Heritage+Architecture+REC+Building

Royal Exhibition Building

The Royal Exhibition Building is one of the most important and significant buildings in Melbourne. It's also the first building in Australia to be World Heritage listed. It opened in 1880 for the first Grand International Exhibition. What better way to show off Melbourne with its wealth from the gold rush. It hosted the first opening of the Parliament of Australia in 1901. The Royal Exhibition Building has also hosted countless other events including the Olympics and hundreds and even thousands of other exhibition whether it be a sports car exhibition and a gathering.

Architecture

The building was designed by the architect Joseph Reed. Reed was born in 1823 and died in 1891. He was the most influential Victorian architect in that era. The other buildings he has designed is the State Library of Victoria and Melbourne Town Hall. Upon entering the building you will see right away a giant dome in the center of the building and above and archway and a roof with supporting lines for the columns. The main elements of the roof are tied trussed arches that spring from the top of each of the solid Oregon columns in the upper gallery tier. These are supposed to support the roof and ceiling. A lot of the building was built in wood and timber because it was light, fast and effective money wise. The building is over one-hundered years old and the timber still holds well. The building has had some repairs and renovations over the years because of water problems on the roof and decay. Today Today the building in still in excellent condition and is still being used to host gatherings, events and of course exhibitions from all over the world.