New National Library Building on Victoria Street opens

The National Library Building on Victoria Street serves as the headquarters of the National Library Board (NLB).^[1] At 58,000 sq m in size and built at a cost of S$203 million, the new building is five times larger than the National Library’s former building on Stamford Road.^[2] The latter was demolished in July 2004 to make way for the Fort Canning tunnel and Singapore Management University campus.^[3] The new building opened its doors to the public on 22 July 2005,^[4] and held its official opening on 12 November the same year.^[5]

The 16-storey state-of-the-art building was designed by Malaysian architect Ken Yeang. It is replete with environmentally friendly architectural features that garnered it the Green Mark Platinum Award in 2005. Conferred by the Building and Construction Authority, the platinum award is the highest rating awarded under the Green Mark scheme for environmentally friendly buildings in Singapore.^[6] Energy-saving features of the building include the automatic blinds that lower in the late afternoon, sun shades around the façade to keep out the sun’s rays, daylight sensors that dim or switch off lights when there is sufficient natural light and rain sensors that turn off sprinklers when there is enough water. The building also boasts 14 gardens, of which four are publicly accessible, to keep the building cool and reduce the load on air-conditioning.^[7]

Housed within the National Library Building are the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library,  Central Public Library^[8] as well as the 615-seat Drama Centre.^[9] Managed by the National Arts Council, the Drama Centre occupies four floors of the building.^[10]

Occupying seven floors (levels 7 to 13) is the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, a reference and research library with specialised collections focusing on Singapore and Southeast Asia as well as general reference collections that support learning and research. The library is named after the late philanthropist Lee Kong Chian whose Lee Foundation donated S$60 million in 2003 towards the construction of the building.^[11]

Located at the basement of the National Library Building, the Central Public Library complements the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library and offers a wide selection of lending materials  that include  fiction as well as non-fiction works focusing on visual, creative and literary arts, and business management. The library also houses the world’s first green library for children called “My Tree House”.^[12]

References
1. Tan, Y. (2001, December 12). Library for the 21st century. The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
2. Wonderful world of books. (2005, July 19). The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
3. Tan, H. Y. (1999, March 20). Library must go for 2 key reasons. The Straits Times, p. 42; Tan, H. Y. (1999, March 27). National Library building will not be conserved. The Straits Times, p. 51; Tom, K. (2004, December 11). A library re-visited. The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
4. Tom, K. (2005, July 23). New National Library opens. The Straits Times, p. 11. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Au Yong, J. (2005, November 13). National Library ‘the latest hip joint’. The Straits Times, p. 11. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
6. Tay, S. C. (2005, July 23). Green and bear it. The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
7. The Straits Times, 23 Jul 2005, p. 10.
8. The Straits Times, 12 Dec 2001, p. 4.
9. Lim, C. T. (2005, November 12). A new stage for the arts. The Straits Times, p. 24. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
10. The Straits Times, 12 Nov, 2005, p. 24.
11. Tan, G. N. (2005, November 12). What's the difference? The Straits Times, p. 25; $60m donation National Library HQ. (2003, September 16). The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
12. National Library Board. (2014, August 28). Central Public Library. Retrieved March 17, 2015, from National Library Board website: http://www.nlb.gov.sg/VisitUs/BranchDetails/tabid/140/bid/289/Default.aspx?branch=Central+Public+Library; Chua, J. (2005, April 21). National Library set to dazzle. Today, p. 8. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.