GREEN DESIGN FOR GREEN SQUARE LIBRARY
22 Mar 2018
The new Green Square Library will be a lush oasis thanks to Citygreen’s innovative underground structural vault solution for tree pits and water storage, which will allow for the trees surrounding the library’s plaza to thrive all-year-round.
Image Copyright Stewart Hollenstein
Construction of the Green Square Library commenced in 2017, marking the long-awaited fruition of an innovative design, developed following an open design competition in 2012. Stewart Hollstein, an emerging architecture practice, stood out from among the 160 international entries with an innovative proposal for the new underground library and plaza.
According to the jury, “It was the only scheme to challenge the notion of placing a building in the plaza, managing to put forward a strong argument for placing the plaza over the library, thereby providing both a building and a suitably-scaled urban plaza for the future developments around the site, becoming a beacon and an oasis for the whole Green Square community.” Construction is currently ongoing and will be completed by the end of the year.
Entering the library through a green-walled, open-air amphitheatre, there will be an underground living room filled with sunlight and fresh air, and a lush, sunken garden providing an enriching space for children to play. Outside, the plaza will continue this theme with mobile sun lounges under 48 advanced canopy trees, including the added benefit of free wifi, enabling access to the library’s world-class e-resources.
In an established urban area like Green Square, providing enough uncompacted soil and irrigation beneath the hardscaped plaza for newly-planted trees was a challenge. Landscape architecture firm, Hassell, identified Citygreen’s innovative stratavault tree pit system as the ideal solution – providing a solid structure beneath the plaza to house soil, intercept and capture rainwater, and direct root growth away from surrounding infrastructure.
In addition to intercepting rainwater for immediate irrigation, Hassell also sought a system to store excess rainwater underground – both for irrigation on-demand and for reuse within the complex. Citygreen developed an innovative underground water storage solution by installing several impermeable welded liners beneath the plaza to act as water storage tanks. These liners are supported by skeletal structures constructed from stratavault modules. This enables international engineering firm, Arup, to create tanks in irregular shapes to fit perfectly around the existing infrastructure. Each liner is protected by cushioning layers and connected by a network of pipes that feed stormwater into the tanks and then drain water out for irrigation and reuse.
Citygreen assisted with the design and configuration of the tanks, drawing on previous projects and comprehensive testing to ensure a sound result. Combined, the tanks will store over 216,000 litres of water allowing for the trees in the plaza to flourish for the enjoyment of all.
Stay tuned for a full report when construction is completed.
Image Copyright Stewart Hollenstein