National Library
100 Victoria Street, Singapore 188064
The National Library in Victoria Street re-opened its doors on 22 July 2005, four years after the design plans were first revealed to the public. The new building heralds the arrival of a new knowledge icon in the heart of the nation's civic, cultural and arts district.
In 1999, Swan and Maclaren Architects were awarded the architectural tender for the new National Library Board building and to ensure that the new building was functional and relevant to the community, ideas and feedback were sought from seven civic groups and the public.
The building cuts a distinctive figure with its clean lines and fluid curves, with all-white panels and tall glass windows rising to the sky. It consists of two 16-storey blocks linked by "sky bridges" on every level.
Designed by T.R. Hamzah and Yeang, the building has a host of environmentally-friendly features. Oriented away from the East-West direction, it keeps cool with sunshades, external louvres and a roof canopy. Natural ventilation zones such as garden terraces and the ground-floor open-air plaza invite the breeze in. For all its green features, the National Library Building was conferred in 2005, the platinum Green Mark Award - the highest badge of honour for environmentally-friendly buildings from Singapore's Building and Construction Authority.
The National Library houses a total start-up collection size of over 634,000 items across a floor area of more than 58,000 sqm. Five times larger than the previous facility at Stamford Road, there are two main libraries here: the Central Lending Library (where books can be borrowed) is on Basement 1, while the Reference Library (where items are purely for reference within the library) occupies Levels 7-13.
The crown jewel of the new National Library is the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, named to commemorate the late Dr Lee Kong Chian, founder of the Lee Foundation, which gave a $60 million donation towards the library. The Reference Library houses a range of collections including the Social Science, Humanities, Science and Technology Collections, the Arts and Business Collections, the Chinese, Malay and Tamil Collections, the Asia Children's Collection, the Donors' Collections, the Singapore and Southeast Asian Collections and a Rare Materials Collection.
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