australian Architectus were tasked with rethinking and revitalizing the existing spaces of the State Library Victoria in order to unlock new possibilities, create connections, and provide a framework for the library’s ongoing and future evolution.
State Library Victoria is one of Melbourne’s most loved institutions.
The Swanston Street landmark welcomes more than two million people every year, making it the busiest state library in Australia and the fourth most visited library in the world.
The library takes up a full city block and is actually 23 buildings that have evolved over the last 160 years.
The library was the work of several architects: Joseph Reed (c.1853-1860); Abraham Linacre (c.1864); and Bates, Peebles, and Smart (1913), the successor to Joseph Reed’s firm, now known as Bates Smart, as well as the first renovation architects Ancher Mortlock Woolley (1990-2004).
The State Library of Victoria (SLV), fronting Melbourne’s Swanston Street, covers an entire city block.
Founded in 1854 and opened in 1856, it has a fascinating and complex history, sharing its site, at times, with the institutions now called Museum Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria.
The precinct felt like another world prior to the most recent renovation, which began in 1985.
Inside the Domed Reading Room (opened in 1913), sparrows and starlings flew around the ceiling.
The room’s breathtaking internal streetscape included ghost facades sculpted inside its octagonal drum.
A remarkable suite of Edwardian Baroque furniture was lit by rows of feeble bulbs, with students and homeless people alike hunched over desks in constant twilight.
To borrow an item, you lined up in the old first-floor catalog room, full of wooden chests of handwritten cards. Dust-coated men hastened up and down a spiral stair into Piranesian caverns in the stacks, fetching items from cabinets, tables, and tallboys.
As part of the new renovation, the newly designed spaces were part of a five-year redevelopment plan aimed at expanding the library’s community outreach and enhancing the visitor experience.
The Vision 2020 plan (2017–20), funded by the Victorian government and philanthropic donations, and supplanted an earlier Ancher Mortlock Woolley (2010) renovation masterplan in 2017.
In a limited competition, Architectus, with the Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen, was selected to design the redevelopment.
With Andronas Conservation Architecture as heritage consultant – building on Lovell Chen’s earlier heritage studies and strategic plan (1985–2012) – the team has completed a comprehensive second-stage refurbishment, revitalizing 15 of the 28 major spaces on the Library’s current map.
Its signature is the restored Ian Potter Queen’s Hall, the earliest reading room behind the 1869–70 portico.
The work also includes the great polished stone stair (1906–13) leading up to the octagonal Reading Room Dome; Hansen Hall (1863–64), between Mr. Tulk cafe (1961) and the main entrance; the interstices between the Dome and the squared wings around it; and the Isabella Fraser Room, a function area on the La Trobe Street frontage.
The former Trescowthick Information Centre has been reconfigured as the Quad, and the library’s four triangular courtyards (three of which were roofed in the 1990s) have been repurposed.
The new surfaces gleam as if built yesterday.
Several spaces look bare on initial impression: in their new uniformity of color, Queen’s Hall, Hansen Hall, and the genealogy and art collections appear almost as if waiting for occupancy, waiting for something to happen.
These interiors leave room for the library to grow into them, visually and in memory.
The architects’ work for Vision 2020 is not externally focused, as Ken Woolley’s work had been. Ancher Mortlock Woolley’s internal spaces were clean-ups, with the fitouts strictly framed by the basic structure.
The 2020 Vision for the State Library Victoria has increased public space by 40% and seating by 70% and has returned the inimitable Ian Potter Queen’s Hall to Victorians after being closed for 15 years.
The design focuses on revealing rather than replicating the heritage elements of the Library, at the same time a consistent language for the new elements is created that will thread the spaces together to achieve a cohesive and satisfying visitor experience.
Ruth Wilson, Principal and Melbourne Studio Leader at Architectus, said the design concept for the completed transformation puts library users at the center, providing an open, accessible, and welcoming experience for all ages and cultural backgrounds.
“The library has been evolving for more than 160 years and with this restoration now complete, we have prepared the library for its future uses, cementing its position in Melbourne’s history as the center of inspiration and education.”
Project: State Library Victoria
Architects: Schmidt Hammer Lassen
Architects: Architectus
Original Architects: Joseph Reed (c.1853-1860)
Original Architects: Abraham Linacre (c.1864)
Original Architects: Bates, Peebles and Smart (1913)
Original Renovation Architects: Ancher Mortlock Woolley (1990-2004)
Consultants: Andronas Conservation Architects, Irwinconsult, Steensen Varming, McKenzie Group Consulting, Salus, ID Lab
Client: State Library Victoria
Photographers: Trevor Mein/ Brett Boardman
