The numbers first: in its first year of operation, library loans went up 50 per cent on the facility it replaced, with 11,000 new memberships. The multi-use cultural facility welcomes 220,000 visitors annually, and is honoured with national and state architecture awards for demonstrating the value of contemporary ‘place making’ architecture in historic regional centres – particularly those in need of continuing public investment and development.

Positioned as a beacon on its corner, the LIbraryMuseum is a focal point of ARM’s broader civic and cultural masterplan which connects the LibraryMuseum through a public square to the neighbouring Art Gallery and Entertainment Centre.

Bringing a public library, regional museum, community centre and IT facilities together under one roof needed an operational solution as much as an architectural one. ARM pioneered a shared staff management model, resulting in cost and scheduling efficiency, and a better visitor experience with staff trained to handle both library inquiries and museum services.

The architecture is connected to its location in a literal and accessible way. It draws together familiar elements from the Albury region: the Murray River banks, levees and trees of the surrounding landscape, the river course itself, the civic streetscape, and the materials of Albury’s buildings. The bold X-pattern façade maps the giant webbing of the railway bridge over the Murray onto the building’s skin. The X carries its own load of meanings: a sign, a marking, a naming device used throughout the building.

Without mimicking, the building is unmistakably of its place.