Architect: LOOK Architects
Location: 5 Bishan Place, Singapore
Site Area: 1400.30 sqm
Client: National Library Board, Singapore
Structural Engineer: Meinhardt (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Mechanicalme &Electrical Engineer: Meinhardt (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Quantity surveyor: BEC Consultants
Completion: 2006
Photographs: Patrick Bingham-Hall, Tim Nolan
The metaphor of a tree house was invoked from the onset of design conceptualization to create an environment for learning via a journey of discovery and play. The use of skylights, trellises and colored glass transforms incoming daylight into a myriad of shades and colours, creating an intriguing dappled light quality within the library that simulates light filtered through the foliage of trees. ‘Pods’ cantilevered off the main building façade exude a distinctive charisma on the exterior and create suspended alcoves at an intimate scale from the building interior. The library is raised above the anonymity of its mixed used neighborhood and sets out to stir the curiosity of the community.
Conflicting requirements – view orientation, solar control and regulation of unprotected openings mandated by the statutory fire safety code – were satisfied by a highly rationalised spatial strategy. An internal atrium was incorporated to introduce natural daylight deep into the main circulation zone, as well as most of the library floors, and the back-of-house was concentrated as a solid core on the western elevation that also serves to shield the building from the harsh evening sun. A gently sloping ramp leads people from the street level up to the collection zone through the atrium and also acts as an efficient discharge route for large crowds.