Mural artwork of a giant open book becoming a landscape, the library building on its pages, people reading around it.
Mural artwork of a giant open book becoming a landscape, the library building on its pages, people reading around it.

ILLUSTRATIONS / MURALS

CASE STUDY

COMMUNITY

Lismore Library

A Building Reimagined Through Story

THE PROJECT
Lismore Library was being refurbished as part of the town's recovery, and the Library staff wanted the building to welcome people back in, not just function. The brief called for murals and a stairwell installation that would help visitors navigate a building while reflecting local stories, including messages of community support sent to Lismore after the floods. Studio Troppo won the commission, as part of The Design Collective, through a competitive Expression of Interest.

Mural 1, at the entrance, doubles as a map to guide visitors. Mural 2 reflects the library's social life: book clubs, author events, community gatherings. The stairwell birds are native species in flight, each paired with a real message of community support from the flood recovery. The colour palette was drawn from the library's own interior, so the artwork reads as part of the building.

Studio Troppo acknowledges the Widjabul Wia-bal people of the Bundjalung Nation, on whose land the library stands.

CLIENT
Lismore Regional Library

SNAPSHOT
Two ground floor murals, a stairwell and Level 1 bird installation and 3 x lift doors.

SERVICES
Consultation
Illustration
Mural design

COLLABORATORS
Delivered through The Design Collective: Annette Deal from Ginger Blue Graphics, Designer, Technical servicers), and Luke Close, Artist and First Nations Consultant, Githabal man).

“Studio Troppo were professional, responsive and genuinely collaborative, taking the time to understand the library as a community space and to reflect local stories and recovery themes in the final designs.”

~ Michael Lewis

Mural artwork the entrance to the Lismore Library with a welcome message featuring 3 animated people

Showing both murals on the ground floor of Lismore Regional Library.

Stairwell and Level 1 bird installation: birds follow a ribbon lettered "Libraries are the beating heart of a town".
A superb fairy-wren flies beneath a coral and blue rainbow, part of the Level 1 bird installation.
A yellow-tailed black cockatoo trails a ribbon lettered "I hope the Library is able to provide solace and healing".
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