Monthly Archive for August, 2008

Page 2 of 4

Original tiles

Published by imageservices on August 21, 2008 0 Comments

These are the original tiles at Enfield pool in Sydney. The pool opened in 1933 and was designed by the architectural firm Rudder and Grout. Enfield pool still has the oldest, outdoor freshwater pool in Sydney. Rudder and Grout also designed North Sydney Olympic pool and Granville Olympic pool, which opened later in 1936.

This was shot for the photographic immersive featured in our new exhibition on modernism in Australia.

File #00z29131
Photography by Jean-Francois Lanzarone.
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Tile details

Published by imageservices on August 20, 2008 0 Comments

This black and white image shows the tiles on the exterior of the unique sails that are the roofline to the Sydney Opera House. According to The Chief Engineer there was an incredible 1,056,006 Swedish roof tiles that were needed for this project. Danish architect Jørn Utzon designed it after he won a competition with his sketches in 1957. These complex shells structures have pre-cast rib segments that radiate from a concrete pedestal that rise to a ridge beam and were then covered with these small tiles.

Photographed for our current exhibition Modern Times: the untold story of modernism in Australia.

File #00z28632

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Backstroke

Published by imageservices on August 19, 2008 0 Comments

This underwater image was taken at Centenary Pool in Brisbane. This was shot for a photographic immersive that is featured in our new exhibition on modernism in Australia. In the gallery you can take a seat in one of the booth seats from the original Bates milk bar and sit back and watch a 7 min audiovisual display on swimming that features some pools designed by Rudder and Grout and this one in Brisbane that was designed by the architect James Birrell. This pool was constructed in 1959 and it was built due to the public’s interest in competitive swimming surrounding the Australian successes at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956.

Jean-Francois used an underwater housing for the digital SLR and shot this at 1/60 Sec with the aperture at 4.5, the focal length was set at 34mm.

File #00z29056

Photography by Jean-Francois Lanzarone.
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Colonial Sugar Refining Company Ltd. offices

Published by imageservices on August 18, 2008 2 Comments

This is a reproduction from a glass plate negative that was taken c. 1905-1917. This was the Colonial Sugar Refining Company building that was located on the corner of O’Connell and Bent Streets in Sydney. The Colonial Sugar Refining Company was founded in 1855 in Sydney and first began refining imported raw sugar, the company then expanded into Melbourne, Queensland and Fiji. The company in now known as CSR Limited.

This four-storey building was constructed in 1905 in a Federation Classical style, with the facade featuring coarse stone blocks, segmented arches, rectangular windows and square shaped columns. This building is no longer there as it was demolished in 1962.

This image is from the Tyrrell photographic collection and is attributed to Kerry and Co, Sydney, Australia.

No known copyright restrictions

Curved detail

Published by imageservices on August 17, 2008 0 Comments

This image is of the Dental Hospital on the corner of Chalmers and Elizabeth Street in Surry Hills. This hospital was designed by the architectural firm Stephenson & Turner and building commenced in 1938 and it was officially opened in 1940. This firm specialized in the architecture of health and this became their specialty. They were also responsible for King George V Memorial Hospital for Mothers and Babies in Sydney. The State Library of Victoria has an interesting image of this building taken in 1937.

Marinco photographed this for our new exhibition on Modernism in Australia.

File #00z28761

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Dining chairs

Published by imageservices on August 16, 2008 1 Comment

This image is a match to another shot that was posted a few days ago called ‘Modernist red and white’. This is a comment we received from Bob Meade

“When the restaurant reopened in 1999 after the BKH redesign it also included chromium plated wire mesh chairs similar to the Eames design manufactured by Herman Miller. They had a seat pad, but were uncomfortable nevertheless.”

I promised Bob I would post the image of the other chairs, so here they are. They were photographed at the Summit restaurant on the 47th floor of Australia Square. The wire mesh chairs are Harry Bertoia dining chairs from Knoll. You can read more about the redevelopment of the restaurant at Architecture Media.

File# 00z28672

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski.
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Landscape at Tingha

Published by imageservices on August 15, 2008 0 Comments

Last December a few staff members traveled to Tingha and Coffs Harbour to interview two women featured in the Indigenous women’s exhibition Yinalung yenu: women’s journey. This was a four day trip that included traveling through regional NSW taking photographs and recording the women telling their stories of the roles they have played in Australian society, from traditional times to today. This particular image was taken at the town of Tingha, a small community that used to be the largest tin producing area in NSW up until the 1900s. The landscape at Tingha is quite stark with large rocks scattered through almost every property and field much like in this image.

File #00z25093

Photography by Paula Bray
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

A forest clearing

Published by imageservices on August 14, 2008 0 Comments

The image from the Tyrrell photographic collection was taken some time around 1905 and shows a forest in the process of being cleared. There is an inscription on the back of the glass plate negative that reads ’Dorrigo” which suggest that this image may have been taken in that area. The New South Wales government opened Forest Reserves for subdivision and settlement early in the twentieth century. It is possible that this image was taken during the spate of land clearing that followed the subdivision. This image probably has far greater impact on us now considering what is happening with climate change and the environment. This article from the Sydney Morning Herald has some interesting points about the impact of clearing natural forests and the danger this could present to the global climate.

This image has been posted to the Commons project on Flickr. We have another image taken around the same time and the same location titled Packing cream on the Dorrigo. This image is attributed to, Kerry and Co, Sydney, Australia, c. 1905.

No known copyright restrictions.

Curves and lines

Published by imageservices on August 13, 2008 0 Comments

This image is an architectural detail of the new Ian Thorpe Aquatic centre that was designed by the late, world renowned architect Harry Seidler. This was the last public building that he designed and is a great example of form meets function including the incredible wave-like shaped roof that spans the entire 50m pool. This three-story building was constructed in one stage and has incorporated environmental initiatives including harvesting rainwater from the roof for internal uses, natural ventilation through roof vents and it is flooded with natural light. You can see a fantastic animation of the construction of this centre on You Tube.

The Museum photographers have been photographing certain iconic city sites and buildings for the exhibition Modern Times: the untold story of modernism in Australia including the work of Harry Seidler.

File #00z28699

Modernist red and white

Published by imageservices on August 12, 2008 2 Comments

This image was taken at the Summit Restaurant which is located on the 47th floor of the Australia Square building that was designed by architect Harry Seidler. This revolving restaurant is 165 metres above Sydney and on a clear day you can see up to 80 kilometres away. The restaurant was redeveloped in 1999 by architects Burley Katon Halliday who kept to its modernist history and included the white Eero Saarinen tulip chairs, as seen in this shot, set against bright red carpet. Wikipeadia states that Eero Saarinen designed the Tulip chair in 1956 for the Knoll company of New York City.

Marinco photographed this for the exhibition Modern Times: the untold story of modernism in Australia.

File #00z28719
Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski

About Photo of the Day

The Powerhouse Museum's Photo of the Day blog features a new image each day, chosen from the Powerhouse Photo Library.

The majority of these images have been taken by Museum photographers for a variety of purposes such as use in exhibitions and publicity, and to record the many aspects and activities of the Museum - from public events, programs and exhibitions to behind-the-scenes and location shots. We also highlight certain photographic objects from our collection.

The licensing of each image varies however we are trying to release as many as possible under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 license.