After four years of design and development, MGS Architects has delivered the New Generation Bendigo Library, offering state of the art library and community services including spaces to meet and for quiet reflection, a café, a volunteer resource centre, a children’s library and “cubby house”, gallery spaces, upgraded research facilities and extended internet access for the community.
Photography by © Andrew Latreille
The library, now Victoria’s second largest after the State Library, has been fitted with the latest radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for seamless borrowing services and is home to the Goldfields Library Corporation. The redevelopment comprises 4,000 square metres of functional areas over two levels, designed to offer a flexible and inclusive library that allows people to meet, exchange ideas and interact with each other through both programmes and chance.
Photography by © Andrew Latreille
The project incorporates the pre-existing 1984 building with frontage to public gardens in the historic centre of Bendigo in a contemporary architectural and interior design responses maximising the opportunities to engage with the public realm.
Photography by © Andrew Latreille
The building’s design demonstrates the City of Bendigo’s commitment to enacting council’s environmental sustainability policies by incorporating a Building Management System, which tracks energy use and transmits this information in real time to the occupants, allowing visitors the opportunity to understand and interact with how much energy is used. Directors Eli Giannini and Joshua Wheeler led the project team at MGS Architects. “Our projects are recognised for creating places for people” Mr Wheeler says.
Photography by © Andrew Latreille
Project Info :
Architects: MGS Architects
Project Location: 259 Hargreaves Street, Bendigo VIC 3550, Australia
Project Area: 4010.0 sqm
Project Year: 2014
Contractor: Contract Control
Photographs: Andrew Latreille
CoGB Architect: Don Goldsworthy
Project Manager: Pavan Consulting
Building Surveyor: Building Issues Pty Ltd
Acoustic Consultant: Marshall Day Acoustics
Design Architect: Joshua Wheeler, Eli Giannini
Sophie Tremblay is a Montreal-based architectural editor and designer with a focus on sustainable urban development. A McGill University architecture graduate, she began her career in adaptive reuse, blending modern design with historical structures. As a Project Editor at Arch2O, she curates stories that connect traditional practice with forward-thinking design. Her writing highlights architecture's role in community engagement and social impact. Sophie has contributed to Canadian Architect and continues to collaborate with local studios on community-driven projects throughout Quebec, maintaining a hands-on approach that informs both her design sensibility and editorial perspective.