The Thousands

Designed by FJMT architects and City of Sydney, the new Surry Hills Library and Community Center is a lavish architectural exercise in modernist eco-thinking, exotic materials and intricate detailing. The glass atrium is an engineering feat in itself and can withstand the force of a large truck, apparently. Presumably all those book stealing crime syndicates will have to go elsewhere. Attaining the pinnacle of sustainable building design, the library will have the highest energy efficiency rating of any government building in Australia – which you’d hope, considering its cost.**Collider had the honour of being asked, fairly last minute, to create the main signage system for the library, which was a great opportunity to make something permanent and lasting. Though we had greater plans for the signage, we were eventually in charge of seeing through four elements – the main entrance, and the three floor directories. The directories, in sympathy to the materials they exist in, consist of what could be either like large tilted switches or books roughly stacked. Each module not only holds the description of the destination but also tilts towards that destination. The proximity of the destination determines how little or great the angle of the tilt. Make sense? Best to go see it for yourself.

As soon as they get the pandas into the bamboo garden within the glass atrium it will be primed for Clover Moore’s ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday June 13.