2020 National Architecture Awards: The Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture

Jury citation

Marrickville Library has breathed new life into a disused building, catalyzing the transformation of an old hospital campus into a new civic hub at the centre of this suburban community. The library, in form and program, epitomizes this diverse community.

The heritage-listed hospital building has been carefully refurbished internally and externally, with a new extension defined by a generous colonnade and a playful sawtooth roof that references both the existing building and the typologies of Marrickville Road. Internally, a variety of spaces cater to the diverse range of uses and people invited into this contemporary library setting. Places for activity and retreat are woven throughout the complex. In the old hospital building, smaller support spaces have been repurposed to house the collections, quiet reading rooms and offices, along with open-air study areas along the reinstated verandahs.

The new spaces complement those housed within the existing ward building. This wing celebrates the building’s heritage by revealing its original facade in the double-height entry hall, which is flooded with natural light from the sawtooth roof lights. The palette of recycled bricks and timber materials that characterizes the new addition is not only warm and inviting but further embeds the narrative of adaptive reuse and recycling within the development. Here, there are spaces to meet everyone’s needs, with areas for reading and relaxing, exhibition space, a children’s area and garden, and the requisite cafe. Users can sit on tiered seating below a soaring ceiling, in cushioned nooks or outdoors.

Marrickville Library represents an evolving vision for new public buildings by creating a distinctive, contemporary and genuinely welcoming environment that has reinvigorated the historic urban setting by placing community life at its heart.

Marrickville Library will be reviewed by Mark Raggatt in a future issue of Architecture Australia.

Project credits

Architect BVN; Project team Bill Dowzer, Alex Chaston, Andre Callanan, Andrew Buchanan, Andrew Fong, Arlyn Mangabat, Brian Clohessy, Catherine North, Chi Tang, Gero Heimann, Gianluca Gennari, Gary Cai, Carolyn Jo, Nikita Notowidigdo, Jahan Faeghi, Kerwin Datu, Kim Small, Marcus Rigon, Max Hu, Olivia Hyde, Paul Pannell, Peter Richards, Rose Emerton, Sam Williams; Builder Mirvac and CD Construction Group; Mechanical, electrical and ESD engineer Steensen Varming; Hydraulic consultant Warren Smith Partners; Quantity surveyor MBM Consultants; Landscape architect Aspect Studios; Signage and wayfinding Citizen; Acoustic, fire protection and AV/ITS consultant Arup; Heritage consultant GML Heritage; Planning JBA Planning; Access consultant Morris Goding; BCA consultant McKenzie Group; Traffic consultant PTC; Artist Micke Lindebergh

Marrickville Library is located in Marrickville, New South Wales, on the land of the Gadigal and Wangal peoples of the Eora nation.