Hames Sharley is partnering with Danish design firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen to transform the existing Curtin University Library in Australia.
Project Name: TL Robertson Library
Studio Name: Amy Sala Tenna
Location: Perth, Australia
Photography: Hames Sharley
At the centre of Western Australia’s largest university, the landmark library building will be transformed into an open, light-filled building to meet the needs of future users. The team aims to create a “living library” with new pathways for visual and physical connectivity throughout the building site.
For the past 47 years the TL Robertson Library at Curtin University in Perth, Australia has stood as an iconic brutalist structure that welcomes two million visits annually by students, faculty and the greater Perth community. The library, built in 1972, was originally designed with little natural daylight in order to protect the thousands of books and other physical materials in its collection. The new approach will open the library to the green campus and the community.
The design invites the landscape in through the use of timber and other natural materials. A palette of lightweight materials and elongated windows will support a new architectural expression and add contrast to the existing concrete and brick structure. The TL Robertson Library will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022, the year the project is scheduled to complete.
