The brief for the project was to bring new life to the Junior Library space, making it more accessible and engaging for students – a place where students want to go.

An aspiration for the spaces was voiced and this was followed by a continuous discussion during design and documentation phases to bring to life what this would look like.

The School were represented by executive, operations, teaching and maintenance staff to ensure the approach suited the needs of multiple stakeholders. Fortnightly critiques were undertaken by the School to provide feedback on the latest design iteration.

Initially, discussion centred around whether the library function would remain on the upper floor or move to the ground floor or potentially provide a vertical connection between the two levels. Cost and time parameters determined a two-floor solution was not a good value proposition and whilst better connected to the adjacent COLA, the smaller footprint and diminished connectivity to other learning spaces suggested retaining the current location was preferred.

Subsequent to this, the base layouts were decided upon relatively quickly after which time was spent developing the finishes and fixtures to create appropriate settings for the experiences sought after for the learners.