Click here to view the full poster for Concept H
Concept H: Civic Library
This concept promotes the expansion of the Central Library as the key driver of reactivation of the Civic Hall Site. The vision is for all public and private developments to be connected to an indoor public street covering half of the site, drawn to the Armstrong and Mair Streets corner –the main entrance from the CBD. Large public open spaces would be maintained and improved into a North courtyard, and a long West secluded garden forecourt connected to a civic plaza the length of Mair Street. All but the North Civic Hall façades sit proud in this landscape, with direct indoor and outdoor entrances.
The concept proposes many innovations – reactivation of the Foyer by a prominent two-storey restaurant, the Fly Tower housing residents on site, and spaces for hire and small commercial spaces mixing and activating the outdoor edges of the Central Library. The Lower Hall is redesigned as an internal space for hire, visible and active within the Central Library, and there is the opportunity to develop a carparking and office tower on the North-East corner.
Concept H asks ‘what if’the Central Library were to take over the site as the community hub, and connect all of the preferences for the site –including for the Civic Hall –in one big civic idea.