Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Surry Hills Library and Community Centre

This is a project by FJMT - Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp and it is located at Sydney, Australia. There are twelve images for Surry Hills Library and Community Centre.

: © John Gollings

Project images

Designer's statement

Community hybrid: equity, aspiration and sustainability.

This project is located in the heart of Sydney and includes a library over two levels, a community centre and a childcare centre on the top floor.

From early studies, four integrated formal elements emerged: a new simple open space and platform, a prismatic glass environmental atrium, a suspended ‘U’ shaped timber form and a new transitional laneway foyer space.

The timber ‘U’ form is elevated to create transparency and accessibility, and embraces the prismatic environmental atrium and orients both toward the new park to the south.

The laneway foyer space mediates the scale of the building against the adjacent retail stores with suspended cloud-like roof profiles filtering daylight into this space.

A key project objective was to establish a new Australian standard of excellence for environmentally sustainable. The building incorporates many sustainable design innovations and integrates them into the architecture and explores their expressive potential.