VISION Issue 29 | Page 8

8 Vision’s Peter Hyatt met with ARM architect, Wayne Sanderson to discuss a project that celebrates libraries as living, dynamic places with a future rather than on the verge of extinction: PH As civic design goes, this library is a standout. was our intention. WS That High visibility? Absolutely. The design appears a marriage of Fabergé Egg and deep space observatory. The mayor refers to it as ‘The Brain’. Others refer to it as a spaceship or Tardis. That’s not necessarily our design concept but we welcome all interpretations. We view it as the Renaissance idea of civic buildings with domes. We interpreted the dome geometry to make it a sphere. The other key idea is that of a grotto in a garden setting. The grotto is a place of reflection and learning within these gardens. That sat very well with the library idea, as an internalized centre of knowledge we could then reflect with the eroded, fragmented form on its western side.