Rallying together can unlock the extraordinary.

Redesigning a suburban library with a connected new community hub presents an opportunity to respond to our changing planet and social needs in sustainable, inspiring, and nurturing ways.

We actively collaborated with the community team driving the brief for the North Fitzroy Library and Community Hub project, arriving at exemplary experience for all who visit.

Housing a three-story, 2,040sqm facility incorporating a library, Maternal Child Health facility, and community-focused facilities including a new home for the City of Yarra’s International House, the hub has become a cross-generational meeting place for different cultures and ethnicities.

The facility is designed with a strong focus on easing and augmenting user experience and embedding future flexibility. We have achieved this with a conscious distillation of cellular supporting spaces to the south and open flexible spaces to the north, and a variation in sustainable materiality that stimulates the eye and embeds a historical aesthetic.

The library, set over two levels, occupies the majority of the building’s wedge-shaped floor plate. The first floor is divided between Maternal Child Health facilities, including two playgroup rooms and a library. The second floor provides community facilities with large divisible spaces, a commercial kitchen, and a shared community office. An extensive rooftop garden connects the northern portion of the second and first floors by cascading planters and informal seating. This rooftop garden is an extension of community and library spaces, providing protected external garden space for interaction and study and contributing to the 6 Star Green Star rating of the complex.

Studio: Melbourne, Australia

Key Facts:

• 2,040SQM
• $10.5M
• 6 GREEN STAR
• Water management initiatives  
• On site power generation 
• Pressurised Air Handling System

Traditional Custodians of the Land: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung

Photography: Tom Hutton