Bargoonga Nganjin – Fitzroy North Library and Community Hub

Hansen was engaged by the Yarra City Council to provide town planning services for the proposed new North Fitzroy Library and Community Hub: Bargoonga Nganjin. Bargoonga Nganjin means ‘gather everybody’ in Woiwurrung, the language of the Wurundjeri people.

Council had acquired land in the tightly held area of North Fitzroy specifically for this project. As the land was formerly a service station, the location required detailed remediation to rehabilitate the site for development.

The council wished to not only relocate the old library to the new site, but also integrate and centralise other important community services including child and maternal health services and community meeting rooms.

Yarra City Council convened a community reference group, in order to incorporate local resident’s ideas into the design of the building and its service offerings.

Working closely with Council’s Capital Projects team, Hansen liaised with a vocal local community, as well as the various stakeholders and consultants incorporating heritage, traffic management, design and sustainability, to ensure a six-star sustainability rated project was not only proposed, but also delivered.

Designed by Collingwood-based architects Group GSA and built by Buxton Constructions, Bargoonga Nganjin achieved a six star Green Star rating – the highest environmental rating awarded by the Green Building Council of Australia – through the inclusion of a variety of environmentally sustainable design features.

Some of these features include:

• Solar panels on the roof providing up to 12.5 kilowatts of power.
• Facades to reduce heating from sunlight.
• Collection of rainwater for reuse throughout the building, provided through water storage tanks in the basement.
• An automatic irrigation system for rooftop garden plants, with moisture sensors, to minimise water usage.
• Energy efficient fixtures and fittings.