Item MM 98632 Photograph - Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd, Exterior Front View at Night of Building 8, Head Office & Sales & Marketing at the Kodak Factory, Coburg, circa 1965

Summary

Colour photograph taken by Wolfgang Sievers at night of an exterior front view of Building 8 in the newly constructed Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd factory complex in Coburg, circa 1965.

This is a view from the north-east of Building 8 Head Office showing the north face of the main office block, the east face of the services block, and the ground floor reception block with a car park in the foreground.

Building 8 housed the Kodak Head Offices and Sales and Marketing Division. Architect Harry Norris of H A & F L Norris & Associates, created the design for the new factory and individual buildings, while the building contract was awarded to Lewis Constructions Pty Ltd. Building 8 was a steel and concrete framed brick infill structure featuring large areas of window glass and a unique air conditioning system to deal with the high solar loads. It consisted of four sections: the main office building of five floors plus services basement and under car parking area; the services block that consisted of five floors plus basement and additional sixth floor and elevator room; the reception area which was a single floor at ground level with under-floor amenities area (later filled in as a marketing theatre and entertaining area) and the computing centre block which was a single floor at ground level with under floor access for computer services.

The still uncompleted Coburg factory complex was officially opened on 14 April 1961 by the Prime Minister, Robert G. Menzies with Dr. A Chapman, President of Eastman Kodak Company, in attendance. The complex was the national headquarters of Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd and its manufacture of silver halide photographic products. It replaced the Abbotsford factory where Kodak had been operating since 1908. The Abbotsford premises eventually closed in 1966.

At this time, large glass area buildings were not common in Melbourne and open office layouts were even less common. The layout of each floor followed traditional patterns with closed offices along the length of the side windows and general working areas in the middle. This building was one of the first in Australia to have 'periphery' air conditioning systems supplying each group of windows with separate air and water coil control of the temperature in each office. These units were located along the bottom opaque section of each window bay. The general working area was serviced with conventional air conditioning.

Wolfgang Sievers is widely recognised as one of Australia's most significant architectural and industrial photographers. He pioneered a modernist photographic style influenced by the Bauhaus, and his work celebrates industry and the worker. Sievers was commissioned to document the newly constructed Kodak Coburg plant. He subsequently took several hundred black & white and colour images that highlighted the modern architectural and industrial design features of the complex.

Kodak manufactured and distributed a wide range of photographic products to Australasia, such as film, paper, chemicals, cameras and miscellaneous equipment. Its client base included amateur and professional photographers, as well as specialist medical and graphic art professionals who used photography, x-ray and other imaging techniques.

This photograph is part of the Kodak collection of products, promotional materials, photographs and working life artefacts collected from Kodak Australasia in 2005, when the Melbourne manufacturing plant at Coburg closed down.

Description of Content

Photograph of an exterior view of a multi-storey building taken at night. The building construction features three distinct sections. To the right is a tall, narrow section, seven storeys high at right angles to a wider and shorter section of the building that features rows of windows. At the front, is a single storey with stairs to the street. There are cars parked near two street lamps.

Physical Description

Colour photograph printed on light weight paper, landscape format.