The planning of the library is both outward and inward looking and is based on a courtyard typology to create a green oasis at its centre.
On the northern outskirts of Toronto, Vaughan Civic Centre is a new administrative campus of municipal buildings within one of Canada’s fasting growing cities. With the recent completion of the Civic Centre, the next phase of development slated to take place is the construction of a new centralized Resource Library. This new library will be a stand- alone building with strong urban design ties to the Civic Centre, yet at the same time asserting it’s own distinct architecture and identity.
The planning of the library is both outward and inward looking and is based on a courtyard typology to create a green oasis at its centre. A multi-storey marketplace comprised of book retail, café, community info panels and the library’s main service desk will greet patrons, and also provide access to a second storey that contains offices for the Vaughan Public Library main administration. A Children’s Zone is located near the main entrance along with a dedicated Teen Zone in dedicated and highly supervisible areas. Soft-seating areas arranged in a theatre like configuration cascade downwards to a lower level containing non-fiction and multi-lingual collections. Anchoring the furthest end of the libraryis a large Study Hall supported by a computer Training Suite. The architecture of the library is very transparent and capitalizes on views of the internal courtyard, the Civic Square and a City Park. The facility is intended to achieve LEED Gold certification by the CaGBC.