July Activities

Last weekend was a busy one with plenty of unusual activity. I spend some time in the city exploring some of the Melbourne Open House buildings including the Australian Conservation Foundation's 60 litre Green Building. I have been wanting to visit this building for a while to check out its energy credentials and design features. The tour guide was frank about the buildings achievements as well as its shortcomings. Noise due to the open plan centre and hardwood (recycled wood) floors was one I thought could have been designed out with appropriate glazing. The blackwater system that became too hard to maintain was of interest.

I found the building completely different to how I had pictured it but it was good to see louvres to allow appropriate heat and air movement. A bit like some of the housing features I grew up with which are not obvious in today's buildings. Congratulations to the ACF for following their convictions and I hope we can see many more buildings that can bring green design in a cost effective fashion.
After visiting the buildings I then took in a little bit of culture later with "Love Never Dies" and was completely blown away by the set design, singing and lighting. Its been sometime since I've been to one of these blockbuster musicals but they are absolutely spectacular!
So that's been my contribution to the economy. Don't expect it too regularly as the cost of various excursions can only been maintained by economies at other times.