The first of its kind in the Greater Geelong region, the library features 4,300 plants, including 18 different native species on its rooftop, providing habitat for birds, bees and butterflies.
The brand-new $9.15 million Boronggook Drysdale Library, featuring an innovative circular design and green rooftop in Drysdale town centre, has officially opened to the public.
The new library, jointly funded by Council ($8.156 million) and the Victorian Government ($1 million), will provide communal multi-purpose spaces, quiet study areas, an adult changing places facility, an internal courtyard garden and a City of Greater Geelong customer service point.
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The first of its kind in the Greater Geelong region, the state-of-the-art library features 4,300 plants, including 18 different native species on its rooftop, providing habitat for birds, bees and butterflies. The living habitat was included in a bid to ‘mitigate urban heat island effects and protect against increasing peak temperatures’, provide insect and bird habitat and improve site ecology through drought tolerant and adapted plantings.
The library’s name, Boronggook (Bo-rong-gook), is the traditional Wadawurrung name for the area and means ‘turf’.
Sitting atop Drysdale Hill at 10 Wyndham Street, the site was once the gathering place for Traditional Owners. This legacy has been translated into a modern concept, with the circular design incorporating a terraced amphitheatre.
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“The new Boronggook Drysdale Library will be an incredible asset to the local community – from the dedicated children’s space to the thousands of new collection items to the rooftop garden,” says Vanessa Schernickau, Chief Executive Officer Geelong Regional Library Corporation.
“While our libraries will always provide spaces for people to read and connect to free Wi-Fi, libraries are no longer just about borrowing books. Our vast range of programs and events appeal to people of all ages, from vital early literacy programs to cyber safety sessions to craft sessions where people gather to create, but more importantly to connect.
“New libraries such as Boronggook have been designed with new ways of working in mind – there are light filled spaces to work and collaborate and affordable meeting rooms available to hire.”
The Boronggook Drysdale Library is located at 2-8 Wyndham Street, Drysdale. You can view the opening hours and more information about the new library here.
