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When Auckland Council decided to relocate the Children's area of their Central library, the new location, visible from the main entry provided an opportunity to create a vibrant and exciting first impression. The result is a vibrant hub for the library and a fun space for families to enjoy. This is a flexible space where a wide range of activities can be held, including storytelling, reading, and play events.

The high ceilings created an opportunity for suspended features and creative lighting elements, while the large back wall provides an excellent backdrop for display and colour. The creative concept for the area was based around the fantasy Kiwi kids story, "Once Upon a Time, a Taniwha came to visit my tree hut."

A ‘Treehouse' forms a central focal point for the area sitting on a section of raised floor, it is an ideal location for story-telling, with the interior providing another quiet reading space.

The ‘Taniwha' is an abstract, fun, sculptural element; used to separate the area from the rest of the library, with plenty of shelving, display areas, and recesses creating reading nooks and cubby holes. The design process involved reviewing traditional methods of depicting a Taniwha (wood carving) and essentially carving out the space from 3 dimensional forms. An intuitive, flexible shelving system was developed that to allow flat and face up book display alternatives. The feature graphic artwork which adorns the treehouse and taniwha was a collaboration between a local iwi artist and the design team.

Auckland Central Library
Auckland Central Library
Auckland Central Library

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Auckland Central Library

About the
Professional

At GHD Design we are committed to innovate for positive impact, inspire creativity and foster collaboration to co-create a more integrated built environment, that not only provides a sense of place, but ignites a sense of community.

Leveraging our unique methodologies across architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, fit-out management, planning and engineering GHD Design goes beyond problem-solving, using clever design to get to the root of the challenge, creating a better, more sustainable built world for generations to come.