Manuscripts; Leonard French; Australian design
While I was in Canberra last weekend, I took the opportunity to spend my research day working in the Manuscripts Reading Room of the National Library of Australia. A day of "one step forward, two steps back"; but I wouldn't have made even the small progress I did manage if I hadn't gone there. It's amazing what isn't catalogued: I found an extensive finding aid / contents list buried in a manuscripts box. The archivist was thrilled.
The library is a beautiful building to work in, and the cafe is excellent. Leonard French's spectacular stained glass windows in the library cafe are similar to the (much smaller-scale) work by him at La Trobe University, which I used to walk past everyday. The La Trobe work is a series of four panels called "Four Seasons", located in an otherwise relatively insalubrious, windswept, and dingy location that was initially designed as a gateway to the university, but whose main purpose seems to be as an undercroft / shelter for the university bus station. The beautiful, glowing colours and forms of each panel represent a season: see two of the four panels here on Wikipedia. For more info on the NLA windows, see the Library's newsletter [PDF].
I was also absolutely chuffed to see that the foyer to the main reading room of the National Library now includes examples (reissues) of the Expo Mark II sound chair, designed by Grant and Mary Featherston for the Australian pavilion at the 1967 World Expo in Montreal. Speakers are concealed in the "wings" of the chair; in this case, they deliver audio synched to a video screen in the foyer. The chairs are covered in a beautiful, bright orange wool, and are extremely comfortable. Sitting in one is like being in a private space (like Arne Jacobsen's Egg Chair, or Eero Aarnio's Bubble Chair); the effect is intimate, cocooned.
The library is a beautiful building to work in, and the cafe is excellent. Leonard French's spectacular stained glass windows in the library cafe are similar to the (much smaller-scale) work by him at La Trobe University, which I used to walk past everyday. The La Trobe work is a series of four panels called "Four Seasons", located in an otherwise relatively insalubrious, windswept, and dingy location that was initially designed as a gateway to the university, but whose main purpose seems to be as an undercroft / shelter for the university bus station. The beautiful, glowing colours and forms of each panel represent a season: see two of the four panels here on Wikipedia. For more info on the NLA windows, see the Library's newsletter [PDF].
I was also absolutely chuffed to see that the foyer to the main reading room of the National Library now includes examples (reissues) of the Expo Mark II sound chair, designed by Grant and Mary Featherston for the Australian pavilion at the 1967 World Expo in Montreal. Speakers are concealed in the "wings" of the chair; in this case, they deliver audio synched to a video screen in the foyer. The chairs are covered in a beautiful, bright orange wool, and are extremely comfortable. Sitting in one is like being in a private space (like Arne Jacobsen's Egg Chair, or Eero Aarnio's Bubble Chair); the effect is intimate, cocooned.