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After ten years of planning and construction, one of Marlborough’s greatest pieces of architecture is open. Judene Edgar finds out about Marlborough’s new District Library and Art Gallery, and the people behind it.

In some ways, the building sneaks up on you after its initial impact – a shock of the new and unusual at the outset, then a sense of long-term appropriateness and connection with the land and the surrounding environment.

Principal architect Richard McGowan, from Warren and Mahoney Architects Ltd, says that they’re proud to have helped bring the Marlborough community an accessible, welcoming and visuallycompelling community hub. “The design alterations and its eventual outcome were demanding but very satisfying. The opportunity to engage with Marlborough, its landscape and its people as we have worked on the project these past five years has been a huge privilege.”

The siting and outlook from the building is perfect and has brought an opportunity to arrange the two floors of the building to their best advantage. The upper floor is intentionally larger than the lower floor, providing shade and shelter at ground level, but also a dramatic cantilevered reading room with a view overlooking the Taylor River above High Street. The major spatial sequence is to enter the building from the north at ground level, be drawn up the wide, majestic staircase towards the skylight, then fold back on yourself to discover a tv-like glazed frontage which allows anyone to sit along the view and read, think and converse without being disturbed.

“Like all public buildings, the new library seeks to be transformative and compelling, but also durable and affordable. Not an easy combination, and much of our effort was to ensure the building delivered on each of these measures,” says Richard.

In keeping with this, robust materials, such as profiled metal and concrete, are detailed for durability through time and arranged in new and unexpected ways. With longevity in mind, maintenance and construction decisions have informed the building at every level of the design, such as the roof with its high levels of insulation. The “warm roof” meant cladding the roof area with ply which was screwed to the steel purlins. KJ Morgan’s installed a rigid insulation, before fixing the roofing iron down, so there is no steel-to-steel connection which prevents heat loss.

Despite the design, planning and construction being impacted by Covid, project manager Luke van Velthooven from APL Property says the teamwork and collaboration wasn’t. “In a way, going through the unique adversity together made the team grow stronger. Everyone had a single purpose. We wanted to create something with a real wow effect that was also simple, and completely flexible. And as much as possible, we wanted to work with and support local.”

Some savvy early contractor engagement also meant most of the materials were purchased and stored to reduce cost escalations, avoiding supply-chain shortages and transportation delays. “We decided early on to rent warehouse space so we could procure and store materials. The warehouse rent was minimal in comparison to what the delays would have cost us,” says Luke.

One of the other Covid boosts that the project received was on 1 July 2020 when Finance Minister Hon Grant Robertson announced $11 million in ‘shovel ready’ infrastructure funding for the project to help create local jobs and stimulate the local economy. It’s the region’s biggest project since the ASB Theatre, and Luke says that it was good to have a “long-term project that kept a lot of businesses going during Covid”.

For PlaceMakers Blenheim it was a real “anchor project”, according to branch manager Gene Simmiss. “It was our first major commercial project out of the blocks post-Covid.” Outside of the framing, PlaceMakers supplied the bulk of materials, from acoustic panel to wall linings, insulation, Kingspan panels and the perforated board ceiling, which is a large internal feature, that all had to be cut to specific angles and sizes.

“The team were ahead of the game which allowed us to deliver on time. It was a joy to be part of the project and part of the team – it was something all of our staff were proud to be involved with.”

The project was “a different one for us, but we feel really privileged to have been part of it because it’s something for the community to use and enjoy, and in 20-years’ time we’ll still be able to drive past and know we played a small part in it.”

Cresswell Electrical’s co-owner Stephen Leitch agrees, describing the building as a “legacy project for our region. It’s a library for the future – reshaping what a library can mean for our community.” As one of Marlborough’s oldest firms (established in 1878), Stephen says they were “amped” to be part of delivering a project designed for now and the future.

The scale of the electrical project is immense, with over 15 kilometres of cable, coupled with over 900 terminations and switches. Power is supplied from seven different distribution boards throughout the building, fed from the central main switchboard, while all the light fixtures are LED and use 85-90% less electricity than traditional incandescent or halogen-type lighting.

The project also required some thinking outside the box, with the team manufacturing lighting brackets for the ceiling themselves to work around the bespoke nature of the batten ceiling and acoustic features. The angled ceiling was also challenging for the lighting rod suspension fit-out, requiring lasers to square the rods from multiple directions and angles.

“But this is a team that prides itself on rising to the challenge,” says Stephen. A highlight for them was lighting the large tree feature in the children’s section, designed to help create a magical library experience for all the children.

In addition to their own crew of 12 that were on-site, RCL construction manager Nick Robinson says that it was great how well all of the sub-contractors worked in with his team over the 27-month construction period. “Their commitment to the project was outstanding.” Not strangers to large commercial projects, Nick says that he really enjoyed the high- level structural design (as the building is a Level 4 seismic structure), as well as the high-end architectural finish. “Working with a team of consultants lead by Warren and Mahoney, their expertise and knowledge helped us to deliver the client a high-finished building, and also on time.”

The building dovetails adult’s, children’s and young adult’s collections so that all generations of the community are brought together with plenty of space to gather and engage with knowledge and art, in various combinations, and at all times of the day.

Both a library and a gallery, Richard says that the unified nature of the two entities was key to the building’s success. Within the composition is the discernible cubic volume of the gallery, inserted into the floorplan as a legible element.

“Early in the design process we referred to it as ‘the gold box’ – metaphorically and physically – a container within a container of precious artefacts,” says Richard. Despite this, from a visitor’s perspective they might be visiting the library or the gallery or both.

Ten years in the making, the building which cost $20 million is now officially open. And if the crowds of people who turned up on opening day, and their reactions, are anything to go by, it’s definitely been one worth waiting for.