Glen Eden Library on track

The foundations and block work on Glen Eden’s new $2.8 library are now complete and the library building is expected to be ready well before Christmas.

A keystone in the revitalization of the township, the library has been designed to environmentally sustainable principles. There will be passive ventilation, instead of air conditioning, a dedicated storm water detention system and other sustainable design elements.

Local artists have been commissioned to provide artworks which include custom designed carpets, signage, and entrance doors.

Leading Waitakere artist John Parker has been the ‘Project Artist’ throughout the design period. A major feature from his collaboration with the architects is a wall installation with a geological theme. Mounted on the wall will be five archaeological display boxes, each representing a different period of the land’s history. A carved Pou Whenua has been designed by Te Kawerau a Maki.

The children’s area will feature child-specific furniture, carpet and shelving. A pile of “soft rocks” - cushions constructed to look like a pile of rocks - will provide an area where children can relax and read.

Architect Alec Couchman from the architectural consultants Warren and Mahoney, describes the one storey library as an “urban generator on a domestic scale and is not too grandiose and will be a key social component in the township”.

The 900 sq m building on the corner of Glendale and Oates Roads, will provide a home for the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, and a room for public meetings.

Project manager Peter Sewell, says the library will also include a Council Service Centre.

Several landscaping projects will get underway in Glen Eden’s town centre next month. A number of new signs will also be installed, including direction, heritage and town centre entry signs. A new toilet block will be provided in Glenmall Place to replace the old toilet on the corner of West Coast and Glendale Roads, which was recently closed.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>