Today we were up earlier in time to complete the two site visits scheduled. The first was to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center down on the water. At first, I thought to myself "what on earth is special about a convention center?". Man, I was wrong. This center had more technology than a NASA spaceship. The convention center only had a dividable auditorium capable of seating 5, 500 and a ton of meeting and seminar rooms. They was also a large dividable banquet hall. What was so neat about ht ebuilding was the design that allows all rooms to be serviced from behind so all food delivery, cleaning, etc. could be done discreetly and no service personnel had to go outside into the public hallways or gathering spaces. The building had 2 HUGE service lifts which could each carry a car to the third floor. Our tour guide, the center business development officer, explained that clients have requested cars or other things to be in the 3rd floor banquet room which they can do. This blows my mind.
After touring all the event spaces, we went behind the scenes. Behind each room was a smaller service kitchen where the food would be transported to from the large kitchen before it is served. There must have been 20 of these smaller "service kitchens". Since these smaller kitchens were so large by my standards, I was completely blown away by the actual kitchen. It was divided into 4 large areas: Receiving, preparing, cooking, and dishwashing. Each room must have been the size of a half football field. I have never seen so many walk in freezers, cooktops, ovens, dishwashers as I did in this place. One of the dishwashers must have been large enough to wash a car but was used for washing delivery trollies and other transport items.
The convention center is also a 6 Green Star building, which is the highest achievable rating. They also have an onsite black water treatment system. Chris, Jay, and I are trying to establish a return visit for a tour of these systems for thesis research purposes. I was thrilled to have been able to tour this facility.
After grabbing lunch in the food court of the Melbourne World Trade Center, we hustled over to the second site. This was also a large 300+ apartment building built by L.U. Simon. This one was in the early stages with concrete pours complete only to the 3rd floor. Although there was not as much to see as the Lacrosse building, it was definitely interesting and beneficial to see the same use building in different construction stages.
Tonight, I am working on thesis research and updating my blog. I decided to eat in because Australian food costs are eating me alive! I think I may get a job when I get back in Auburn, which should be fairly easy because I only have class on Tuesday & Thursday mornings.
The lobby area of the convention center.
Just a small snapshot of the huge auditorium. All of
the lower seating areas can be hydraulically lowered into
the floor if a specific event required more floor space.
One of the two huge lifts capable of moving cars.
In the hallway of the kitchen basement floor.
A shot into the cooking area.
Another large corridor that is capable of allowing vehicular access.
The apartment building we toured.
On the 3rd floor listening to the project manager & superintendent
My dinner. Australian ramen noodles. A luxury.
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