01 HYPERBOLOID

Professor. Marcus Shaffer

Arch 132 Spring 2020

Middlebrook Marsh Observation Tower: 8 Weeks

To fully embrace the site the idea of transparency was implemented into the design of the observation tower for middle brook marsh. Conceptually the idea was to maintain the quality of the site by causing minimal disruption to the site. However because of the directionality that the river gives to the site there was the element of the observation tower that directs away from to the highway and offers a reveal towards the river. Similarly the curving nature of the river gave way to the form of the building first starting with circular planes that define the floor plates then continuing with the hyperbolic structure to create a smoothness in the vertical direction as well. Then once the form of the building was decided and created there was the appeal to add a night element to the facade treatment. This took the form of the lights the surround the bottom tension ring that offer a lantern effect at night giving the tower a nuanced surprise factor for anyone passing by from the highway.