4 December 2009: National Library past and future - the Architect’s view

The National Library building past and future – the Architect’s view

Rob Stevens, Programme Manager of the National Library’s refurbishment is a practising architect who has worked on many significant Wellington heritage buildings. He talks in depth about Brutalism and the National Library building and the way ahead.

The National Library is cited as an example of Brutalist architecture - what is Brutalism?

Brutalism has its routes in the modernist architectural movement dating from the early 20th century. It became a recognised style around the mid 20th century and gained popularity particularly in the UK, USA and closer to home in Australia.

The style wasn’t universally loved – the name ‘brutalism’ gives a clue to that – many considered the buildings ugly and inhuman. Brutalist buildings are usually recognised by repetitive angular geometries and textured natural finished concrete.

Brutalist architecture was inherently sculptural and intended to express a ‘honesty’ including exposing the building function and servicing.

Philosophically some advocates of Brutalism considered it a response to a socialist ideology, integrative and protective for the people, but ironically the style has been criticised for being unfriendly and uncommunicative.

How did Brutalism come to Wellington?

Architects like many other designers look at what the rest of the world is doing, and my impression of that era was design in New Zealand was strongly influenced by overseas treads and had little local identity or vernacular to draw on.

The Ministry of Works designed many civic buildings around that time that were heavily influenced by the brutalist style. In Molesworth Street, Wellington, you can see these designs in the National Library, High Court and the Court of Appeal, State Services building, and further up the street, William Clayton Building.

Why was Brutalism considered a fitting style for the National Library?

Adopting the brutalist style was probably a response to the contemporary architecture of the times and appears to have drawn heavily on the seminal Boston City Hall completed in 1962 and earlier designs by Le Corbusier (still a god like figure when I studied at the schools of architecture in the late 1970s). Internationally, many civic buildings of that time were designed in the brutalist style.

I think the design response was an honest attempt to reflect the Library brief although the execution isn’t exemplary. Twenty odd years later the brief for our National Library has changed, we want to encourage the general public to visit and access their heritage, and a Brutalist response would not fit well.

What were the then MOW trying to say or achieve with the building?

I haven’t read anything by the design architect what Peter Boyes, but to speculate I’d say the intention was to construct a monumental building. The ‘robust’ articulated concrete forms express permanence and importance, deliberately introverted, enclosing something valuable behind its protective exterior and minimal openings. Although the building clearly draws on the Brutalist style, it is somewhat subdued with the use of finely finished external panels rather than the more coarse finish of expected in this style.

The urban context is, or should be, a strong influence on a building design response and the Library is placed in an area of recognised historic importance. It is a large structure, taking up the whole elevated site, and quite pronounced when viewed from Parliament grounds, and from that perspective (if not any other) offered an opportunity to be expressive and sculptural.

Is the National Library building a significant example of Brutalism?

The building has had limited formal recognition and I’d have to say it doesn’t register as a particularly significant example of Brutalism or architectural design. In comparison with say the Boston City Hall or Corbs’ Sainte Marie de La Turette, the National Library appears too repetitive, truncated and doesn’t relate to the ground. But in its simplicity it has a certain unified sculptural massing and is a uniquely identifiable building in New Zealand.

What positive features does the Library building have?

The National Library building does have some good features and as a purpose designed building it has “good bones”: These can be seen in:

• Large open floor plates are ideal to meet the area demands for the Library collections and operations
• The extra height of the ground floor (over 4 m) provides a grand volume for the main public access floor
• Coffered concrete ceilings, where exposed, are not only structurally functional but also provide clean and classical lines
• The building is structurally sound and has capacity for additional collections loading with relatively minor strengthening required.
• The roof top garden for staff which was probably one of the first green roof spaces in Wellington and the pyramid tearoom sitting in the garden won a local architectural award in 1988.

What are your favourite Wellington ‘Brutals’?

There are a number buildings throughout Wellington built in the 60s to 80s with strong concrete forms, but my pick of them is the Hannah Playhouse, the purpose built home of Downstage theatre. Designed by James Beard and built in 1973 it was finished in the year I came to Wellington as teenager and it really helped to spark my interest in architecture. It received an NZIA award in 2006 for enduring architecture.

I also like the 1963 King & Dawson designed Freyberg Pool. The strong sculptured concrete end walls and a wonderful floating roof have an elegant and honest simplicity. It’s quite an iconic Wellington building the way it engages the prominent harbour-edge site and can be viewed and enjoyed from a number Wellington vantage points.

While not a Wellington building, another one of my favourite ‘Brutals’ is the Huntly Power Station in the Waikato. Designed by MOW and built in the 1970s it has grand strong sculptural forms topped off by two enormous round chimney stacks. The rural setting on the west bank of the Waikato River makes it one of the most photogenic structures in NZ.

How well does the Library relate to its street-scape?

As a building form, looking at scale and bulk and in context of the adjacent brutalist style buildings on the northern side of Molesworth Street, you could argue that the design is an appropriate urban response. However, at street level it presents a hard and seemingly impenetrable concrete wall. If you make your way up the two flights of steps you arrive onto a barren plaza and still don’t feel welcome. It might have been partially resolved if the Atiken Street edge was more open and sheltered, but it fails here too.

Unfortunately many Wellington people I talk to think the National Library isn’t for general public access, and the way the building ‘disengages’ with the street is a significant factor in this misconception.

How do you feel about working on preserving the Library building and what will you be able to achieve?

I have a history with this building that makes it special to me. My first project as an architecture graduate in 1985 was to assist in the design of the National Library building and it’s a delight to work on the building again 24 years later. In that time I’ve been fortunate to have worked on the refurbishment and adaptive use of many buildings including heritage buildings such as the St James Theatre and that’s been most worthwhile and rewarding.

The priority refurbishment work to the National Library will be directed to accommodating the collections growth to 2030 and the much needed infrastructure upgrade. Much of this upgrade will be ‘invisible’ but is critical to ensure safety, care and protection of our heritage collections. Apart from an increased in collections storage capacity, the upgrade will provide significant improvement in environmental control of collections areas and a reconfiguration of the building layout to better align with service delivery.

Although there’ll be limited opportunity to freshen the fit out of the building there’ll be some exciting changes to the way our offering and services will be delivered to our customers. We are developing concepts around a visitor experience that will be a key focus of the ground floor and flow outside onto the plaza to make the invitation and connection for the public more visible and tangible. While doing this, we will not be compromising anything for researchers, but rather the goal is to improve the service delivery and make it less confusing by bringing the service points together onto the ground and first floors.

We’ll be able to show some of this thinking early next year. Keep an eye on the National Library website for details.

So – no grand changes will be made to the building, but I see this as a first important stage to preserving and adapting this building to future generations of Library users.