Halifax Central Library
| Halifax Central Library | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Type | Public library |
| Location | 5440 Spring Garden Road Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 1E9 |
| Coordinates | 44°38′34″N 63°34′31″W / 44.6429°N 63.5753°WCoordinates: 44°38′34″N 63°34′31″W / 44.6429°N 63.5753°W |
| Construction started | 2012 |
| Opened | 13 December 2014 |
| Cost | $57.6 million |
| Owner | Halifax Public Libraries |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 5 |
| Floor area | 11,000 m2 (120,000 sq ft) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architecture firm |
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Fowler Bauld & Mitchell |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Halifax Central Library is a public library in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street. It serves as the flagship library of the Halifax Public Libraries, replacing the Spring Garden Road Memorial Library.
A new central library was discussed by library administrators for several decades and approved by the regional council in 2008. The architects, a joint venture between local firm Fowler Bauld and Mitchell and Schmidt Hammer Lassen of Denmark, were chosen in 2010 through an international design competition. Construction began later that year on a prominent downtown site that had been a parking lot for half a century.
The new library opened in December 2014 and has become a highly popular gathering place. In addition to a book collection significantly larger than that of the former library, the new building houses a wide range of amenities including cafés, an auditorium, and community rooms. The striking architecture is characterised by the fifth floor's cantilever over the entrance plaza, a central atrium criss-crossed by staircases, and the building's transparency and relationship to the urban context.
The library won a Lieutenant Governor’s Design Award in Architecture for 2014 and a Governor General's Medal in Architecture in 2016.
The Spring Garden Road main library, opened in 1951, had been considered inadequate by library administrators for several decades. The first report mentioning a replacement building was published in 1971. An expansion built in 1974 was quickly outgrown. A 1987 assessment noted that the spaces within were "self-contained and inflexible" and that "study space and comfortable reading areas are presently the focus of serious public complaint ... services are cramped and over crowded."
In the mid-1990s the municipalities of Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County were amalgamated, and a new regional library board was created. In 1995, the Joint Amalgamation Committee of the merged libraries "agreed that a new central library would be needed to serve the new Halifax Regional Library system and that the site should remain in the present downtown area." They cited numerous problems with the original building. In addition to its small size (3,594 square metres [38,690 sq ft]), technological improvements were hampered by poor wiring and difficulty laying cable in mid-floor locations.Accessibility was poor due to the numerous stairs, levels, and an undersized elevator. Other problems with the building included leaks, asbestos, inoperable windows, the lack of a sprinkler system, inadequate climate control, ceilings as low as 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in), and the lack of numerous services found at other modern libraries.
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