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| The Seattle Library has a double-glazed, tinted shell which allows extensive natural light; rainwater collection tanks; bamboo flooring; waterless urinals; and automatic heating and cooling. Photos by Bernie Hawke. |
The Dunedin City Council's library services manager, Bernie
Hawke, is not waiting around for an architect to provide the
design for a remodelled library.
Instead, he spent most of August travelling in North America
and Australia, discovering how 14 libraries deal with energy
issues.
"My
perception is that libraries, and any public building, should
be built along more sustainable, energy-efficient
principles."
Using an $8000 scholarship from the Library and Information
Association, Mr Hawke visited libraries in big cities such as
Chicago and in smaller centres such as Eugene, Oregon.
He would not discuss the multimillion-dollar proposal being
investigated by the council to move the library into the
former chief post office in Princes St, but has worked on its
layout.
He said while library staff would work with architects in any
library redevelopment, "I'd just be keen to have some input
and to ensure that any buildings that are built or
redeveloped for Dunedin not only work well as libraries - are
aesthetically beautiful and appropriate to the circumstance -
but are energy efficient as well."
The running costs of a building could become a bigger expense
than the cost of the building itself, he said.
"So if you can bring down that operational cost by sensible
design and good, well-calibrated equipment and sensible use
of the building, then you can save the city a huge amount of
money."
Mr Hawke said the ideas he got from his trip included many
that were quite simple and did not necessarily cost "heaps of
money".
Triple glazing was used in Canadian libraries to retain heat.
Elsewhere, he saw sensor systems that moved translucent
screens across windows when outside light became too bright,
or turned on lights as the outside light faded.
Friends of the Library president Merle van de Klundert told
the Otago Daily Times the prospect of a "green library" was
just one of the reasons favouring the "excellent idea" of
moving to the former post office.
She believed it would be a tourist attraction, relieve the
cramped conditions for staff at the Moray Pl library, and
allow the library's "priceless collections" of books to be
better displayed and cared for.
Ms van der Klundert believed a new library in the post office
building should not affect plans for a new library in South
Dunedin which was "essential".
mark.price@odt.co.nz
