Penang - Curtis Crest Treetop Walk

The Habitat is an area of conserved regrowth rainforest, cut down by the British to enable the building of bungalows in the cooler air atop Penang Hill. Its structural highlight is the Curtis Crest Treetop Walk, which opened to the public on 1 May 2017.

This 360-degree viewing platform, about 330 feet round, stands about 40 feet above the ground from which it springs. At 2,690 feet above sea level, it is the highest point in Penang, and provides a stunning view of both George Town and virgin rainforest.

The structure, which is cantilevered from a series of canted uprights that were designed to resemble chopsticks standing within a bowl, is named after the first superintendent of the Penang Botanical Gardens, Charles Curtis. Perunding YAA, of Penang, provided the structural engineering expertise.

Shell - Rock - Shell

The Church, in the form of James Ussher and his The Annals of the World, published 1650, hilariously asserted that all creation commenced at about 18:00 on 22 October 4004 BC. Ussher, Primate of All Ireland from 1625 to 1656, was out by about 13.8 billion years.

 

Our current best estimate of the age of the universe is 13.799 billion years, plus or minus circa 21 million years. This estimate is based on studies of microwave background radiation, which provides the universe's cooling rate, in conjunction with measurements of the expansion rate of the universe.

The carboniferous limestone rock of Great Britain and Ireland was formed between 363 and 325 million years ago. It is a sedimentary rock that formed in shallow tropical seas, made up of the shells and hard parts of trillions of sea creatures, in a matrix of carbonate mud. In lay terms, limestone is made from shells.

Under the hand of stone carver Lottie O'Leary, of Knucklas, Powys, a shell has re-emerged from a large limestone boulder. The work took five days and was undertaken with an angle grinder and a compressor-driven series of stone carving tools - the small photographs show stages of the carving. The shell is left incomplete to emphasize its origins - and those of the rock.

Duck 'all

Section of scaffolding tower sunk into pond and joined at top with scaffolding pole. Heavy stretchers run out from bank to atop scaffolding, held in place with metal straps. Suspended deck planked with composite plastic decking, resistant to rotting. Weight over water counterbalanced with railway sleeper attached to frame at landward end. Frame of house built up with 4"x4" and 4"x2" timber. Window inserted to shaded side. Metal mesh inserted to provide ventilation.

Roof formed of 3"x2" timber, covered with sterling board and shed roofing felt. Door cut down and inserted, to provide human access. All framing stained black. House panelled with weatherboarding and floored with sterling board. Pontoon made from four plastic drainage pipe 90° turns, joined together and captured within plastic decking frame. Pontoon covered with sterling board and weighted to sit level with water. Sloping ramp of plastic decking, hinged at head, and captured at foot by a block and coffer, to enable rise and fall with water.

Theory is that foxes will not swim out into the water in order to access the ducks' doorway from the deck. Other than weatherboarding, roofing felt, a box of screws, wood stain, two bolts and a handle, all materials were re-used scrap. Total cost £129. Will be called Duck 'all. No MPs' expenses claimed.

Brogyntyn - Secret Tunnel

The tunnel beneath Castell Brogyntyn is well known, but the parkland boasts a second, the location of which is kept secret by those in the know, to protect the four lesser horseshoe bats that live within.

(Lesser horseshoes are restricted to Wales, the West Midlands, and the south-west of England. There are about 50,000 individuals in the UK. Their worldwide International Union for Conservation of Nature classification is Vulnerable, i.e. at high risk of extinction.)

The tunnel has Y-shaped adit-like entrances at both ends. It is constructed from the local rock, stacked so as to create a deliberately rustic appearance.

About ten or so yards long, including the splayed entrances, the tunnel curves gently underground, is broadly S-form in plan.

Singapore - Gardens by the Bay

Covering 250 acres, the Gardens by the Bay is a principal element of Singapore's plans to move from being the Garden City to being a City in a Garden. The largest part, of 130 acres, is called Bay South Garden, designed by Grant Associates, of the UK and Singapore, and opened in 2012. The gardens promise much, but a visit to the free Singapore Botanic Gardens, and a 'local' trip to the Bicentennial Conservatory, within Adelaide's Botanic Garden, will delight much more - no tackiness in either.

There are two giant cooled conservatories, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest, both designed by Wilkinson Eyre, of London. The former, 125 feet tall and covering three acres, is the largest column-free glasshouse in the world. The engineering is stunning, but the fantastic collection of plants from semi-arid regions is rather ruined by the welter of plastic and concrete tat that someone has seen fit to place amidst it.

The Cloud Forest is smaller, at two acres, but taller, to accommodate the 138 feet tall 'Cloud Mountain', richly dressed with epiphytes and bromeliads, and from which drops a 115 feet tall waterfall. The biome emulates the cool, moist environment of tropical mountain regions. The effect is impressive, but behind the scenes, visible upon taking the lift to the top, the whole looks like nothing so much as a multi-storey car park. The suspended path, which gradually returns one to ground level, provides a great view of the planting, but the displays are spoiled by absurdities such as Lego pitcher plants.

The relentless references to addressing climate change are rather undermined by the Brobdingnagian use of concrete and steel, and the worldwide shipping of millions of plant specimens. Of real note are the 18 steel Supertrees of the Gardens, a dozen of which form Supertrees Grove within Bay South Garden. Between 82 and 160 feet tall, and sheathed with tens of thousands of individual plants, these vent hot air, and cool circulating water, for the domes. The engineering was by Atelier One, the planting by Atelier Ten, both of the UK.

Singapore - National Orchid Garden

The National Orchid Garden is located within the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The latter dates to 1859 at its present site, was founded by an agri-horticultural society, and played a pivotal role in the development of Malaysia's agricultural economy.

The former lies within the latter, but dates back to just October 1995. The orchid collection covers more than seven acres, spread across the highest hill in the gardens. The Garden is home to about 60,000 orchids - the largest collection in the world.

The collection comprises about 1,200 separate species, plus about 2,000 hybrids. The Garden is at the leading edge of orchid studies and is a pioneer in the cultivation of hybrids, Singapore being a major exporter of cut orchids.

The Garden is home to a very large display of Papilionanthe 'Miss Joaquim', the hybrid climbing orchid that in 1981 was adopted as the country's national flower. Singapore honours visiting heads of state and celebrities by naming hybrids for them, and the Garden includes a fine display of these.

Singapore - Shangri-La

The Shangri-La, rightly named for the tranquil and beautiful lamasery of James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon", is the flagship of the eponymous luxury hotel group. The hotel, what is now called the Tower Wing, opened in 1971.

The Garden Wing (top and above), completed 1978, renovated 2011-12, is constructed around a luxuriant indoor garden, complete with waterfall and koi ponds, somewhat like a cross between a botanic garden and a set from Thunderbirds.

The exclusive Valley Wing, opened 1985, completes the hotel. Here, the complimentary copy of "Lost Horizon" is twinned, at turndown, with a new themed bookmark each day. The 15 acres of gardens include The Orchid, a 23-feet-high steel and bent wood open-air orchid house, built in 2016 to celebrate the hotel's 45th anniversary.

Hemlock Hillock, Nottingham

The Hemlock Stone is a pillar of Nottingham Castle sandstone. Such rock is normally weakly cemented, but this outcrop is firmly held together by the mineral barytes, which increases in proportion towards the top of the pillar. Over the last 20 million years the softer overlying and surrounding sediments have been eroded, and the barytes-rich 'cap' has protected the strata beneath it. There is a fanciful story about the stone featuring in ancient Celtic druidic rituals, but no evidence.

Bird's Nest Scoop

A nest from last year that dropped out of a tree whilst the latter was being pruned. Eat your heart out Ai Weiwei - nature does it better!