The Surry Hills Library and Community Centre by fjmt won the Milo Dunphy Award for Sustainable Architecture, the John Verge Award for Interior Architecture and the Architecture Award for Public Buildings at the 2010 NSW Architecture Awards held on June 18, 2010.
The jury has commended the scheme’s multi-functioning character, which encompasses a community library, childcare center and meeting spaces over four floors on a modest footprint. The jury also praised the sustainable aspects integrated into the scheme. The interiors are designed to be a breathable space flooded with natural light.
Other sustainable features of the building include: the use of planting together with a thermal labyrinth for passive filtering and tempering of air; incorporation of extensive natural light; solar-tracking timber louver systems; automated fabric shading; mixed mode ventilation; extensive photovoltaic array; geothermal cooling bores; green roof; rainwater collection and recycling; and sustainable material selection.
The old Surry Hills library built in 1956 has been demolished to make way for the new Surry Hills Library and Community Centre, which is an innovative hybrid building housing a new library, community center and childcare facility.
