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30 September 2015
Adelaide - Mortlock Library
Forming part of the State Library of South Australia, the Mortlock Library, know known as the Mortlock Wing, was opened in 1884 as a library, museum and art gallery. In French Renaissance style, with the mansard roof that epitomises the style, it took five years to build, after a number of earlier false starts. The lower gallery is carried upon masonry columns, the upper upon cantilevered ironwork. Separate buildings were later constructed for the museum and art gallery.
Labels:
Architecture,
Books,
Craftsmanship,
Design,
Engineering
27 September 2015
Adelaide - Botanic Garden Old
Gracing the 125 acre Adelaide Botanic Garden, the Palm House is of German origin. It was imported from Bremen in 1875 and opened in 1877. Fully restored in 1995, the glasshouse houses the garden's collection of arid plants from Madagascar.
Labels:
Architecture,
Design,
Engineering,
Trees
Adelaide - Botanic Garden New
Adelaide's Bicentennial Conservatory was built in the city's botanic garden in celebration of the 1988 bicentenary of Australia. It was designed by Guy Maron, of South Australia.
The build commenced in 1987 and was completed in 1989. 328 feet long, 154 feet wide, and 88 feet high, it is the largest single-span conservatory in the whole of the southern hemisphere. A steel superstructure supports over 26,000 square feet of toughened glass.
Within are lowland non-tropical rainforest plants from northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Pacific Islands, which can be viewed from both an at-grade path and a raised walkway that winds through the canopy.
Labels:
Architecture,
Design,
Engineering,
Trees