Modern Upgrade of the Ilupeju Public Library by Chronos Studeos & Custodian Insurance

The Ilupeju Public Library was built about a decade ago for the Ilupeju/Anthony environs of Lagos. It is located in the heart of Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. The project was commissioned by the then Governor Buba Marwa. Its main aim is to encourage a reading culture in the hearts of the people in the community as it is optimal to realize that we are in a fast-developing and technologically advancing age.

Existing Situation

Over the years, low maintenance and attention have caused the deterioration of the exterior and interior of the library. Amidst other evolving buildings, the Ilupeju Library stayed the same and gradually became unattractive. Patronage reduced and its value to the society was perceived as same.

One of our clients, Custodian Insurance PLC, saw the state of the building and decided as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) to the Lagos State Government, to renovate this fast-becoming shamble of a building. Embedded in their plan was to upgrade the Library to a modern E­-library by equipping it with computers as well as renovate the library to a modern design.

Chronos Studeos was brought on board to handle the Renovation, Spatial Redesign and Facade upgrade for the project. 

Conceptual Design

Chronos Studeos planned to make the building conform to current technology trends in modern library designs.
Space is the essence of architecture and so we decided to maintain the structure of the building while making modifications to the spatial relationship to suit the current and future needs, and also eliminate certain features that are inessential such as the extravagant protruding fins on the northern and eastern sides of the building.

By introducing thin horizontal aluminium slats arrayed in a direction which also serve as shading devices and replacing the small clumsy windows with large windows to maximize natural lighting and ventilation when there is a power shortage, we created more space. The shading devices are designed to reduce the building’s requirement for artificial cooling and also reduce glare inside the reading spaces.

The two vertical poles represent pens/pencils inside a stationery case. A typical symbol found on any reader’s table.

The renovation works were executed by Davichin Nigeria Limited with Construction Supervision by our team of Architects.

The access to the parking at the back of the building was initially a challenge. But once the fins were eliminated it created room for easier access through the driveway.

The project was executed and completed in 2months. Now the library is more efficient and equips more than 18 computers for readers to have access to the world wide web.

What do you think about this facade upgrade? Do you know any public building that requires an upgrade? Let us know your thoughts.