LIKE Site - Post #5, Lights at Night

Last night I also visited my "Like" site to document the lighting, ambiance and usage at night.

The site is lit from above by the six lamps that make up part of the bridge. From below on the south-eastern side the bridge is flood lit by a large single flood lamp. There is also illumination from the reflection of the lights in the water of the river and surrounding street lights, including from construction sites and cars and trucks on the nearby freeway.

Despite having more varied sources of lighting the site itself is not as illuminated as my not like site because it is more open.

What surprised me most was the level of usage of the bridge at 9pm on a Monday night. I encountered numerous joggers, cyclists and walkers while we were there.

I also spent quite a bit of time listening to the site to compare it to the sounds I had documented during the day. The sounds were quite different and not as varied as during the day but also amplified in a different way.

Despite the high levels of mixed usage on the bridge and surrounding area is always surprises me how peaceful the site seems.

NOT like site - Post #5 Lights at Night

Last night I visited and documented the lighting and atmosphere at my "Not Like" site.

The site itself is lit with down lighting on the brick wall that frames the site. I also noticed that although ground lights are in the ground surrounding the dog sculpture, I have never seen them turned on.

The most predominant source of lighting though is the street lights and the headlights of the cars passing through the intersection.

I also paid particular attention to the sounds of the site while I was there so I can compare them to the sounds I have recorded hearing at other times of the day.

I am also aware that I haven't particularly said why I don't like this site yet. That is because I wanted to go through the entire documentation process and then frame my dislike around a theoretical analysis. This will come later.

Public Art and the CIA = site specific secret squirrel excellence

Kryptos is a public artwork by artist James Sanborn situated on the grounds of America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia.

The artwork cost $250,000 and was dedicated on 3rd November, 1990. It is positioned between two buildings and is made of red and green slate, white quartz, petrified wood, lodestone and copper. The most dominant feature of the work is the S-shaped copper screen, that resembles a vertical scroll, with characters punched out of the copper. The characters apparently make up a four-part message, each apparently in code encrypted by a different cipher.

Apparently CIA and other code crackers have only been able to solve three of the four messages and one part remains unbroken code. There is even an on-line group, Kryptos Group, dedicated to cracking the code of the artwork.

The title of the work "Kryptos", which means hidden in Greek, and the work is described as a "a meditation on the nature of secrecy and the elusiveness of truth".

The CIA's purpose is well known as being to collect information and keep secrets, as so many Hollywood movies and crime novels portray for us constantly. So in a strange inversion the CIA maintains a constant public awareness of its secrecy through external perceptions and portrayals.

I think the very public exploration of the artwork to "crack" the code of its embedded secret message is particularly apt and successful as a site specific work located in the CIA's grounds. The work takes site specificity to another level where it not only reflects its surrounding environment's purpose but engages with popular perceptions and engagements with that purpose. The work is located on an area that is perceived as secret and yet is well known. The work is well known but its message secret. Both the CIA and the work have captured the public's imagination regarding concepts of secrecy and learning the truth.

In many ways I hope the final part of the code isn't ever cracked so that the work maintains its fascination and continues to reflect the surroundning areas' purpose and public/secret perception so perfectly.







Reference: Levy, S. (May 2009). Mission Impossible: The Code Even the CIA Can't Crack, Wired Magazine 17.05

LIKE site - Post #4, history of the site

The Morell Bridge has a very well documented history and is actually quite significant.

The bridge was named after Sir Stephen Morell in 1936 in recognition of his contribution to Melbourne. Morell was a prominent Victorian businessman and Lord Mayor between 1926 and 1928 and a rowing enthusiast.


Prior to 1936 it was known as the Anderson Street Bridge and was constructed in 1899.


Its construction is significant as it was the first significant reinforced concrete bridge built using the innovative Monier construction technique in Victoria. The Monier technique was patented by Joseph Monier, a French manufacturer of garden ware, in 1867.


The bridge is often attributed (thought this is disputed) to John Monash, but was actually designed and constructed by Sydney based engineers, Carter, Gummow and Co, patentees of the Monier Construction System in Australia.


What is particularly interesting and significant is that the bridge was built on dry land and when it was completed the Yarra river was diverted to flow underneath it.


On June 7, 1998 the bridge was closed to cars as part of the CityLink project. It is currently used by cyclist and pedestrian traffic.

In 2006 the Age Newspaper reported that each weekday, VicRoads meters count about 2500 cyclists on the path at Morrell Bridge near Melbourne Park. At peak time, from 7.30am to 8.30am, about 320 cyclists ride past every hour, or one every 11 seconds.

I think it is interesting that by cosmic coincidence both my "like" and "not like" locations are sites of significant mechanical advancements for Melbourne.

NOT like site - Post #4, history of the site

Finding historical information on my "not like" site's current incarnation has proven more difficult than I would have originally thought given that public art project are usually very well documented.

I have been able to find information on prior uses of the site going back over 100 years based on information on the site provided by the local heritage council.


This information sign, part of the Richmond Heritage Walk, shows the area immediately surrounding the site in the 19th Century but not the site itself. It does however indicate that in circa 1876 the site was most likely a part of the grounds of sixteen room mansion, Yalcowinna.



Yalcowinna, was built in 1867 by business man, politician, and land speculator William Highett. The grounds of the mansion, which is now part of Epworth Hospital, comprised a four-stall stable, three looseboxes, two coachhouses, a man’s room, a hayloft and wood and coal sheds.



From a plaque I was able to learn that a building on the site had housed Melbourne's first cable tram engines had been constructed there in 1885. That the building had later been extended to house a station for the electric tramway, which replaced the pioneer cable line in 1927. The buildings were both demolished in 1991 for road intersection improvements.

With that knowledge I have been able to hunt down a photo and drawing from the Richmond Library showing the site.



The photo that has the caption 'A tramways engine for cable cars at Richmond'. The engine house for cable cars was on the corner of Bridge Rd and Hoddle Street.



From the drawing, that is presumed to be from a newspaper, I get a better idea of what the structure would have looked like and how it would have worked.


I also found another photo that shows the site in 1978 the site as the "Melbourne Forklift Company".

Contemplating the uses of the site since the 1880s to at least the late 1970s one of the common themes, which in many ways continues is the sites connection to noise and machinery. Whether it be engine houses for trams or forklifts.

I have found a couple of clues relating to how the site came to look as it currently does but I am still in the process of hunting them down.

Having found out more about the previous uses of the site I find the site itself more interesting but like the current works on the site even less because they don't in any way engage or reflect that history.

Council House Two

Council House Two (CH2) is situated on 240 Little Collins Street near the intersection of Swanston Street.

CH2 was officially opened in August 2006 as is Australia's first new 6 star greenstar rated commercial office building.

It is a 10-storey office building housing approximately 540 City of Melbourne staff, and a gross floor area of 12,536m² and cost $51.045 million to build.

The architect, Mick Pearce, gave a lecture during the intensive program. He described his architecture is greatly inspired by natural structures and bio-mimicry and light energy.

By observing structures in nature he has been able to replicate techniques that provide natural sources of heating and cooling for buildings as alternatives to high energy consumption alternatives, such as air-conditioning.


For example, located on the south façade shower towers, jokingly known as "condoms", made of five tubes of durable lightweight fabric, inside which a water shower induces air movement and cooling. The ensuing evaporative cooling process cools both air and water.




The building is actively conscious of its surrounding environments and includes other features that use the surrounding environment such as plants, wooden slats that move with the sun and so on.

The building itself and the architectural and environmental philosophy behind it are incredibly interesting but what makes it particularly relevant to an examination of public art is how the building was developed.



The building is an excellent example of using artists as part of the planning and development process for the building right from the very outset rather than using them to develop decorative elements when the building is complete.

In case of CH2 artists were included in the first brainstorming session with the architect and the engineer. The artists input was particularly valued for their ability to think outside of box creatively and beyond the "solution driven" processes of the architects and engineers.





Reference: City of Melbourne website

LIKE Site - Post #3, textures

Below are some of the textural components that make up my Like site.

The materials are way to many to mention but include both man-made such as steel, plaster, paint, concrete, iron, plastic and natural elements such as water, plant mater, ants and stone.