Sir Louis Matheson Library

Architect: John Francis Deighton Scarborough 1964, Cox Architecture 2017, Peter Elliott Architecture & Taylor Cullity Lethlean (forecourt) 2017, Glas Urban (courtyard) 2017

Further Afield | F12

Building Description

Named after the University’s first Vice Chancellor, Sir Louis Matheson Library at Monash Clayton, is one of Australia’s foremost humanities libraries. Established in 1964, the Library had undergone numerous additions and refurbishments, resulting in an expanded but disjointed facility. The most recent refurbishment by Cox Architecture has united the building with improved navigation throughout and state-of-the-art teaching, collaborative and technology-rich learning spaces. The distinctive new entry canopy combined with a forecourt by Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Peter Elliott Architecture enhances the building’s presentation and amenity of the central campus, and achieves the Monash Masterplan vision of a welcoming and inclusive library. A courtyard space north of the building offers further indoor-outdoor integration of the library. An internal cafe, gallery space and interspersed exhibits showcase an array of rare books and art from the University’s collections. A major art installation, ‘Kulata Tjuta’, was commissioned specially to occupy the main atrium. The title translates to ‘spears in flight’; and the work comprises 277 hand-carved spears made by men from the Tjala Arts Centre in South Australia, with Jonathan Jones, a Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist based in Sydney. The library received a high commendation in the 2019 Australian Library and Information Association awards.

What's On

Tours led by Monash Library staff and Cox Architecture. Visitors will journey through the building’s ‘internal streets’ linking together contemporary library spaces and showcasing the University’s unique art and rare book collections. Book tours of other Monash University sites and make a day of it.

Location