Library Reflects Community Vitality
26 March 2004
| Location: | Kerang, Victoria |
| Country: | Australia |
| Project Size: | A$1.6 million |
| Client: | Built by Gannawarra Shire Council;Funded under the State Government Department of Infrastructure Public Library Infrastructure Program and the Victorian Ministry of the Arts |
| Architect: | Peter Hirst - Design Director
Greenway Hirst Page Pty Ph: 03 9329 2611 Fax: 03 9328 1691 Mob: 0417 372 560 Email: hirst@ghp.biz |
The striking design of a new community library building is helping to highlight the vitality of the rural Victorian community of Kerang. The new library is the largest project undertaken for several years at Kerang, a farming centre 270 kilometres from Melbourne at the junction of the Murray Valley and Lodden Valley highways.
Architects Greenway Hirst Page Pty Ltd designed the Sir John Gorton Library to represent a pile of books tossed upon the ground and roughly assembled - some standing in rows, others lying down and some crashing into each other to create dramatic sculptural forms.
Built by Gannawarra Shire Council and funded under the State Government Department of Infrastructure Public Library Infrastructure Program and the Victorian Ministry of the Arts, the A$1.6 million library took just over a year to complete.
The building uses contrasting materials including COLORBOND® steel as wall cladding in colours including Manor Red™, Headland® and Paperbark® to reflect the rural town's natural environment - the red of the soil and the yellow of the wheat fields.
The colours also complement those of the existing water tower - the only surviving part of a landmark local power station demolished many years ago.
The brick water tower, its top now clad in COLORBOND® steel in the colour Headland® and still very much a Murray Valley highway landmark, is integral to the library's design.
"Corrugated COLORBOND® steel draws reference to the Kerang farming community, reflecting the rural environment," said Greenway Hirst Page's design director Peter Hirst.
Lightweight and flexible, it was used on the library as a cost effective, maintenance free material that the community was familiar with, Mr Hirst said.
The project team included design director Hirst, project architect Shane Cox, Anita Lincolne Lomax and Dorian Teo.
"We wanted a vibrant building that gave something back to the community by symbolising that this town is very much alive," said Mr Hirst.
"The aim was to give the community a place that is symbolic, functionally driven, and environmentally responsive."
Input from the local community was an integral part of the design process.
