Our Projects: Mercedes College Library
Mercedes College is an independent Catholic girls' school in Perth, Western Australia, with a reputation for academic excellence and a genuine commitment to how students learn, not just what they learn. The library project was designed in collaboration with Site Architecture, and when they approached Office Line to furnish the space, the brief was already clear. They knew what the problem was. They just needed a partner who could solve it.
The team came to the project with a clear understanding of their students: the same person needs very different things from the library at different times of day. Deep focus before an exam. A table to spread out with a group. A relaxed spot between classes. A place to charge a laptop and stay for hours.
That understanding shaped every decision. Instead of one space trying to serve all of those needs at once, they designed distinct zones with clear purposes, each one named and intentional, all within the footprint that already existed.
The Zones
Quiet: Acoustic separation for students who need to concentrate without distraction. High-backed seating positioned away from main thoroughfares.
Collaborative: Mobile tables on castors that reconfigure in seconds, from pairs to groups of eight, without disrupting the rest of the space.
Open Collab / Class Learning: Flexible enough to shift between informal group work and structured class sessions, with a visual connection to the rest of the library.
Charging Station: Because a library that allows students to actually stay in all day needs to support that.
Servery: A window that makes the library a place to spend time, not just pass through.
All of it within the existing footprint. No construction. No extra square metres.
The Result
"Our Learning Hub is truly a hive of activity all day! It’s a space where deep focus, dynamic collaboration and hybrid learning all happen side by side, but equally where students and staff can pause, reset and reflect in comfy furniture and surroundings" - Mercedes College
The library now supports the full range of how students actually use the space throughout the day. Each zone has a clear purpose, and students move between them naturally without any one mode disrupting another.
- Karen Rodriguez
