The current building, a 16-storey, two-block development situated in the city's Civic District, replaces the
old National Library at
Stamford Road, which closed on 31 March 2004. In May 1999, Singapore-based
Swan & Maclaren Architects won the tender to design the new National Library. In March 2000,
Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan announced that the old National Library would be demolished and a new National Library built on Victoria Street. In January 2001, Malaysian architect
Ken Yeang split from the design team at Swan and Maclaren, resulting in the latter losing the library design contract. Ken Yeang co-founded a Malaysian architectural firm T.R. Hamzah & Yeang based in
Kuala Lumpur and the new firm was awarded the design contract for the National Library by the Ministry of National Development. The library moved to its new home on 22 July 2005, and the building was officially opened on 12 November that year by the then-
President S. R. Nathan. It is the flagship building of the
National Library Board, bringing together the core functions of the old library by incorporating a
reference library, known as the
Lee Kong Chian Reference Library (), as well as a
public library, the
Central Public Library, under one roof. On the highest 16th level rooftop, there is a large closed area designed like a bubble called The Pod, used for functions and events. Although not a public viewing gallery, it has a panoramic 360-degree view of the city core and Marina bay area. The plaza on the ground floor has a cafe and is often used as an exhibition space. There are escalators on every floor, from Basement 3 to Level 14. The basement carpark has 246 lots. A number of old bricks from the old National Library building has been incorporated into the present building.
Sections The main collections found at each level of the National Library Building include: • Level B1 – Central Public Library Collection • Level 5 -
Central Arts Library • Level 7 – Business, Science and Technology collections • Level 8 – Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities collections • Level 9 – Chinese, Malay and Tamil collections and the Asian Children's Literature collection • Level 10 – Donors' Collections, Asian Children's Collection • Level 11 – Singapore and Southeast Asia collections. • Levels 12 and 13 – Rare Materials Collection (limited access, only with permission) ==Gallery==