Designing a library for the 21st century

Australia’s newest library opens in Melbourne’s Docklands this weekend, designed by architectural team Lindsay and Kerry Clare.
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Image: Emma Cross Photography, supplied by Lend Lease

Though boasting numerous private housing developments, as well as cafés, restaurants and public art works, the Melbourne suburb of Docklands largely lacks the fine grain and human-scaled developments that make a modern city attractive.

Thanks to a partnership arrangement between the City of Melbourne, Lend Lease and Places Victoria, and following extensive community engagement as part of the City’s Docklands Community and Place Plan, the transformation of Docklands from ‘a soulless, dispiriting, windswept failure’ into a culturally rich precinct is now well underway.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts