Discovery – Page 4 – The Hidden Panorama

Discovery : The Great Australian Clock

Discovery (Post#12) : The Great Australian Clock

During my self-guided tour in Queen Victoria Building, one of the interesting item to see and discover is “The Great Australian Clock” which is one of the mechanical clock to enjoy inside the building. The photo is part of Sydney Walking Tour April 2014 collection.

As per Wikipedia, it was designed and made by Chris Cook, weighs four tonnes and stands ten metres tall. It includes 33 scenes from Australian history, seen from both Aboriginal and European perspectives. An Aboriginal hunter circles the exterior of the clock continuously, representing the never-ending passage of time.

Discovery : Manchester Unity Building

Discovery (Post#11) : Manchester Unity Building

The building was built during Depression and the tallest building in Melbourne in 1932. First building in Victoria state to have escalators and featured the largest diesel generator of its time in Australia to power three high-speed lift. It was also one of the first Victorian buildings with automatic cooling and rubbish and postal chutes on every floor.

Discovery : Council House 2 (CH2) – Turbines

Discovery (Post#10) : Council House 2 (CH2) – Turbines

If windows of the buildings helps to replace hot air during night purge and concrete ceilings helps to keep the environment cooler for specific time, these turbines that are visible up close at the rooftop of the building helps to withdraw the hot air coming from the inside if too much heat received by the building. These turbines also generates certain amount of energy to be used again by the building. These photos are part of Council House 2 Photo Collection captured last July 2013.

Council House 2 (CH2) – Australia’s First Six Star Green Star Rating Building

Discovery : Council House 2 (CH2) – Vaulted Concrete Ceilings

Discovery (Post#9) : Council House 2 (CH2) – Vaulted Concrete Ceilings

The vaulted concrete ceilings of each floor in Council House 2 building has its purpose on its own. These concrete ceilings provides cooling ventilation in a specific time of the day to maintain the comfortable temperature inside the offices. How does these concrete ceilings able to do that? As Council House 2 has its night purge which happens at 1AM up to 5AM, where windows are open to cool down the internal air and thick concrete ceilings to release the heat that it received during the day, since concrete ceilings has been cooled during night purge, it keep the cool temperature in the morning until noon which is a natural process of cooling system. A very cheap way to cool the environment. These photos are part of Council House 2 Photo Collection captured last July 2013.

Discovery : Council House 2 (CH2) Windows

Discovery (Post#8) : Council House 2 (CH2) Windows

During my tour within this building, I learned one of the best feature that this building has to offer compared with other regular office building not only in Melbourne but probably in the world is its windows. The building windows has double glaze, it has timber window frames (where timber is known as lower conductor heat to lessen the ‘heat bridge’ effect).

Head Bridge Effect – A thermal bridge, also called a cold bridge or heat bridge, is an area of an object (frequently a building) which has a significantly higher heat transfer than the surrounding materials resulting in an overall reduction in thermal insulation of the object or building. Reference: Wikipedia

There are recycled timber shutters as well that protects the building from the late afternoon sun, enable views out of the building and natural light to enter the building. Other windows at the other side (no photos available) participates in nightly purge (opens at night until morning) to release the heat inside the building.

The western facade windows (second picture) with plants shown below has been designed as well to able to provide natural lights which participate in conserving the energy cost that the building will pay. What a brilliant idea !!! These photos are part of Council House 2 Photo Collection captured last July 2013.

Discovery : The Athenaeum – Historic Lift

Discovery (Post#7) : The Athenaeum – Historic Lift

The famous lift in the library inside The Melbourne Athenaeum Library was established in 1930 which still in operation as of the moment and one of only two of its vintage in Melbourne. These photos captured last July 2013 and part of The Melbourne Athenaeum Photo Collection.

Discovery : Vault of the Secret Formula

Discovery (Post#6) : Vault of the Secret Formula

As we know that Coca-Cola company has been guarded their secret formula over centuries using bank’s vault. Last 2011, their secret formula has been moved to the vault within the museum which is being displayed in the public eye. This photo is part of World of Coca-Cola Collection in Atlanta City which captured last November 2015.

Discovery : Soda Fountain

Discovery (Post#5) : Soda Fountain

At the beginning time of Coca-Cola company, the way to distribute the beverage was through the Soda Fountain. Coca-Cola is just one of the flavors that the machine can dispense as it is capable to dispense many and different flavors. This means that at the beginning, people who wanted to drink Coca-Cola, has to visit or go to the store where there is Soda Fountain that offers it. This photo is part of World of Coca-Cola Collection in Atlanta City which captured last November 2015.

Discovery : Snow Shoe (From Royal Alberta Museum)

Discovery (Post#4): Snow Shoe (From Royal Alberta Museum)

As I am looking for photo to post that belongs to my project – photo themes, while reading again my old post for the month of February which entitled Royal Alberta Museum – Edmonton (Part 8) I saw again the snapshot that I captured inside the museum. When I saw the old version of snow shoe I was amazed how people really creative and intelligent just to address what it needs to survive. This image was shot last June 2008 and this is part of my Edmonton photo collection.

Discovery : White Rock in White Rock

Discovery (Post#3) : White Rock in White Rock

Excerpt from Wikipedia —

“The large, white rock figures prominently in narratives of the local Coast Salish peoples. One legend holds that the white rock marks the landing spot of a stone that was hurled across the Strait of Georgia by a young chief.[5] It was said that he and his bride would move from Vancouver Island to wherever the rock landed to make a home together. It was their descendants who became the Semiahmoo First Nation. (‘Semiahmoo’ is the Coast Salish word for ‘half-moon’,^{[citation needed}^]describing the shape of the bay.)”

When I got a chance to visit White Rock in British Columbia, my curiosity actually interested why the place called “White Rock”. And then my ex-colleague at work based in Burnaby mentioned that there was existing physical white rock along the seashore. And after he mentioned that information, I requested him if we can go there to see it for real. And the photo above was the “White Rock” we saw at Semiahmoo Bay with the Pier at the background of it. The snapshot was captured last June 2008 which part of my British Columbia adventure photo collection.

Discovery : Banff Spring Snail Pond

Discovery (Post#2) : Banff Spring Snail Pond

The photo above is previously a hot spring pool that people used before but because of endangered species of Banff Spring Snail, it has been preserved since then for the benefit to preserve the said species. Banff Spring Snail is only to be found here in Cave and Basin National Park Historical Site located in town of Banff in Alberta Province of Canada. This national park is one of the great place to discover whether you are in Banff or just around the corner of Canadian Rocky Mountains. Photo captured last May 2008.

Discovery : Ngiyari (Thorny Devil)

Discovery (Post#1) : Ngiyari (Thorny Devil)

When I did Outback Adventure in Red Centre area of Australia, it is not only the experiences and places that I treasured. During that time, I was to lucky to saw one of the unique species in the desert which is called Ngiyari or Thorny Devil. When I saw this one, I was kind of scared because I don’t have any idea if its wild species that will bite me or it is not. I took the photos of it while we were at Mount Conner Lookout at Lasseter Highway which just beside the road and the other side has desert that we quickly visited to enjoy the sand dunes. I asked our guide when I showed the photo and told me its Thorny Devil or Ngiyari is a lizard and its harmless. Photo captured last March 2013.