The new library at Blacktown created an opportunity to re-establish and reinforce the public realm within a city environment continually dominated by the shopping mall, carpark and visual pollution of advertising. It also gave an opportunity to develop what is becoming the most meaningful 21st Century public building; the contemporary library. The architecture is conceived as two simple volumes, one solid of terracotta panels containing the support and service spaces and sitting firmly on the ground, and a second transparent of light metallic louvres and glass containing the public rooms and reading spaces ‘hovering’ above the ground. Both these volumes are sited on a brick podium that “grows” out of the natural clay of the site and adjusts to the differing levels whilst positioning the library in an honorific location within the new square. Architecturally, an “interior world” is created, separate

from the busy streets and shopping; a warm and peaceful haven allowing space for the visitor to “slow” and just be. This interior is created though a composition of natural light, natural materials and form. The library comprises of a series of strong and distinctive forms, elliptical void, triangular stair and cubic volume give a sense of significance and honour to the interior, while the strong horizontal extension and transparency, together with the gentle curving forms of the light baffles and skylights, give a complementing openness and looseness. Natural light is sculptured through a series of careful profile baffles and skylights to gently reveal and enhance their forms and materiality; to create a glow and lightness within the whole library. Natural materials within the interior of timber, brick and stone are intended to create not only warmth but also a depth to the surfaces and spaces.